Testimonial letter from Sw Satya Vedant (Indian)
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 Satya Vedant. It is "Exhibit A-110" 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.
 AFFIDAVIT I, Swami Satya Vedant, being duly sworn, do depose and say as follows: I first became familiar with the writings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in 1968. As Chairman of Comparative Studies at the California Institute of Asian Studies and as a lecturer of South Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, I used His published works in my courses. I met Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in Poona, India, on January 11, 1975, and became a sannyasin on the same day. Since then, I have regularly practiced Bhagwan’s meditation techniques, attended His discourses and Darshans in Poona, and read many of His books. Since that time I have received religious guidance from Bhagwan. On many occasions He also provided continuous encouragement and support while I wrote The Awakened One: The Life and Work of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a book describing Bhagwan’s life and His religion, Rajneeshism. On July 7, 1983, I was appointed an Acharya of Rajneeshism. In my capacity as an Acharya, I have been given extensive guidance by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh over the past year. In particular, He has advised me to be more creative and productive in helping people to actualize their spiritual potential and thereby develop a new religious awareness in the world. In response to His advice, I have made myself available 24 hours a day for informal counseling in my area of worship and for answering questions regarding Bhagwan and Rajneeshism. I have taught religious studies in American universities for fifteen years, and can verify that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is recognized, not only in India, but around the world, as an enlightened spiritual teacher of remarkable stature. The value of His contribution to the fields of religion, psychology and science is inestimable. Bhagwan has given us, through Rajneeshism, the means to bring about a transformation in human consciousness. His outstanding abilities are witnessed by His religious activities at Rajneeshpuram over the past year. In Bhagwan's silent presence in Satsangs and Darshans, I have experienced a heightening of spiritual awareness. His presence encourages me to attain a state of innocence which allows my heart to open. I feel in unison with Bhagwan and everyone present. From talking to others who attend these same religious celebrations, I find that their experiences are similar to my own. The United States pioneered the cause of freedom of religion and has inspired other nations to follow that spirit. I believe that the dream of religious freedom which was shared by our founding fathers has been further enriched by the efforts of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to create a synthesis of the world's religions. The foregoing is within my personal knowledge and if called as a witness I could testify competently thereto. Dated: September 26, 1983 |
(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.)
