Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Narayana

From The Sannyas Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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 Narayana (Rolf Steinberg). It is "Exhibit A-765" 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.

Rolf Steinberg
Journalist
SWAMI PREM NARAYANA
Ansbacher Straße 55
D-1000 Berlin 30
Tel. 030/213 82 56
West Germany

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I am a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, one of his many sannyasins who are spread all over the world *).

Born 1929 at Herrnhut/Germany, I was already 48 years of age when I first met Bhagwan at the ashram in Poona. By that time I had suddenly become some sort of a religious seeker. But I had not the slightest idea what an enlightened master in terms of Eastern religious traditions was nor did 1 expect that meeting this master would turn into the most explosive experience of my inner growth.

I accepted Bhagwans challenge and jumped into the unknown. Bhagwan gave me the name Swami Prem Narayana which means Love of God. The initiation was no empty ritual, Bhagwan had opened a window to the divine that makes one feel and live this love - whenever you allow it to happen.

It is with great joy that I see the tree bearing fruits, the most obvious is certainly the sannays commune in Oregon. This new Buddha field of Bhagwan radiates far beyond the American continent. My fellow sannyasins here in Berlin have just returned from the Rajneeshpuram festival with sparkling eyes and plenty of Bhagwans good energies.

I am looking forward to visiting Oregon this fall where I want to spend a couple of weeks in the presence of my beloved spiritual master, taking part in his meditations and groups.

From the beginning of their history the United States have been a haven for all kin of religious communities. I trust that all legislators and government authorities concerned will honor this noble tradition with respect to the great spiritual master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Berlin, July 23rd, 1982
[signed]
(Rolf Steinberg)
*) and come from all walks of life, many of them with an accomplished academic and professional record. 1 am an alumnus of Columbia University New York, Graduate School of Journalism ( 1961) and M.S. in political science. My professional background includes more than 20 years in journalism as a reporter for international wire services and as a foreign correspondent in Paris for the German news magazine Der Spiegel. I was aPR executive before leaving for Poona. I am now working as a free lance writer, mostly on travel. My latest book " Dead Tech - A Guide to Tomorrow's Archaeology" will appear in the United States this fall ( Sierra Club Books, San Francisco).


(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.)