Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Aniruddha
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 Aniruddha. It is "Exhibit A-2238" 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.
 P.O. Box 10 Beloved - to whom it may concern: I have just felt to write to express a few feelings of how special and precious it feels to be living here at Rajneeshpuram in the presence of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. This love affair we call our worship which, at the moment, is building a beautiful city in the heart of Central Oregon, is continually inspired by Bhagwan's presence, which is like a fragrance as pervasive as the surrounding sagebrush and juniper trees that dot the hills and valleys of our home. His vision and His love are so close by, we are all reminded of Him in thousands of small ways as we go about creating this special oasis in the semi-desert of Oregon. Ordinarily, it would be natural to compete with each other in what would be the hard work of building so many different buildings that are needed for day to day functions. Ordinarily in competition, people try to outdo the. other, or undermine the other's efforts so that they can appear to be on the top. There are thousands of resentments, jealousies, backstabbing, etc. all for the goal of getting "on top”. In this commune that incredible . tendency towards competition, and its natural corollary - misery, is replaced by a higher tendency towards love, towards sharing your joy and laughter; in short, giving rather than taking. And this giving is inspired again and again by Bhagwan, whether it be in the remembrance of Him in the daily worship, or more tangibly as He drives by every day. How to describe the feelings that He evokes? Whenever I feel myself going into a period of competition, of pulling away from my friends and lovers, becoming miserable, and I remember Bhagwan, or see Him drive by, I remember the higher possibilities, I remember, I see, that there is another possibility, another way of life that is a continuing blessing, a continual benediction. In this atmosphere of benediction, I am continually amazed by how well everything works, how well everything fits together. I see things happening and my mind is saying "Oh, that will never work" or "that’s all wrong", but my heart says trust, just trust, and lo and behold, the design my mind said would backfire works beautifully. Everything is there and functioning at the right moment. So again, Bhagwan's presence in His drives, and near physical proximity are another continual reminder of the way of the heart, looking at the building and planning of a city from a much more trusting space where the mind becomes a beautiful tool, but is not allowed its negative, divisionary ways that create destruction and suspicion. To live with Him is to live continually in a garden, continually in a quiet place, where a certain fragrance pervades the air; pervades the work that I do, the relationships that I have with people and the environment in which I live. It is a love affair, and its such a gift to be with the One I love. Thank you for listening. |
(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.)
