Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Nirvan
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 Nirvan (Richard M. Santoro M Ed). It is "Exhibit A-1444" 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 became aware of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh while attending Suffolk University, where I was working toward my Master’s degree in psychology. As I remember, my first contact with him was via his tape discourses and books, which opened up new vistas in the world of psychology for me. Through Bhagwan’s understanding I began to see the thread that linked the masters in the field - Freud, Jung, Rogers, Skinner ... Not only is Bhagwan able to synthesise these individual psychologies into a whole, but he also is able to clearly show the limitations of them all. Further, he expounded on a parallel psychology adhered to by many Eastern thinkers. Through him the East and West met, and each grew into something greater than each had ever been. In Bhagwan the psychological world has reached a dimension of maturity that one cannot find anywhere else on this planet. His astute observations bring the possibility of real mental and spiritual health to the individual, not just the promise of a normal neurotic existence or the bliss of a sterile life alone on a mountain top. During my last year as a Master’s candidate I wrote a paper on a possible alternative cure for drug addiction, using Bhagwan’s psychological approach towards living. His revelutionary ideas were so intriguing that my professor, being delighted, gave me an A+ for the transcript and asked for a copy. In short, he was hit by Bhagwan at a deep level of his being and yet he was only getting him secondhand through me. I had understood my professor, however, for I was just as overwhelmed by Bhagwan’s vision. Sometime after graduating from Suffolk University I went to India to see and hear Bhagwan at the Poona-based ashram. There I came face to face with him and had the opportunity to speak with him on several occasions. His communications to me were as profound as I had expected and his psychology became more than words to me, but a live experience which has continuously opened to me a greater awareness of myself, this universe, and life itself. As Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s disciple, for that is the only way I chose to relate to such a Master, the East and West have begun meeting in me. I have experienced both the analysis of the West and the witnessing of the East, and through Bhagwan’s guidance have enriched my life a thousandfold because of it. Like the other greats in the field of psychology, Bhagwan's most Impressive aspect is his ability to help those around him grow into greater psychological health. Because his psychological understanding is so profound the state of well-being he elicits from those around him is beyond current standards. Having experienced and seen various psychological approaches and practitioners, including Bhagwan, I can attest to this personally. I will be forever grateful to him. As for myself, I received a Master's degree from Suffolk University, which is located in Boston MA. Over the years I have worked as a therapist at the Lindeman Clinic in Boston and at Marlboro Hospital in Marlboro MA. For several years I was involved in private practice, using meditation as well as analytical techniques to help others reach a healthier state of being. [signed] |
(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.)
