Testimonial letter from Sw Prem Ratnakar

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 Ratnakar. It is "Exhibit A-1364" 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.

SWAMI PREM RATNAKAR
Buddhafield Garage
P.O. Box 10 Rajneeshpuram,
Oregon, 97741
July 27, 1983

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I have been a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh for six years. Prior to this I was a silversmith. My life was idealic, yet lacking depth. I had searched religions for this depth.

In Poona, his therapy allowed me to become clearer and more comfortable in my relationships with others, his meditations and sitting with him listening to his discourses, allowed me to get in touch with my inner self. I had been generally miserable and joyless, now life was becoming so full, so enjoyable. I was discovering a completely different person, even my body had changed.

Living here in Oregon in his presence, I have realized many more of my potentials. My creativity which was arts and crafts has expanded to include all activities. I have become an expert in mechanics, welding and carpentry.

For this and all that has happened to me, I am forever grateful to the extraordinary teachings of Bhagwan.

I trust that the upmost consideration will be given to the application for permanent residency visa for this intelligent, cultured and compassionate man.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Swami Prem Ratnakar


(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.)