Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Marifa
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 Marifa (Emanuel R Benedetto (?)). It is "Exhibit A-1684" 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 2 pages.
 Swami Prem Marifa To Whom it May Concern Since I came to know Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh my whole life was affected. I was looking for a meaning in my life; my career as a scientist was not fully satisfactory. I was fighting, trying to fill a void that was always there, whatever I was doing. And this man, this extraordinary person, showed to me the way to overcome this "impasse". I was at the Festival at Rajneeshpuram last year and this year, anxious and excited to see, to feel this extraordinary man. So many rumours I heard about being with him in silence. Was it possible? It was! So intense are the emotions he arises through his simple presence. So amazing this silence that suddenly showered on my being. What Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh calls a Buddhafield is really existing at Rajneeshpuram; And everybody can feel it as long as his heart is open. This place has a quality of silence, of deep love that I have not felt in any other part of the world. Only an enlightened Master can inspire such deep feelings. People that live and work in this Commune have a deep commitment to humanity, nature, love. They express this commitment through hard daily work that has a quality of worshipping. It is amazing how much this place has been transformed through the loving energy of the disciples of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. His very presence here is inspiring continuously the life of the people living at Rajneeshpuram where man and nature find a perfect fusion through religion. My work as a scientist has been also strongly affected by my contact with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. As a Molecular Biologist I was lost in my daily laboratory routine. I was losing insight in my scientific research, getting lost in small useless details. The holistic approach that this amazing religious teacher has on any field of knowledge, woke me up. I found a new approach to my research that allowed me to use my mine in a more brilliant and creative way. This extraordinary man is affecting not only the religious thought of humanity but also the world of art and science is and will be deeply affected. 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.)
