Testimonial letter from Sw Yoga Nishant
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 Yoga Nishant. It is "Exhibit A-853" 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 26, 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN This letter is a statement about the transforming effect of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in my life and work. As a graduate student in religion at Union Theological Seminary, I spent my years looking for someone who really "knew" something. Not a scholar who debates is God alive, but a truly wise man. Noone there at Union, on at Columbia University, or Yale, could help me find such a man. Though I took a degree with honors, I was frustrated and began growth work in Alexander Technique and related body work. When by chance I came to India and met Bhagwan, I immediately recognized him as a man who "knows" reality, and as a man who is available to all persons who really are in search of God in their lives. I fell in love with him, and began to work alongside him. My work in Alexander Technique, a body oriented therapy, began to flow into deeper dimensions than I had experienced in the west. With the silence of meditation and the warmth of love, my work became more than just body therapy; it became a healing process. This healing process amazes me, for it takes me beyond any limited consciousness on my part, and helps my "clients" to go beyond their limitations as well. The more I am with Bhagwan -- it is now 8 years -- the more the heart to heart bond between us grows and flowers. This flowering deepens my work, and opens doors for me, my friends, family, and others. All of this flowering I owe to the blessing of being in his presence. In relief, gratitude, and joy I came back to America, my homeland, to be with Bhagwan. I was shocked and amazed to see how unfriendly the American government is to him, and to me as one of his followers. I had never known America as a land of discrimination, but now I feel it directed against me and the rest of Bhagwan's followers. The unfairness of what is happening is appalling. Bhagwan's presence is a blessing. It transforms me and my work. It can also transform America into the peaceful society we talk about, but aren't. Sincerely yours, |
(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.)
