Testimonial letter from Sw Premdas

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 Premdas (J. J. van der Molen). It is "Exhibit A-2456" 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.

Heerde, August 3rd, 1983, De Stad Rajneesh To Whom It May Concern! I live and work in a commune which foundation has been inspired by the vision of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a living enlightened spiritual Master, of whom I am a disciple. Because His permit of stay in the U.S.A. is being questioned by the authorities because one is in doubt wether Bhagwan is indeed a spiritual leader, I must assure you that to me, and to all of my fellow seekers, there is no doubt about His spiritual qualities and leadership. Our commune, which received from Him the name De Stad Rajneesh (City of Rajneesh) is situated in the forested area of central Holland. This commune we also call a buddhafield. A buddhafield is a place where many disciples live and work together. Their energies create an energyfield where through love and understanding an atmosphere is created where inner growth can happen more easily than in the society. The world is in great need of loving and understanding people, as is my own experience. Before I met Bhagwan life felt for me like living in a desert. But since I am with Him through His spiritual guidance and inspiration my life has completely changed into a beautiful flowering experience. And I know that this has happened to all of the fellow inhabitants of De Stad Rajneesh and I am sure that this has been so and is being so to thousands and thousands of people in the whole world who have been transformed through Bhagwan’s spiritual qualities. My recent visit to Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, which is the greatest American buddhafield of the Master, in July for the Second Annual World Celebration, has refreshed and underlined my experience my experience of the spiritual leadership of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The daily meetings with Him in satsang, the morning meditation, were again and again a clarifying and cleansing spiritual experience. I can understand that everything around Him seems rare and strange to many Westerners because it is all so new, but just looking a little deeper with a little more openness and willingness can take away unnessary misunderstandings and fears. As followers of Rajneeshism, the New Religion, we practice daily in our buddhafield the following religious activities. We start the day with the traditional gachchhamis, the greeting of the Master. Although He is far away this practising helps to keep the contact to an almost tangible level. Our daily work, wether it is cleaning or typewriting or translating or designing or whatever, we don't call it work but worship. This small changement of attitude, which has a deep religious source, helps to change the monotony of daily work into an ever inspiring and continuous source of joy. Our Master says: Life consists of small things and when you can enjoy the small things of life it builds up to an immensely beautiful and overflowing experience. This is true spiritual guidance! Also we learn, through meditation, to celebrate everything that life brings, wether it is good or bad, painful or joyful. Our religion practises also the following ceremonies. Initiation into sannyas is becoming a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. By becoming a disciple of Him one is being accepted as a member of Rajneeshism. There are a few requirements to be fulfilled: always to wear clothes which have the colours of the rising sun; to wear always the mala which is a necklace with a 108 wooden beads and the picture of the Master; and always to use the new name given at the initiation ceremony. Also one has to practice daily one meditation technique as devised by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. This ceremony is performed by an Acharya, a religious Minister of Rajneeshism. Then there is the Birth Ceremony for babies being born through sannyasin mothers. There is also a Wedding Ceremony and a Death Ceremony. These are all being performed by Ministers of Rajneeshism and are being very festive and are being celebrated by fellow sannyasins and seekers. As you can see the life of a sannyasin is very festive. One of the activities we employ here in our buddhafield is organizing Festivals which are open to the public and through which we earn part of our living. In Rajneeshism we have at least four festive days the whole year ’round to organize a festival for but besides that we have many more big and small festive events. All this is to underline the understanding that life, that existence is a festival, is a celebration. Once this is understood one has understood all of religion. I want to end this letter by expressing the hope that it may contribute to a right understanding about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and His ongoing worldwide work as an enlightened spiritual Master, about His continuous being a daily inspiration of love and understanding and spiritual growth, as He is to me and to many thousands of His sannyasins and friends all over the world. He deserves to receive the acknowledgement of the immigration service of the United States of America of being a spiritual leader so that a Permit of Stay should be given. with love [signed] swami Premdas J.J. van der Molen, De Stad Rajneesh, Kamperweg 80 - 86, 8191 KC Heerde, Holland.

(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.)