Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, Bapak really feels very sorry that on this occasion he can stay here for only one night. But, as it has already been planned that Bapak would just be passing through here as a stopover, he asks if you would kindly be patient and wait until he comes next time, when he can share something with all of you, maybe for two weeks or more.

First of all, Bapak gives thanks to the greatness of Almighty God for granting him a safe arrival here. He also thanks all of you very much, especially your committee, because although he is here only for a very short time, you have been able to receive him, and quite a lot of people have come. For that, Bapak expresses his deep, heart-felt thanks to you, and to the committee.

Yes, Bapak can understand a few words of English, but only a little. So, to receive from the soul something that you really need, and to express it, it is better if he speaks in Indonesian and then Usman, a helper from Indonesia, interprets it. Bapak hopes you will not feel disappointed that he does not speak in English.

Brothers and sisters, in view of the short time, it is not possible for Bapak to say very much to you. What he can do is welcome you and greet you, and give you some advice that you can pay attention to and really take in, so that the situation among you here in America, in Los Angeles, does not deteriorate but keeps improving, and so that your group will last.

As you know and have experienced, the latihan, the spiritual training you have been receiving in Subud, is a training that is beyond your thinking mind and desires; in short, it is free from your will, heart and mind. So it is very important that you do not use the tactics of your brain, mind and heart with regard to what you receive in the latihan and what you experience in Subud. On the contrary, you should receive patiently and obediently, and have faith that God is the One who can guide you, give you under-standing, change your character and change the circumstances of your life, so that you can experience the excellent life you hope for, and receive whatever God gives you for the needs of your soul so that it can progress.

Certainly, for those of you – especially those who are well educated – who always use your mind to decide what is good and bad, what you should follow and what you should not, and to consider whether you should do this or that, Bapak approves of your using your heart and mind in this way. But do not forget, this latihan of ours is a spiritual training. It is not a training of the heart and mind, to become clever and good at finding the things we use for our worldly needs. This spiritual path is solely God’s work, and if our soul becomes good, or if our soul becomes excellent, its excellence and goodness are not for this world but for the life after death.

Therefore, broadly speaking, the spiritual training or latihan you have received is really no different from the training spoken of by human beings who lived in times long ago and who received the gift of a revelation from God – the prophets and messengers. So, it can be said that this spiritual training of Subud is God’s training or God’s work, which you are able to receive. It is the same as what is called godsdienst [Du.] in religion; that is, God’s work.

Brothers and sisters, if you consider it more deeply, human beings cannot use their five senses and all the parts of their body beyond the capacity of their individuality. This means that you won’t be able to see as far as the [full] capacity of your eyes, and the same goes for your ears, and also for your brain and thinking. That is why those who keep forcing that part of their being to know something they cannot possibly know, become confused by it. They become confused by their own brain. So … well, yes … you could say that in their life they are unbalanced. They are not like normal people.

Can human beings not achieve something with their mind, heart and desires that can be called wonderful, beautiful, or extra-ordinary? Of course they can. With their heart, mind, desires and brain, people can reach a profound understanding in this world. But the understanding that they acquire in the world will be useless for their life after death.

Well, people may say, ‘What’s the use of seeking understanding, stature, nobility, and knowledge in life after death? It’s of no use. After all, people in general cannot even see it.’

Indeed, that is true; spiritual [accomplishments] cannot be seen by others. In religion it is the same. In religion it is said that if people behave well, following the guidelines given by the prophets and messengers – by Jesus himself, for example – they will become aware of their life. It is also said that such people will have all their sins erased and be acknowledged by God, so that they can be near God. And people really believe this. Millions believe it. So it is clear that something that is truly beyond human imagination, beyond the human mind and will and understanding, can be attained just through belief.

In Subud, however, in your latihan, besides believing in God and God’s greatness according to the teachings of your respective religions, you also find clear proof; you witness and experience that what Jesus said is very true: that God is within you and that God always envelops and protects human beings. You have been able to verify and to witness this. So, in reality, as well as believing in the existence of the One God, you have witnessed for yourself that truly, within your individuality, within your self, there is an unseen power that arises and awakens beyond your thinking, beyond your mind and heart.

That is why this spiritual training – the latihan you follow every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Tuesday – is truly the technique, the reality, of what you have heard in the teachings of the religion you follow. So in truth, brothers and sisters, this latihan of Subud is not a training that goes against the religions. It does not go against Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism, or any other religion or movement. Subud does not go against any of them, because Subud is the technique.

So, suppose you obtain theories from there, there and there [gesture]. Now you need to implement them and see whether they are true. Well, that is what you discover in Subud. That is why Subud consists of people with every kind of belief; for example, there are Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, people with every kind of religion. There are even those who have no religion, but once they join Subud and receive the latihan they say, ‘This is truly the reality, and a clear proof. Whether we want to or not, we believe that God and God’s greatness is really there within human beings, in both their inner part and their outer part.’

This is the basis, the basis of the latihan, of preparing yourself to receive this Subud spiritual training. As when someone new is being opened: you are required not to think about this and that, nor to imagine all kinds of things, but only to feel your own being and believe in God’s greatness. When you feel like that, it means that you surrender fully to the greatness of God: only God is great, only God is all knowing and able to guide you. That is the basis of this Subud spiritual training.

This is no different from the basis of the various religions, which is that people should behave very well so that they can live in harmony, conquer their ego, and be truly patient and obedient to God. In reality this is just the same as when, before the latihan, you surrender to God and do not think of anything. It means you are no longer using your desires, heart and mind, which always carry us off into all kinds of things.

And in the religions – especially in Islam and Christianity – followers are required only to worship God cleanly, with a clean heart. They are not required to practise asceticism: cutting down on eating and drinking, or giving up the pleasures of their life in the world and isolating themselves from society, living in a jungle or on a sea shore or mountain top. No. They are required only to worship, while continuing to work. They still go to work; but every Sunday or every whatever day it is, they need to worship. Similarly in Islam, it is enough if they practise their religion; that is to say, that they pray every morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening. They still need to live like ordinary human beings. In Subud, if you do not forget, and if you are familiar with receiving it, it is like that too. Subud is about the technique, the practice of this.

Here is the truth of it. Why are you able to receive the contact from the greatness of God, which is so hard to get, meaning that human beings get it only after practising fasting and self-denial for years? Yet you are able to receive it after being opened for only five, ten or fifteen minutes, or after doing the latihan at most ten or twenty times; and you still work, you still carry on as normal: you still live with your family, you still go to the cinema now and again, and you still go out dancing, for example. Yet you are able to receive it.

Well, that is the reality: it is God’s will that human beings should be able to receive the contact of life from God, which can become the way for them to know about their life, while they are still carrying on living in a normal way. So, in Subud, it is God’s will that you can receive things that are beyond the thinking mind, but you can still count money, take money with you, go to the movies, look around, buy things, or go out with your spouse. [Laughter.]

This is God’s will for human beings: that however high their intellect may reach, however vast the scope of their intelligence, they should remain human, and not start to change. It should not happen that once their soul is high they let their beard grow long, or once they feel they are adept at something they grow their moustache like this [gesture; laughter]. And their clothes – just one set of clothes, and never changing them. That is not what God wants. God wants human beings to be truly humane; to be truly sensitive, more so than the animals. That is essential.

It is clear that human beings only behave like that in order that other people should say they are really holy men. [Bapak laughs.] If Bapak did that, his whole body would hurt. If he had to stay quiet, like this [gesture], and didn’t laugh, that would hurt. [Laughter.]

That’s why, when Bapak is among you, he is just like you – just the same. Bapak is used to wearing a tie. He is used to wearing all kinds of clothes. He also laughs a lot. He likes to do all kinds of things. He likes to watch television, too. I was even asked about it by a maharishi who happened to visit. Bapak said, ‘I’m just watching television’ – they have television in Jakarta now. He just looked at me [gesture; laughter], ‘How can Pak Subuh be like that? How can Pak Subuh, whose soul is so high, still watch television?’ he said. [Laughter.]

When Bapak does that, it does not mean that he is influenced by it or that he likes television very much. No. If it’s available, Bapak will watch it. But if not, he doesn’t need to go and look for it – there is no television so Bapak goes off to find one – no, it’s not like that. But if it’s there, he watches; if not, he doesn’t.

So, Bapak doesn’t like to depart from what is normal for human beings. If he did, people would say that Bapak is not like a human being any more. If people said that about him it would not be an advantage for him – it would be a misfortune; because then, if he wanted these clothes he would not get them. If he wanted to eat this food, he couldn’t. Because if people said he was no longer human, of course he would not like to eat rice or bread; what he would eat would be only blossoms, or the smell of the food. [Bapak laughs.]

This is probably no different from the lives of the messengers in ancient times. Of course you have heard about them. Like Abraham: did you ever hear that he never ate? Certainly you will have heard that Abraham, the prophet, ate every day. Did Abraham have a wife? Surely you will say, ‘Oh yes, he had a wife, because he had children.’ Did he look like someone out of the ordinary, meaning different from other people? No. He was just the same as others. The clothes he wore were the same, too.

It was the same with the other prophets and the other messengers. Like Jesus: Jesus’ life was no different from the lives of ordinary people. Jesus ate too. If Jesus had never eaten, or if Jesus had only eaten the smell of food, would that be normal?

It is clear then, that anything that is different from the usual is felt to be something that is not genuine. So, well, Bapak cannot say it is right or wrong, but such things are not normal. So if people really reflect on this, they certainly will not follow such behaviour.

Therefore Bapak hopes that you will not think about what you receive in Subud but just receive and feel it, because if you are not willing to receive and you do not pay attention to what you are feeling, it means that you have a careless nature. Receive and feel, so that in receiving and paying attention you will gradually be able to feel what the use is of moving in this or that way.

It is like this: you are already able to walk because you are already adults and it is usual for human beings to use their legs to walk. You are also able to write, see, hear, and so on, using all your five senses and all the parts of your body. But all of that is preceded by a wish, by a desire. ‘I want to walk’, and then you walk. ‘I want to think’, and then you think. ‘I want to go there’, and then you go there.

In the latihan you begin [to be aware]: if you have no wish, can you walk? Without your wanting to, are you able to wave your hands about? Eventually, in this way, if you really continue to pay attention and follow it, you will be able to know and feel, ‘Before I walk, God is there behind me. Before I wave my hands about, God is there behind me. Before I look at something, God is there behind me.’ ‘Behind me’ means behind the ‘me’ in all our actions. Since all of that is in front of God, if you are not off somewhere, and are not thinking about all kinds of things, and you are quiet, God will prod you from behind. ‘Hey, what’s this?’ [Bapak laughs.] That’s how it will feel.

This is told in the stories of human beings who obtained grace from God, like the prophets. Why are the prophets described as becoming shepherds? Why didn’t they become engineers? Why didn’t they become conductors? Why didn’t they become ships’ captains? Why were they all shepherds? They were all shepherds! What is the meaning of sheep, and what is the meaning of shepherd?

Well, this is it, brothers and sisters. If that is how the story is told, well, of course you can just take it at face value. But if you are already able to test it from this spiritual point of view, shepherd means the One we just spoke about, who watches over you from behind. So, the prophets represent or symbolise God. The sheep symbolise the people. So the shepherd symbolises the One who prods you when you are in the latihan. The sheep symbolise you: you are God’s sheep. [Laughter.]

So, truly, the latihan you have received and that Bapak received a long time ago, is something beyond estimation, beyond conjecture. While Bapak was receiving it, he was still working. He was chased, chased by spiritual knowledge, chased by the Shepherd. Yes. So when Bapak wanted to study, [he started moving] like this and like this [gestures; laughter]. ‘Hey, why is the Shepherd doing this to me?’ [Laughter.]

And if you ask, ‘Pak, is it true that this is from God? It’s all right if it’s from God, but if it isn’t from God then what? What if it’s from something else, that people usually call magic?’

Well, that can be answered quite concisely. If someone wants to get a job, the way to get it is with money. Because if you do not spend money before – to study, paying school fees and so on – you will not get a job that will bring in money. If you go fishing, your bait is also a fish – a shrimp. So, if you angle for fish, you take fish with you. If you angle for money, you take money with you. But if you are angling for something real – that is to say, what we were talking about just now, something that is not from the desires – then of course, what you take with you will be without desires. So, if you turn to God and worship God without your desires, without your thinking and without all kinds of wishes, you will surely be able to receive something beyond your wishes and desires. That’s logical.

That is why everyone who knows or hears about this Subud latihan says, ‘How can spiritual training that leads you to receive a contact with the greatness of God be so simple? It cannot be. It has to be done through asceticism.’

Bapak replies, ‘Truly, that’s how Subud is. After all, when we were made, it was not with a lot of trouble and effort; it was through a very simple act. So God has given us a sign. We were made in this world in a truly simple way. To make a chair is harder.’ [Bapak laughs.]

This is the advice Bapak wants to give you tonight, brothers and sisters. Along with the advice there has been some joking and it’s also been a bit like a normal conversation, but it will really be very useful for you if you truly take to heart what Bapak has been saying.

Earlier Bapak said that he feels really disappointed that, this time, he is with you for just this one night and cannot give you a long talk. So I also ask you, well, please accept your regret and disappointment with a feeling of patience, and accept whatever it is that you are able to receive.

And so that in a small way you can verify the reality for yourselves, Bapak will also do some testing … [there is a short break in the recording] what you have experienced. Certainly Bapak will do testing with some of you, and you can all see what Bapak does with them.

[Testing]