Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Amitabh

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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 Prem Amitabh. It is "Exhibit A-97" 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 3 pages.

AFFIDAVIT
I, Swami Prem Amitabh, being duly sworn, do depose and say as follows:

I am an Acharya of Rajneeshism. I have a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, I was a Professor at San Francisco State College and had a private practice in clinical psychology for over 20 years.

For the past two years I have been minister of the Church of Rajneeshism located in Laguna Beach, California. The Church propagates the religious teachings and practices of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. During this time, I have witnessed the profound impact Bhagwan has had on many people through communion with Him during our services at Utsava and at the religious retreats we hold twice monthly where people come to replenish themselves.

Bhagwan has said that His sannyasins are His biography. This is very apparent whenever our congregation is together, as His energy and love are present in each of us. When we are together celebrating, our hearts open and expand and we experience the joy and bliss Bhagwan has been talking about for years in His discourses. This energy is easily transmitted to those new visitors and seekers who come to Utsava each week to experience the life-affirmative vision of Rajneeshism.

I have also personally experienced and observed the transformation that occurs through direct heart-to-heart communion with Bhagwan during the religious and celebrative services that take place at Rajneeshpuram.

Bhagwan initiated me into neo-sannyas on August 9, 1974 in Poona, India. At this initiation, I immediately experienced a new level of awareness. For approximately six months of each year between 1974 and 1980 I resided at the Shree Rajneesh Ashram in Poona, where I studied Bhagwan's teachings. During that time I had contact with Bhagwan daily during lecture and in Darshan about once a week. I have meditated daily for nine years, using many of the unique methods He devised.

Whenever I ask Bhagwan for spiritual guidance, He invariably responds with love and concern. He has advised me to be loving when counseling people, as love is the greatest tool for spiritual transformation. The spiritual guidance I have received from Bhagwan this past year through His Personal Secretary has been as valuable and profound as His discourses formerly were. He encourages me to treat my work as worship and as a result, I have felt a magical transformation in my daily life.

Bhagwan has said that His teachings stem from His personal experience. He teaches by example; while encouraging me to be aware, He offers me His own awareness. Since meeting Bhagwan, the spiritual dimension in my life has been tremendously enhanced, enabling me to realize the divine in each moment. His teachings are universal. His fresh spiritual approach is recognized the world over as being of singular relevance to the critical problems facing the world today.

In the course of my travels and through correspondence with other religious people in the United States, it is apparent that many Americans who were looking for a viable alternative to the stress and isolation currently prevalent in society, have been inspired by Bhagwan to a life of meditation and celebration.

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and the energyfields created in Rajneesh communes around the world, are transforming. They are incomparable to any other spiritual experience taking place now and will continue to provide the spiritual source so necessary in the world today. In my opinion, Bhagwan is, without doubt, the greatest religious teacher and spiritual leader alive today. His ability, not only to teach from His vast personal experience, but to share this with love and compassion, has been a constant source of inspiration for me in my life and as a minister of Rajneeshism. The foregoing is within my personal knowledge and if called as a witness I could testify competently thereto.

Dated: Sept 25, 1983
[signed]
Swami Prem Amitabh, Ph.D.,
D.Litt.M. (RIMU), Acharya
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of September, 1983.
[Notary sig]


(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.)