Testimonial letter from Sw Deva Sugito
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 Sugito (Guy Richard PhD). It is "Exhibit A-532" 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.
 July 21st 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I have studied the history of ideas for over twenty years, and obtained a Doctorate in this field in 1975 from the University of the City of New York. As part of this field, religious thought was of particular interest to me, and was the subject of my doctoral dissertation. When I came to read the books in which are published the discourses of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, I was struck by the diversity of his approach to religion. I found Him to be a commentator of genius on the great religious texts. The wealth of knowledge He brings to bear on the analysis of traditional texts is truly awesome. Yet His commentaries are only the foundations of a synthesis of the religious thoughts of Eastern and Western civilizations. Such a synthesis has seldom been attempted, and when it has, it has not been successful. Hegel is one of the most famous examples of philosophers who tried and did not succeed. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s greatness lies in his bringing together his vast knowledge of religious thoughts and a profound knowledge of human nature. His work does not remain intellectual; it touches its readers very personally with insights more profound than can be found in the works of any writer to-day. His work transcends the limits of ideas and becomes experiential, thus affecting the lives of thousands from different countries and cultures. As a historian, I do not doubt that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s works will stand as masterpieces in the fields of religion and psychology. As a human being, the reading of His books had such an impact on me that I travelled to India to hear His discourses. He made "live” for me the teachings of Jesus and Buddha and Lao Tzu and many others. And the context of this experience was not buried in the past, but practical in the world I live in. The meaning of the word religion ceased to be an intellectual concept and became a joyous experience. I am immensely grateful to be one of His disciples. [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.)
