Testimonial letter from Sw Deva Navino
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 Navino (Gary David Schalman PhD). It is "Exhibit A-816" 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 2 pages.
 July 23, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN My field is environmental science and land use planning; and I am familiar with the land development program at Rajneeshpuram, which, inspired by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, is being carried out by His disciples. It is my feeling that this program is making an important contribution to land use practices and the field of planning in this country. My qualifications are as follows: I have a Ph.D. in Urban Studies, a Masters Degree in Planning - Urban Ecology, and a Bachelor of Architecture degree. All degrees were earned at the University of Southern California. I have been an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning in the College of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado in Denver. I have worked as a planner in local government for several years. My work focused on developing innovative methods for improving land use practices. I presented much of my work in a paper at the Harvard Computer Graphics Conference in the summer of 1982. As an Environmental Scientist, I was immediately impressed with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh when I first came in contact with His religious teachings. He offered an approach for man to live in harmony with nature, through an integration of technology, and modern development practices -- all within a context of spiritual growth. When I first read reports from Rajneeshpuram on its development, I thought to myself that "this is what planners talk about, can it be that someone is actually doing it?" I have found the development at Rajneeshpuram to be a practical application of the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, as well as an approach to solving the land use problems which face this country. Through His presence in Rajneeshpuram -- greeting disciples on His drive each day, involvement in religious celebrations, etc. -- he serves as the continuing inspiration for the growth of the community. His presence serves several important and necessary functions. It reminds disciples of His teachings upon which the community is based and serves as encouragement to them. They are reminded of the vision of man living in harmony with nature and one another. As a land use planner, with years of experience, I came to appreciate that the type of community which planners talk about requires inspiration like that provided by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. What is missing from other efforts is the softness and love between people which is represented by the silence which He inspires. [signed] |
(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.)
