Gentlemen, as a preamble to the explanations Bapak will be giving later, Bapak would first like briefly to explain and define the expressions 'Subud' and 'Susila Budhi Dharma'.

'Susila' means the good behavior of a human being, or person, which is in line with God's will.

'Budhi' means the force of the power of the personal self that is present in the self of human beings.

'Dharma' means to surrender, to trust only in God, and to accept without hoping for anything in return, and it means to accept whatever the One God gives.

Bapak gives these three words a further meaning: 'The good behavior of human beings that makes it possible, with this good behavior, which is in line with God's will, to find the best of our life forces, the one that can receive what God gives.' The gist, or the meaning, of this explanation is that we should become able to carry out our obligations as human beings living on this earth, living in an orderly fashion, in a way that doesn't conflict with God's will.

Of course it can be taken for granted that under such conditions we'll find the right road in our life later after death, and we'll reach the One God.

The name 'Susila Budhi Dharma' and its acronym 'Subud' - this name, Subud, although it's an acronym derived from the initial letters of Susila Budhi Dharma, also has a meaning of its own. The meaning of 'Subud' is, 'Originating in God and returning to God' or, 'Originating from its source and returning to the same source.'

And this is represented in the Subud symbol as something round, a circle, meaning, 'Limitless and forever returning to its origin.' And in this symbol something else is represented as well: that we do not stop on the way, but rather we go on without limit. This means we do not hold anything back, but everything is for God, from God.

Within the circle are also depicted seven inner circles, which illustrate the existence of forces, or spirits ( roh ), which also return to their origins. And it's these circles within the symbol, seven in all, which depict the existence of certain spirits, which are, beginning from the material spirit ( roh kebendaan ): the material spirit; second, the vegetable spirit ( roh tumbuh-tumbuhan ); third, the animal spirit ( roh hewani ); fourth, the ordinary human spirit ( roh orang ); fifth, the spirit of the perfect human being, the rohani; sixth, the spirit higher than that, which is called rahmani; and the seventh, the spirit higher than all the rest, the rabani spirit.

Why is it, my children, that Bapak can't name them according to qualities that would enable you to visualize them? When Bapak speaks of the rohani, rahmani, and rabani spirits, he says only, 'The perfect human being, and then there is a higher one and then a higher one still.' The reason is that these three are beyond our horizons, beyond the reach of our knowledge, beyond the range of our sight, so they have no forms that can serve as illustrations for purposes of explanation. These things can be received, can be really understood, only after human beings have really become able to abandon the contents of the human self, which are the mind, imagination, feelings ( rasa perasaan ), wishes and desires ( nafsu ).

Yet the human mind is the usual instrument for understanding. Certainly it's customary to use the mind and the heart of the feelings. That's why the only spirits that can be described using physical forms to give an idea of them are the subhuman ones: the material, vegetable, animal and ordinary human.

Besides the spirits already represented in the Subud symbol, there are still others, too, that cannot be depicted there: the roh Ilafi and the Rohulkudus. Nor can these two spirits be described in terms of physical forms in order to enable the mind to grasp them. They can be received only with purity, which is to say by immobilization of the mind, the will, the feelings and the desires.

Although Bapak has been able to give a description of the spirits, this has been no more than a description, not yet their actual reality. Take, for example, the material spirit, or material objects. Bapak describes this spirit in terms of the nature of these objects, but this does not yet touch upon their spirit. It touches only on the characteristics of their outer form.

So, although it may appear that material objects aren't alive in the way human beings or animals are, in actual fact they're encompassed by a life force that is present both within and without them. If material objects weren't alive, they wouldn't be able to attract human beings to them to the extent that human beings give thought to what good can be derived from such objects. So the thoughts that human beings can have about material objects, and the feelings that can be aroused by them, as well as the way they can attract the attention of human beings and make human beings really feel drawn to them, all shed light on the fact that within material objects there is a life force that is capable of influencing the human heart and mind.

Just as an example, imagine, my children, that you lack the courage to walk along a certain road, let's say because it's deserted. But if, my children, you have a weapon with you, then you'll feel how your heart, which had been afraid, will grow courageous because of the presence of the weapon you're carrying.

On the other hand, the reason why material objects have different forms is that they comply with the human mind's desire ( to create ) the particular kind of object in question. So it's clear that human beings create things, things they've thought up by themselves, things their minds have thought up, and finally they regard them as benefactors that contribute to their well-being. In the same way, human beings create things, for example, cars. And these human beings have a very strong feeling of being helped by the very things that they themselves have made, even though these objects are the creations of their own minds, of the human heart.

Finally, or in the long run, anything at all that human beings have made can automatically, as a result of human forgetfulness, as a result of human weakness, become an object of veneration, can become the ruler of the inner feeling. This is why it's clear that material objects - though they don't move, though they don't breathe as animals do, as human beings do - are nevertheless encompassed by a life force that can attract the attention of human beings, making them, whether they want to or not, give thought to the possible utility of various kinds of objects.

So, my children, if you wish to know and to be really conscious of what the material force is like, it's first necessary to immobilize the mind, to do away with it, or to return to your state of tranquility before your minds began to develop.

That was to explain the forces, or the life force called material. Above this force, or beyond it and more powerful than it, there's the vegetable spirit. It's not the vegetation itself that's called a spirit. No, that's only the outer form, which illustrates the fact that within this outer form there is a life force that encompasses it. This force provides humans with the strength found within the feelings, and it draws on that strength as well. So plants stimulate the growth of the flesh, or the human body, so that, by means of this stimulation, human beings come to have, to possess, the enthusiasm needed to behave as people and to act as required for life in the world.

Actually, what is meant by the word voedsel is food for some creature's life, namely vegetation. So if, say, a human being hadn't already happened to eat beef with pudding, and other things, but from infancy had been started on a diet of plants, that's to say vegetables, still that person could live as an animal can, though not in the way appropriate for a human being. Bapak will explain this further later on.

Continuing now with the vegetable forces, Bapak will say that the relationship between the human self and vegetation is not just very close, but an essential one. It's necessary that they join together within the feelings. The reason is that this is necessary to increase the strength that exists within the human self. And so, human beings, whether they like it or not, are influenced by the nabati, the vegetable force. And the life of the vegetable spirit does not actually originate on this earth of ours, but in a place that is a separate world and cannot easily be known by human beings who are not yet able to immobilize, leave behind, their feelings.

Above that, higher than the vegetable spirit is the animal spirit ( roh hewani ). The characteristics of animals give a picture of what the animal spirit is like, but these qualities of animals give only an impression of this, whereas their spirit, their life, and their life force encompass everything about them. And it's necessary to have a relationship with this spirit just the way people have relationships with each other. The manner of carrying on this relationship is to eat the flesh of animals, as is done with beef and other kinds of meat. And why is this necessary? It's because human beings, in order to be able to have steadfast energy, must eat meat. The meaning of steadfast energy is to possess the quality of tawakal, the trust in God alone, which is required to endure the trials of life.

So, actually, in order for human beings to be strengthened for life on this earth, and for human energy not to branch off in all directions - for example to waver - fortification is needed from the strength of animals. And indeed it's the will of God that the relationship between the animal force and mankind be close. This is to strengthen in human beings the kind of trust in God that is needed to face what must be faced to have a prosperous life. For all of you to receive, my children, and know the true state of the animal force or animal spirit, it will be necessary for you to immobilize and leave behind your own personal awareness, my children.

Not just many, but very many instances indeed, prove that in their perception of their surroundings the awareness of animals is greater than that of human beings. For example, if there are animals on a volcano that is going to erupt, the animals on that volcano will know it before the human beings in the vicinity do. Not only that, but birds when they are flying know very well what moments are dangerous for them and require them to fly away or move somewhere else, while human beings themselves can't experience this kind of awareness. Human beings can only go by their past experience.

Still another example is the bat. Bats in pitch-darkness fly here and there, and back here again. Although there are many trees in the way, they still don't hit or touch them. This is because of their alertness.

The ability of human beings to create radar, a device capable of detecting distant phenomena, was inspired by the way bats can pass by obstacles without bumping into them. So it's clear that in reality animals sometimes have greater awareness than human beings. Bapak says 'sometimes' because human beings ought to be higher than animals.

And above the animal force or spirit is the human force and spirit which is called jasmaniah. And this is obtained in the union between a man and his wife. This union is necessary to human beings, because it's the way that enables them to understand how the human spirit and force within each of them is connected to the other's. Because the way to strengthen the relationship between the two is by the union of one person with another. Of course it's not done by people eating each other. Instead it's done by means of sexual union. This can be encountered, can be known, by human beings if in the sexual congress of the man and his wife it is possible to reach deep within or, in other words, to reach the state of immobilizing and doing away with personal quietness. If Bapak speaks of immobilizing quietness - in spite of the fact that quietness is the one and only weapon mankind has for being able to be conscious whether 'I'm alive' or 'I'm dead' -it's because human beings will be able to receive gifts from God only after everything inside the human self has been completely forgotten, completely emptied out.

So it's we human beings who are eaten, or encompassed, by the force that is higher than ours, the rohani force. Therefore, if this person we've been discussing rises to the next level and, having had a change of form, becomes a perfect human being, that person will have become something that cannot be described in terms of shape and kind.

And above this level there's nothing more that can be said about what efforts, and things like that, have to be made to reach this, and it isn't necessary for Bapak to explain these spirits, because, as Bapak was just saying, he can't describe them. The reason is that there are no forms that match the content of the spirits above the rohani spirit. This is because for the roh rohani to be known or reached by a person, it's necessary to leave behind all personal tranquility - meaning that there is no more consciousness. This 'loss of consciousness' doesn't mean that the peace of the soul no longer has any meaning; it's rather that there's a greater tranquility, a greater consciousness, than the consciousness of mankind. In other words, if you finally reach this place, my children, later, when the consciousness stops working, everything you think about, everything you feel and everything you desire will stop working too, while every picture you made in your mind will have vanished completely. But something else will rise up in their place: a great tranquility, a tranquillity from the rohani level, and no longer from the jasmani, or ordinary human, level.

So it would be impossible and unnecessary for Bapak to explain anything higher than that, because it's not just a case of it being very difficult, but of it being utterly impossible to describe the forms such spirits have. The reason is that their forms have no proper equivalents in terms intelligible to human beings. They have names, it's true - or it can be said that they've been given the names rahmani and rabani by human beings - but these names have no more meaning than 'Something higher, something greater than the other levels.'

All these things were brought into being by the One God, were created by the Creator, the One God. Bapak has just been saying that it's not possible for us human beings with the thoughts of our minds even to understand the way we control and are controlled by spirits. How much less, then, can we understand God! It's even more completely impossible for us to think about God, to imagine what God looks like, and to try to make God understandable.

Besides the seven spirits ( roh ) Bapak described earlier, there are still others, as Bapak has mentioned. These are the roh Ilafi and the Rohulkudus. These two spirits are links which by their presence provide human beings with an open door through which it's possible to rise up level by level in a straight line. The roh Ilafi moves through everything that is within, and the Rohulkudus moves through everything that is without. As a result, they encompass mankind within and without. Therefore, if human beings really surrender to God, if human beings really believe in God, if' the feelings of human beings really trust in God and believe that it is God alone who opens the way for human beings - and therefore don't use the mind for that - then it is impossible to get lost on the journey, because one will always be encompassed by these guardians, both inwardly and outwardly.

Therefore, anxiety of the heart, and lack of clarity in the heart and mind need to be kept at a great distance, or need to be disbelieved, or not to be talked about, because they come from the force of the mind and heart, which conforms to the material level and therefore in reality isn't pleased with the idea that humankind might go away and abandon it. Although the infrastructure has been set up so perfectly by the will of God in God's glory . . ˇ ( Recording interrupted. )

Although God has arranged the infrastructure of life in such a perfect manner - in such an orderly fashion, that human beings will not lose their way, but will, by means of this infrastructure, be able to find the right way, the way that leads in the direction of one's own individuality - yet, for all that, God Himself still wields His own power. The result is that everything is encompassed by the power of God, both what's within and what's without, both what isn't there and what is. So all things are encompassed by God's power, from the lowest to the highest. Although God has arranged life in accordance with such a perfect and systematic infrastructure, nevertheless, it all continues to be overseen by God's own greatness, so that God, in His greatness, encompasses the low to the high, touching the inner and the outer, touching also what exists as well as what is non-existent.

This is the meaning of Susila Budhi Dharma, together with its acronym, and it's an explanation, too, of the circles that are used as a symbol in Subud.

Why is it necessary for Bapak to explain it in this way? It's to enable you, my children, to receive and to be conscious to some small extent of the true scope of Subud and our training ( latihan ), and what they're all about. The aim and purpose of what we have received in the training are exceedingly broad in scope. Because of this extraordinary breadth, we cannot arrive at any kind of measurement of where they reach and how far away that might be. Bapak only concludes that it's from God to God.

This explains why, my children, the training that all of you have received is a receiving beyond expectation, beyond estimation, beyond the mind. Or it could easily be called something that doesn't stand to reason, because in actual fact it's true that what is received in the training is both inside and outside the mind, the will and the desires ( nafsu ) of us human beings. It's really true that what you receive, my children, is something that cannot easily be thought about. In fact there's no way at all it can be thought about. Nor, for this reason, can it be accomplished by the mind. If something can be carried out by the human mind, by the human will, then it means that what has been accomplished is in the same category, has the same power, and is at the same level as humankind.

It's clear that the direction in which we're heading - for example, what we desire - is something higher and greater, something that will continue to encompass us under all conditions. What's required for this is for us to be immobilized, because from our immobilization will come into being a power that will encompass our lives as human beings. We need this because we're human beings with bodies encompassed, occupied by - in other words, we possess - the desires ( nafsu ), the mind, the will and the imagination. If it were permitted, if it were willed by God for us, with our minds, with our desires, to reach the point of receiving something more powerful than humankind, this wouldn't mean the glorification of humankind, but rather it would cause this entire world to vanish at that very instant in time.

Merely by using the mind, just with the tools the human self must possess, that is to say the instruments that are always in humankind's possession, just with these fragile tools, people have already been able to create things that are now regarded as astonishing, objects like the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the like. These are already considered dangerous to human life. How much worse it would be if humans were willed by God to discover something that could incapacitate this whole earth. Yes, a human being with desires, with the will and with thoughts, certainly wants to be the survivor. And everything else will be killed for the sake of being the only survivor, of having supreme power over all this world.

So, no matter how far and deep human beings go in making discoveries, in the development of knowledge in the human mind, it isn't possible to go beyond the human. It will never be possible to go further than the capacity of the human brain and the human mind. So, for a human being to receive a gift from God, and as a result to enter with the soul into an environment more powerful than the power of humankind, it's necessary to leave behind one's mind, desires ( nafsu ) and will. And the process of leaving them behind has the same meaning and reality to a human being as facing death. This will be your aim, or, in other words, this will be the journey of your soul, my children, later, when you have eventually been able to penetrate, penetrate, penetrate until you reach the limits necessary for your lives.

What you need right now, my children, is for your soul to awaken. This in itself is already a very great step forward and a tremendous piece of good fortune for you, because, with the awakening of your soul - which is what you receive in the training ( latihan ) - sooner or later, my children, the power of the soul, as it grows into its own greatness, will penetrate all the walls in our selves, especially our hearts, our feelings and our brains, or minds. With the penetration made possible by the progress and greatness of the soul, by the awakening of the soul, it will happen that our hearts - which formerly were not good and were, for example, wicked and liked very much to cause harm to our neighbors, liked very much to find fault with anybody at all - will by themselves become clean and good. When this penetrates to the feelings, then those feelings that were formerly murky, which were unstable, which always wandered all over the place, this way and that, with no fixed destination, which had no firmness of purpose, will become dependable and stable because they have been cleansed.

It will be the same with our thoughts, our brains - which used to think up ways to topple things built up by our friends, or by other people, or oust others from their position in society, which used to think up ways to lead people astray, which used to think up ways to make others suffer. By means of the action caused by the penetration of the soul, all these accumulated things will spontaneously vanish and be replaced with clarity and goodness, in line with the will of God, with God's command to human beings, which was made before human beings came to be enveloped by the qualities Bapak has just been describing.

So it's clear that the penetration due to the awakening of the soul doesn't cure just the diseases of our inner selves, our flesh and our blood. These are diseases that are very easy to cure, which are very easily set right. What are very difficult to cure are the diseases - for they are a kind of disease too - found in the human heart, found in the human feelings and found in the human brain. These are more dangerous because, if we are talking about diseases of the blood, of the flesh, although they may be dangerous ones, like tuberculosis, diabetes, cancer and the like, they harm only one person, the one suffering from the disease. But people with illnesses in the heart don't just harm themselves, they also harm hundreds, even thousands, of others. It's the same with diseases of the feelings. It's also the same with diseases found in the minds and brains of human beings.

This is the reason for the obligation in religion to advise one's fellow human beings that they ought to act and behave in the best possible way, enabling peace to come into being in this world, making it safe and harmonious, forming true brotherhood within human life.

But if it's only a matter of giving advice, the other person will accept the advice at the moment it's given, and will follow it, but because it comes from the mind and is received by the mind, it will be very easy for the hearer to forget the advice and finally go back to behaving as before. For this reason, there's no way other than by means of the power of God, which can penetrate the living soul. In this way, then, human beings can achieve peace and prosperity in the life on this earth, which can then go straight on, or continue, and result in achieving peace and prosperity in the life after death.

These are Bapak's explanations for this evening. Bapak hopes, my children, that all of you will accept them with a feeling of openness. Bapak hopes too that you will not feel disappointed if Bapak has not explained a large number of things. But Bapak feels that this has been enough, for the time being, to open new territory for all of you, my children, so that you may consider and be conscious of these matters. It may even be possible for Bapak's explanations to be repeated and taken still further after Bapak returns from his journey.

And Bapak hopes he'll be forgiven if there have been any explanations from Bapak that did not satisfy all of you, my children, or give you a feeling of relief, and which even hurt your feelings and made you feel uncomfortable. Once again, Bapak asks you sincerely please to forgive him.

That's all, my children.

Translated by Muhammad Mansur Medeiros