Testimonial letter from Sw Upasaka
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 Upasaka (Robert Zborover). It is "Exhibit A-1495" 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.
 July 24, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Recently I’ve heard there is some doubt as to the qualifications of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh as a religious leader and teacher. I have been involved in the Beauty & Fashion industries for many years and work has taken me all over the world. It was some 6 years ago I was in India on business that I came into personal contact with Bhagwan. Immediately I recognized this man to be unlike anyone I'd ever met. His presence stirred something in my heart and I became a disciple. I worked in the ashram there as a hairdresser and my relationship grew deeper and deeper over the years. Having heard him speak over and over in discourses and darshans I began to feel that just sitting with him in silence was more than I could ever ask for. Bhagwan’s understanding of life, men and women and the beauty inside and out has had a great impact on the work I do. I am licensed in several states as a cosmetologist living and working in Rajneeshpuram where Bhagwan’s vision is flowering and feel He is a tremendous gift to humanity and America. I urge you to recognize this man’s exceptional ability in arts and sciences and grant him residency here. 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.)
