Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Avinash
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 Avinash (Jack Katz). It is "Exhibit A-657" 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 4 pages.
 July 2(?), 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am writing this letter to testify that in my view Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is a man of exceptional ability worthy of being granted permanent residency in this country. I enclose my resume as part of my testimony and wish to say that I have been a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh since March 1975. In terms of my professional life, one of the most important effects of Bhagwan’s teaching is a radical attitudinal change related to work and creativity or artistry. Since work becomes an opportunity for meditation/worship done with love and awareness and not competitively and with attachment to end product, it becomes a joyful absorbing experience in itself and not a substitute for other needs. I am still astonished by the depth and intensity with which I am able to work. From the end of 1980 I have been associated with different Rajneesh centers in California until coming here about a year ago. Since my arrival I have been involved directly in all aspects of planning and construction of the physical infrastructure of the community of Rajneeshpuram. Like all sannyasins my relationship to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is an intensely personal one which deepens the more I am in his presence and if anything, is intensified by his silence. There is from my observation a qualitative difference in the productivity and creativity of myself and other sannyasins when in Bhagwan’s "presence". It is this inspiration that has in my view contributed more than anything to the speed, efficiency and quality with which this community has grown. No other project I have ever worked on has managed to cut through so clearly and efficiently all the difficulties and obstacles that bog down projects of this nature in other situations, one does not realize how many barriers to progress are created by competitiveness, jealousy, greed etc. In the past year we have constructed almost 200,000 sq feet of buildings of various scales, have spent roughly $5,000,000 on materials for these, constructed and reconstructed 6 miles of road including surfacing. A J. so a dam with a reservoir of some 360,000,000 gallons of water. A lagoon type sewage treatment facility, numerous agricultural projects and experiments. Plus organized and enjoyed two trouble-free well attended international festivals which were safely constructed and taken down. All this with almost 80% "unskilled" labour force. It is my submission that in this time of growing chaos, economic depresssion and declining productivity, not only is Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh a man of exceptional ability, but that his extraordinary teachings go beyond religion and will have far reaching effects on scientific thought and all areas of the arts. 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.)
