Testimonial letter from Sw Gyan Navajato
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 Gyan Navajato (Jörg Strohbach). It is "Exhibit A-1835" 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.
 Swami Gyan Navajato To Whom it May Concern Born 1952 in West Berlin, I studied in my home town at the Free University, natural sciences, biology and chemistry as well as educational sciences and philosophy. I graduated with an MA degree in 1976. From then until December 1982 I worked as a High School teacher in West Berlin, teaching biology and chemistry, as well as ecology. In 1980 I heard for the first time of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I was introduced to him by a friend who had visited him in India and worked as a professor of chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin. I was very impressed by what my friend told me about the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I felt that this man’s teachings were giving the answer to many of my questions which had never been answered in my university classes. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh does not separate natural sciences from religion and philosophy, but teaches a great synthesis of all sciences. I started to discuss his teachings with my friends and colleagues and began to understand that he is not only teaching truth, he lives truth. His words are of great value, especially for the natural scientists. If they would follow Bhagwan’s teachings this world could become a paradise. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh says: "Science now needs great meditators, otherwise earth is doomed. Science now needs people who can use their minds, who are masters of their being, who can use science in a conscious way." That is why I became a disciple of Bhagwan in 1981. Since this time, his words have been a great help to me in my work and my life. My teaching at the school became more interesting for me and my pupils. The interesting thing for me is that Bhagwan is a religious master of tremendous value and a great scientist. He says: My religion is not against science, my religion absorbs science in itself." I think that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is one of the most exceptional persons in arts and sciences and the most important religious leader of our days. Experiencing his work in Rajneeshpuram I could see that his vision becomes reality. I have visited Rajneeshpuram for the first time in 1982 and have been impressed by what has been created and built during one year only. Bhagwan knows how to stimulate and inspire people by making them more aware, more responsible. Nobody understands the functioning of the human mind better than him. In Rajneeshpuram there is no crime, no cut throat competition, no rush hours etc. I found a peaceful and loving atmosphere and felt beautiful. My school teachings on the idea of man living in harmony with nature, became reality. Rajneeshpuram, under the guidance of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, could be an example for the whole world. Here, religion is not separated from life. Meditation and technology go together. "Man will find new ways and new ways are being found to regain the earth’s balance" says Bhagwan, "the way is through superior technology, higher technology, more technology. The United States of America is the place on earth where the work of this great religious teacher can flourish best. Yours truly, |
(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.)
