Testimonial letter from Sw Dhyan Vinaya

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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 Vinaya (William A. Shonerd). It is "Exhibit A-142" 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.

P.O. Box 10
City of Rajneeshpuram
Oregon 97741
July 27, 1983

To whom it may concern:

My personal experience and background began with 18 years as the son of a U.S. Naval Officer, traveling in the U.S. and abroad. I spent about a year and a half in Asia during this period, (China and the Philippines) until I was about 7 years old, and then returned to the United States. When I was 18 I entered the U.S. Naval Acedemy, graduating with a B.S. degree and served in the U.S. Navy in various types of ships, including destroyers, cruisers, an aircraft carrier, and submarines.

My service in submarines was in World War II, mostly in the Pacific and including duties as Engineer Officer, Navigator, and 2nd in Conmand. I also served in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. I retired from the Navy in 1962, after 20 years and began a career of teaching mathamatics in Fairfax County, Virginia (suburb of Washington, D.C.)- High School.

Just prior to this I obtained a Masters Degree in Comptrollership from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I retired from teaching after 18 years, in 1980.

During all this time, I was consciously or unconsciously seeking for answers as to what life was all about, and was a conscientious Christian, serving the church, and doing other work in a social service context as well. For about 1 year I did volunteer work for Hospice of Northern Virginia.

For about two years before coming to Bhagwan, I engaged in various forms of meditation, with different groups including Buddhists and Sufis, and went on two 2-week Vipassana retreats at a well known retreat center in Barre, Massachusetts.

In December, 1980, I read one of Bhagwan's books, then visited one of his centers in Washington, D.C., immediately sensing that here was someone who knew what I wanted and needed. I became a sannyasin (disciple) in April, 1981, and have continued to be a sannyasin ever since, becoming a comnune member in March, 1983.

Although I have no idea what the future will contain for me in detail, I am absolutely clear in my trust of Him and my trust that I will experience whatever I need, to realize the "TRUTH”, or, put it another way..."Know God”.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Swami Dhyan Vinaya
AKA: William A. Shonerd


(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.)