Testimonial letter from Sw Devananda
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 Devananda (Roger Walton Day). It is "Exhibit A-30" 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.
 [Actually, there was a strange OCR-related error making the last paragraph beyond incoherent, so that has been fixed. See Talk:Testimonial letter from Eva-Maria Debes for more on fixing OCR issues.] Rajneeshpuram TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I, Roger Walton Day (born 1/23/38) graduated from the University of Washington School of Business BA top quintile in 1967; at the New York Institute of finance in 1968 I received the highest test score recorded to date on the New York Stock Exchange and National Security Dealers Association licencing exams. In 1970 I was top income producer at Walston & Company, northwest region. In 1974 I retired from the securities business as office manager with another firm in order to better pursue my growing interest in religious studies. Intense interest in metaphysics and studies with Great Western University and a Doctor of Divinity in 1974 were followed by another year teaching and study assignment with that school. In the sacred writings of Great Western University I focused on this statement: "There is alive in India today, a man who will influence the course of religion for the next 10,000 years." One evening a student brought a book to class, Yoga, the Alpha and Omega, Volume V saying: "You have to read this; this guy writes the way you talk!" So it was I came to know of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. His books and tapes spoke more clearly than my words ever could express, the deepest, truest feelings of my heart and mind. I became a sannyasin as soon as it was possible to do so, receiving the name Swami Devananda (Master of Divine Bliss). Subsequently in September of 1978 I journeyed to India to meet the Master. And meet him I did! If any doubt existed that this was the man spoken of in the sacred writings of my metaphysical studies, our first face to face meeting confirmed for me his significance. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a religious teacher of the most exceptional ability in the artistry of expressing his unique understanding with words and silences of so manu varied religious disciplines. He gives no steriotyped, glossing over of beliefs, but penetrating insight into the most significant inner truths. From Christianity to Zen, Baals to Sufis, he goes straight to the heart of each teaching, revealing truth that deeply touches those who have any affinity for the subject. Although I have read more than 1,000 religious texts from every known culture in the world ancient to modern, I have never found anyone to come close to the understanding and mastery of expression of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I feel the USA can benefit greatly in every imaginible way to have Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a resident. He will draw sincere religious seekers of many persuasions from all over the world resulting in benefit to the USA from prestige to economics. Best regards, |
(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.)
