Testimonial letter from Sw Sagar Chetan
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 Sagar Chetan (Daniel Brecher PhD). It is "Exhibit A-2244" 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.
 July 23, 1983 Rajneeshpuram. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, FRIEND: This letter has a twofold purpose. First as a personal appeal from myself as a disciple of a living Master and second, as a personal statement supporting Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s appeal for a new Visa. A new Visa under the category of an individual of exceptional ability in the Arts and Sciences. My legal name is Daniel Brecher. I’ve worked professionally as a Social Worker for O.E.O. between 1967-8 in upper N.Y. State. As an assistant teacher at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. At Wisconsin I was employed both by the department of History and the department of Educational Policy Studies. I was a Professor in 1972-3 at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. I was a lecturer at New College in Sarasota Florida . I’ve been employed by the French government in the years 1975 through 1982 as a specialized educator with autistic and psychotic children in Paris. All my life I’ve been deeply connected with children, the reality of growth, healthy transformation and development. Theory and philosophy has never interested me. In the past 20 years I’ve travelled and resided wherever there was even a hint of new opportunity for experimenta tion in life. My quest for viable alternatives to the mad, insane, violence that pervades every country on the planet today led me to Poona India in January of 1980. It was in early winter that I discovered the existence of Bhagwan. Bhagwan’s image in a mala. And then by coming in contact with some of the numerous paperbacks I found books recorded from earlier Rajneesh discourses. Three months later, I went to Poona, India, in order to see, and hear, this man. (Since then I’ve read 68 of his published works). Seven weeks later I became a disciple. My wonder has never ceased in regard to Bhagwan’s unique capacity to know. I can’t explain what he is or how he knows or sees, I am ignorant of the what, who, why of him or his commune. All I can say is his approach is of love, of awareness, of ultimate inner truth. That truth is wordless and so after years of endless discourses and dialogue, enough was said. The impact of sitting silently with Bhagwan is so immensely powerful. Here, today in Rajneeshpuram, life (without the endless hopelessness that is so transparent in the outside world) appears as if creation - that 6 day Biblical tale - is really happening, except here 7 days a week men, women and children are worshipping (working) with gratefulness. Gratefulness that a master’s 'dream' is becoming reality. The dream of our flowering, the commune’s flowering, truth flowering. Our city is so dynamically electric with agricultural and psychological moments. I’ve seen in just the last 14 months such tremendous change in each and every one here, it feels totally bizarre to try and chose this reality with some one who lives outside. Each festival generates a sort of ebullient electricity that pushes us through our old habits. My communication with Bhagwan is a mystery. It’s like when I become silent and go deep inside myself, he’s there, I’m there, my mind stops chattering and a dance begins. If only you could come and visit and witness this. Even I don’t believe the things I verbalize, but I know them on another level, in another dimension. He is in communion with all living things, the members of my commune like myself are so different from one another and yet are all one because of the opening that our love for him produces in loving and respecting each other. In this City, this Buddhafield, his presence is the present -all life is transformed into the gift we know life is. Here, without the Horror of modern life as it exists in the other "cities", birth is happening. Birth is religious. 16:18 in the afternoon, he’s just driven by, I stood up folded my hands, yes, Bhagwan. Friend, whoever you are, don’t miss this. Love , |
(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.)
