Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Asheesh
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 Asheesh. It is "Exhibit A-508" 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 To whom it may concern I am a doctor in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, where also for two years I did research in cybernetics on the topic of invariants in writing. I also lectured there on the theory of electronic amplifiers. I was for a year scientific editor of a scientific encyclopedia at Etas-Kompass. For approximately eight years I was production, research, construction and development manager of medium sized metallurgic and metal-mechanics industries in Milano, and consultant and board member of four companies. In that period I worked in conjunction with 3M and Philips research teams on the subject of permanent magnets. In the meantime I also attended philosophy courses with Enzo Paci at the Universita Statale di Milano. I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1975. I was so deeply fascinated that since then my whole existence has been dedicated to participating in the most extraordinary experiment on this planet, the first recognizable organic effort to wholesome progress. (George Bernard Shaw, questioned about human progress, is quoted to say: "Progress? Beautiful idea, somebody should do something about it.") About the nature and the content of this experiment, it is enough to visit the community of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon. People are in harmony within themselves and with others. They radiate this harmony. What is called toil and work and labour in the rest of the world is here prayer, worship, dance. People are actually enjoying swinging a sledgehammer, washing a pot, typing a letter, designing a building, bartering a business deal or coping with officials, because of the act itself. They live creatively, playfully, bringing the vibrancy of strenth and love to every activity. My experience of western society in management of industries is a series of dark gray pictures of labourers selling grudgingly for money their time and work, always disappointed on the deal, always afraid to lose it, always feeling cheated. And the industrialists and financiers are pulling in the opposite direction, also feeling cheated and pressed. In this dreary game, with the accelerating decay of the society, everybody is a loser by definition. Because wealth does not buy happiness and fulfillment. Bhagwan’s teachings reverse this absurd arrangement: fulfillment now, in this moment, in whatever one is doing, and wealth as a byproduct of this fulfillment. It may seem utopian and at the same time simplistic. But this is the reality that is sprouting around this extraordinary being, within the depth of His silence. Swami Prem Asheesh |
(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.)
