Testimonial letter from Wilhelm A. Röttger
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 Dr. Wilhelm A. Röttger. It is "Exhibit A-2023" 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 original letter, written in German, appears first, followed by its English translation. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file with the whole original letter, the translation and a notary statement attesting to the validity of the translation. It has 3 pages.
 Dr. phil. Wilhelm A. Röttger Rajneesh.Servises To whom it may concern! Über Bhagwan hörte ich Näheres erstmalig im Frühjahr 1980 von einer Patientin. Sie hatte einige Zeit in Poona gelebt und war dort Sannyasin geworden. Ihre Berichte machten mich neugierig und veranlaßten mich schließlich, mich selbst mit Bhagwans Vorträgen zu beschäftigen, die ja bekanntlich in zahlreichen Veröffentlichungen vorliegen. Meine Erfahrung war und ist, daß mich diese Lektüre unmittelbar anspricht. Ich fühle mich reich beschenkt, oft auch beunruhigt, immer angeregt und zu einer lebendigen Auseinandersetzung veranlaßt. Immer wieder geschieht es, daß ich von Freude und Dankbarkeit erfüllt werde. Auch für meine beruflich-therapeutische Arbeit habe ich Anregungen bekommen, die für mich unverzichtbar geworden sind. U.a, wurde ich nachdrücklich erinnert an die so wichtige Unterscheidung zwischen Wissen und Sein, Rolle und Wirklichkeit. Vielleicht bin ich ein bißchen bescheidener geworden, und ich fühle mich mit meinen Klienten verwandt. Ich habe Bhagwan selbst nie psrsönlich kennen gelernt, aber ich freue mich, daß dieser Mann da ist. translation17 July 1983 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I first heard more details about Bhagwan from a patient in spring 1980. She had lived for a while in Poona and become a sannyasin there. Her reports made me curious and eventually motivated me to occupy myself with Bhagwan’s lectures, which, as is well-known, appear in numerous publications. My experience was and is that this reading appeals to me directly. I feel showered with gifts, also often stirred, always stimulated and motivated to a lively analysis. It repeatedly happens that I feel filled with joy and gratitude. I have also gained stimulation for my professional therapeutic work which has proved indispensable. Among other things, I was also emphatically reminded of the very important difference between knowledge and being, role and reality. Maybe I have become a little more modest and I feel related to my clients. I have never met Bhagwan in person, but I am glad that this man exists. (signed) |
(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.)
