Testimonial letter from Terry Cole-Whittaker
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 Terry Cole-Whittaker. It is "Exhibit A-48" 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.
 TERRY COLE-WHITTAKER MINISTRIES To Whom It May Concern: As an Ordained Minister, lecturer and author (my second book will be out this fall), I am writing to you on behalf of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Our church in San Diego has a weekly attendance of over 2,000 people, and we receive an estimated 3,000 letters and 2,000 phone calls each week. Our television ministry, on the air in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chico, Honolulu, New York, and Seattle, reaches many hundreds of thousands more. I have lectured all over the country; this Ministry also teaches classes in many areas of the United States. Rajneesh is known throughout the world as one of the great spiritual teachers alive today. As you know, he has at least 250,000 disciples and 350 books printed in many languages. I have read his works and listened to his tapes; I recommend that people in this Ministry read and study him, as his work is excellent on meditation, on relationships, and on love. The Rajneesh disciples who come to this church are very successful, intelligent, spiritually committed people. Even though my spiritual discipline is different, I support his teaching and his work. I receive tremendous value from it myself, and I see that it's important that we accept the teachings of enlightened people who seem to differ from us. It is in these differences where we are able to expand and not be a closed system. In fact, what is beautiful about this country, among other things, is our freedom of religion. When we take a look at what is wrong in our world, we should direct our attention to the elimination of crime, the correction of pollution, and the disappearance of poverty and sickness. It is important as I see it that we appreciate and acknowledge good works being done. Rajneesh has prospered the State of Oregon by bringing money to the stare and wealth to an impoverished county. He has found a way to make the land produce food which others said could not be done. The Ranch is a community of very committed people. Rajneesh, himself, is a scholar, a highly educated and intelligent man, who advocates only that people be true to themselves and that they be natural and real. These are the same teachings as Jesus. Jesus taught people to love one another. Jesus taught people to celebrate and to be happy. As a leader of a religious community myself, I feel that it is very important that we support people like Rajneesh, even though he appears different. His present silence illustrates the deepest and most advanced form of teaching and prayer and represents his commitment as a spiritual leader. This man needs to be in this country and have full support. I urge you to respect the First Amendment by granting a permanent visa to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. I support him; he is truly an exceptional person. Thank you |
(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.)
