Testimonial letter from Sw Dhyan Robin
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 Dhyan Robin. It is "Exhibit A-1505" 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.
 Alter Heeresweg 5 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 1. I trained as a professional musician. Two years at the Royal School of Church Music, Canterbury, England, and three years at the Royal Academy of Music, London, England. My qualifications are G.R.S.M., A.R.C.O. (Ch), A.R.C.M., L.R.A.M. I studied the Montessori teaching method and hold the international Montessori Diploma. I have taught both at Senior and Junior level; have been housemaster in a progressive co-ed. boarding school, Headmaster of the Maria Montessori School at Hampstead, London, and Headmaster and proprietor of the Maria Montessori School, Camberley, Surrey. For some sixteen years I lectured and examined for the Marta Montessori (teacher). Training Organisation, Hampstead, London. Concurrently I was a member of the Theosophical Society, holding various positions of responsibility within the Society in England. In 1977 I went to Adyar, Madras (India) where for two years I was Information Officer at the International Headquarters (of the Theosophical Society). 2. My acquaintanceship with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh began in 1976 when an ex-member of my school teaching staff sent me a copy of a Rajneesh Newsletter containing part of one of his daily discourses. For a quarter of a century I had been an esotericist, full of study and learning; exposed to many different expositions of the ancient wisdom, the perennial philosophy. Despite this, Bhagwan's discourse made an enormous impact on me. His clear and vividly simple style conveyed to me a great depth of understanding and wealth of love, coupled with a great breadth of vision. It seemed to me to be the product of a most exceptionally gifted person. Whilst I was at Adyar (December 1977 to January 1981) I read more newsletters, some of his books, and listened to some of his tapes. My interest continued to grow. After my two year stint at Adyar I went to Bhagwan's ashram in Poona. There I was most favourably impressed by the care shewn both for the individual and the environment. It was abundantly clear to me that this attitude of caring, and of caring with great expertise, filtered down from the top. It demonstrated to me that Bhagwan here too was quite exceptional: he could not only talk beautifully, he could inspire others to 'practise what he preached'. During the three years 1979 - 1981, my wife, myself and all four of our children 'took sannyas', i.e. became disciples of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I may add that the children were brought up to think and act for themselves and consequently did not become sannyasins as a family but one at a time as and when they felt a wish to do so. Since then we have all been a great deal happier. The children shew a large measure of spontaneous joyousness coupled with an unusually mature level of caring for others. They are responsible people and carry their responsibilities without becoming tense and anxious. 3. It seems to me that very many religions and philosophies expound beautiful ideas and hold up wonderful ideals. Bhagwan is different: he inspires his people to live life beautifully. And for me 'actions speak louder than words.' Yes, he is a great psychologist and a philosopher of the highest calibre - but that is not all. A short exposure to the inspirational genius of Bhagwan was enough to convince me that here at last was a spiritual teacher who spoke, and was so clearly entitled to speak, with authority: his own. His words of wisdom and love are not derived, secondhand, they are first-hand (and first-rate), they are his won. Further, Rajneeshpuram, which is inspired by his presence, and is composed of his disciples and his lovers, bears eloquent testimony to his wholly exceptional abilities, the quality and depth of his love and care, of his breadth of vision, and of his insistence on the goal of freedom for each individual. People from around the world, regardless of nationality, have been benefitted by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. During the last year, for example, I have spent a lot of time in Germany and have been with German sannyasins in Bonn, Koln and Berlin. It is quite remarkable to see how Bhagwan’s influence permeates the whole, over-riding national and racial differences and prejudices to an almost unbelievable extent. I submit that Bhagwan shews exceptional ability to inspire people to sink their differences and to perceive similarities and points of contact. He is, in short, a most potent force for global peace. [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.)
