Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Aranyo (1)
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 Aranyo (Klaus Vogel). It is "Exhibit A-1842" 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.
 Aranyo is also the author of another letter, type-written nine days later. There is enough commonality between the two letters to establish definitively that the same one person has written both letters, not two different people with the same name. There are 22 other such cases known. We may be amused by the illicit possibilities here but just as likely he was simply giving the organizers two letters to choose from. See also Testimonial letters#duplication for more on this. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am studying education at the University of Göttingen in West-Germany and am at present visiting Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. I had my first experiences with sannyasins and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at MEDINA Rajneesh Sannyas Ashram In England. In spite of being sceptical about communes and the living Master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Oregon, I was impressed how peaceful and efficient the 150 members of the commune were living and working together. During my stay at MEDINA I participated in several meditations which were devised by Bhagwan. I experienced how alive my body became and how my Joy for life increased. I then also went to a German sannyas commune and felt Bhagwan’s energy moving and changing me. I became a disciple of this religious teacher. Since then 1/2 year has passed and I’m living together with sannyasins in a commune in Göttingen. We are running a business together as well. The love for our Master has pulled us together and we live in harmony with each other. In Rajneeshpuram I experienced that Bhagwan inspires his sannyasins through his very presence. They created within a very short period of time a place where there is no violence and no crime. We are a religious movement that is growing continuously and wants to give an example how one can live together in peace, with technology and in harmony with nature. I have immense trust in Bhagwan, who is an exceptional spiritual teacher and leader. We can create with his help a world where there is much more joy for life than negativity, where people live together lovingly and harmoniously. Swami Prem Aranyo |
(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.)
