Testimonial letter from Sw Deva Manfredo
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Sw Deva Manfredo. It is "Exhibit A-2582" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.
 Swami Deva Manfredo To whom it may concern : What Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - my master - means for me, I realize slowly slowly. First it was like that, that I read books from him - and I liked what he says, it looked for me like the truth, very clear and sincere. This was more with the mind. First I wanted to solve my problems, today I want to develop myself, to open to the world, to follow strictly my feelings, to look to my inner truth, which I missed until now. So I came to Bhagwan’s communities to live there. Mind desires are becoming reality in a for me surprising way, just when I drop them. Life is sometimes a miracle, but a very normal one! Bhagwan's teachings are available for me, and practically they fill and organize my life. I’m not yet able to understand all about. There is no more something to say. All is clear, but not yet me - I’m still too much confused, unfocussed. In fact, Bhagwan is still available for me, to become clearer. Still I can ask questions to him, and he answers. I realize more and more, that my Master is a perfect mirror for my relation to the world and to myself. In Oregon in July '83 in the Satsangs and the Darshan with Bhagwan I felt very silent, it was a meditation, concentrating towards him (but I spaced also out) I went to myself, towards my different emotions, also sometimes to aggressive feelings or to doubts, and also to gratitude and happiness. Away from him I’m away from myself. (Is this written still true?) To discover myself, my social conditions, my illusions, my deep wishes, to divide the false from the truth in me and around me, for now I don’t know a better Master than this silent Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He is provoking me all the time. Strange!? Swami Deva Manfredo |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
