Testimonial letter from Sw Premesh (2)
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 Premesh (Alan Bassett). It is "Exhibit A-1847" 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.
 Premesh is also the author of another letter, hand-written four days earlier. There is enough commonality between the two letters to establish definitively that the same one person has written both letters, not two different people with the same name. There are 22 other such cases known. We may be amused by the illicit possibilities here but just as likely he was simply giving the organizers two letters to choose from. See also Testimonial letters#duplication for more on this. July 27 , 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I am writing in support of allowing Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's permanent residence in the United States. For the past fourteen years, I have been a high school and college teacher as well as an administrator on the university level. Ten years ago I began a spiritual quest that led me from Florida to Alaska and finally, two years ago, to Poona, India. From the first moment that I read a book of Bhagwan's discoursee, I knew that my search had ended, and that I had found my Master. Fron that point, I read forty or fifty of Bhagwan's books and visited the Rajneesh Meditation Center at Geetam in California. In 1981 I prepared to leave for Poona, India, to take sannyas (initiation into disciplehood). Two months before departing for India, I received word that Bhagwan had gone into silence and that the ultimate phase of his work would be done through a heart-to-heart communion with his disciples. This was an exciting, though mysterious event for me, and I was not aware of its implications until I took sannyas in India in June of 1981. At that time, Bhagwan had just left Poona for the United States. Strangely enough, this was not a great disappointment for me, because Bhagwan's presence on the spiritual plane was so strong in the ashram even in his physical absence. This presence was felt by all of us in Poona, especially in the therapy groups, the satsangs, and the meditations. Incredible changes were happening to me, within me, that words could never evoke. The Master's silence was going far beyond and much deeper than mental-audio word processing could achieve. I returned to Alaska after that summer and resumed my job as Director of Graduate Studies for the University of La Verne Residence Center in Anchorage, Alaska, but within me everything had changed. As I continued my silent meditations for the next two years, I felt Bhagwan's presence more and more strongly, despite the physical distance and because of his beautiful silence. Finally, I returned to be with my Master at the Second Annual World Celebration here in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, in June, 1983. It was my first visit here, and I was astounded at the energy, love and physical manifestations of his powerful silence. This desert in two short years was rapidly becoming a Garden of Eden. The loving creativity and organization that flows from him through his sannyasins into every detail of this commune is clearly visible to anyone who visits here. The inspiration of his silence has truly created a Buddhafield of love unlike anything the world has experienced before. The meditations and satsangs in Bhagwan’s presence were the most beautiful experiences of my life. The love that emanates from this Master is beyond words, which are totally inadequate to describe the inner journey his silence brings to us. His darshans and daily drive-bys are flashes of inner light, peace, and love that keep us centered in the Divine. Bhagwan has changed my life. Three days after my arrival here I intuitively knew that my time to be here had come. I resigned my jobs with the university and the Anchorage School District, and I am now a resident, tending His gardens and carrying out the work that his silence inspires and directs. Please allow this gentle, loving, compassionate being to remain in this country. He offers profound relief from a stress-ridden, strife-torn world, and his vision offers new hope for humanity to live in harmony and love. 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.)
