Testimonial letter from Sw Paritosh Maggo
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 Paritosh Maggo (Hans-Gerd Kringels). It is "Exhibit A-1856" 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.
 Hans-Gerd Kringels To whom it may concern I was born in Berlin in 1938 and live in West Germany. One of the most important decisions in my life before encoutnering Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was to become a teacher. I gained a degree from the University of Bonn in History, Latin and Philosophy in 1966, and a degree in education in 1968. I am a senior assistant master at a High School in Bonn. I furthered my knowledge and general critical faculties by "study-vacations” all over the world. For the last five years, Bhagwan has provided the most important stimulus in my private life, in my view of the world and given me insight into historical, pedagogical and psychological science. Since 1981 I have been a disciple. No other contemporary scientist, artist or theologian has convinced me in existential questions as he has. No other modern-day author or poet has conveyed so much truth to me in such a clear and beautiful language. Nobody speaks and is silent, or lives as authentically as he. It was through reading Bhagwan’s lectures about great religious leaders and especially about Jesus, that I could get back in touch with my own religiousness. The closer I felt to Bhagwan, through what he said and through my experiences in groups and meditations, the more I could understand his silence and recognize him as my religious master. During the Festival I experienced, along with thousands of others, the incredible power and transformatory effect of his silence. Never before in my life had I seen so many people feel such peace, love and nearness to God as during this week. Any country in the world in which Bhagwan should come to live and work, should count their blessings and welcome him. Surely the best way to get an idea of what I have tried to express in my letter would be to come and visit Rajneeshpuram. Sincerely, |
(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.)
