Brothers and sisters, because Bapak already thanked you yesterday for your welcome, he is going to give you a talk tonight so that you will better understand the latihan, what its aim is, and what its benefit is.

Certainly many of you, though not everyone, still doubt that this spiritual training will produce anything, or benefit you in the way that you hope it will. Actually, this latihan will bring you a great benefit. It is a way that is truly worth following, because this latihan is a training that comes from the power of God and is received by each of you according to God’s will.

Why is that? It is because, as Bapak just said, this spiritual training is a grace from God that has been given to humankind, so that people who follow it do not have to do things that are burdensome. For, usually, someone who worships God using an effort of will to find the way and do all that is necessary, has to behave in ways that people in this day and age cannot possibly emulate or copy.

It is certain that God wants human beings to be able to worship God and find their way back to God. And God has provided everything a person needs to carry out their devotion or worship of God, in that God has placed God’s will close at hand. God has provided the means: it is inside every human being; it is inside every creature that God has willed to exist.

God wants human beings constantly to turn to their inner self, constantly to sense their inner self. But people do not do that. More often than not people say that they are looking for the path to God, they say that they are worshipping God, but instead they make their heart and feelings dependent on whoever is said to have found the way to God.

Understandably, you … or rather, those people, believe that they can follow the same path, that they can do the same things as were done by whoever told them about or revealed the path to God. But in fact that is impossible. Every human being must find his or her own path. As evidence of this, when someone dies they cannot share their death with anyone else. So, when a person dies they are buried alone; it is not possible for one grave to be occupied by two or three people, for example.

And the fact is that no two people are alike, whether it is in the way they feel, or the way they think, or the way they feel inwardly, or the way they behave or act. This is why religions do not set out methods or doctrines to find the way to God; they just require that their followers should have a good character, that they should behave well and that they should have positive feelings. For instance, they should act with humanity, help people who need help, care for people that need caring for, and as far as possible they should not restrict or disturb other people’s freedom and happiness.

This is the kind of behaviour that should be displayed by people who get explanations from those who received God’s grace, or who follow what is written in the holy books. That is what they are told to practise; meaning, that is what they should comply with and emulate.

So, for example, in Islam it is not the act of praying morning, noon, evening and night that constitutes worshipping God. No! If you are to worship God in the real sense, in order that God will give you something that will be your path to God and to eternal life, you must put your religion into practice.

And what Bapak means by practising your religion – as he just told you – is that human beings, all of you, should behave well, should exhibit a good character and should act with humanity. This means that you should work at or do things that are useful for yourself and for other people, and you should not do anything to take away the liberty or happiness of others.

If your intention or the way you behave is like that, if you can put that into practice, you will find something that calms and brings peace to your feelings. Why is that? It is because if people in the world can, by and large, get along – meaning that they behave humanely, that people help each other, respect each other and care for each other – obviously this world will be peaceful. There will not be conflicts or rivalries between one group and another.

If that is the case, then the general condition of humankind will be peaceful and calm. And if people’s feelings are peaceful and calm, they will be patient, accepting and willing to let go. And it is an attitude of patience, acceptance and willingness to let go that is the absolute precondition for someone to sense and receive the contact from Almighty God that exists within every human being.

But it turns out that, even with this advice about how they need to behave, it is still extremely difficult for human beings to do. Therefore, God has now decided to give humankind something totally unexpected, something that activates the inner feeling – and this is the state that you receive and follow [in the latihan].

As a consequence of activating your inner feeling in the way you have received – provided that you always follow this movement and you act upon what you receive in your latihan – your heart, your mind and your emotions, which are never at peace, will automatically become peaceful and calm. And in that calm state the movement of your inner feeling will become stronger and stronger and will spread throughout your inner feeling, throughout your whole being.

Ultimately this movement will penetrate even deeper, to the soul. And of its own accord, because its oppression of your heart and mind has stopped, the soul within you that is not appropriate for your outer form – supposing your soul is animal-like – will change by itself into a human soul that is appropriate to your outer form. And after that you will be able to receive everything you need to live as a human being.

Why, you may ask, have we received this training only now? Why has God given it to humankind only now? The reason is that nowadays humankind’s intellectual progress has gone so far, human intelligence has developed to such an extent, that people can make all sorts of things that they think are miraculous. They even think that they – human beings – are extraordinary creatures.

And as a consequence of human development advancing so far, inevitably people’s hearts are enthralled by the things that they make. It has gone so far that many people think or believe that God does not exist; that there is only humankind’s intelligence, intellect and understanding. That is how far the attitude of human beings has gone in relation to things they make. It has reached the point where people have forgotten that they exist in this world because of God, that humans live in this world because they were created by Almighty God.

However, even though human beings amaze themselves, even though they have become proud, even though they take pride that their intelligence has developed so far, in truth their intelligence is nothing when compared to the power of God.

We can say that humankind has not reached its limit. Human intelligence or thought has not extended beyond the sphere of the sun’s influence, beyond our solar system. Human beings have not even got that far, but they already think that they are like God – those who are clever, that is. So, what would they think of themselves if they got beyond the solar system? But even if they could achieve that, their achievement would be nothing compared to God’s. There is no comparison.

As was told by people who spoke of such things, the distance to the throne of God … the throne of God is a place that is referred to in Islam as Arshu’llah; Aras means a place of immense size and dimensions where Almighty God resides, or so it is told. The distance from there to the earth passes through seven levels or seven atmospheres. And each atmosphere is made up of five levels. So the total is, say, twelve.

And to travel from the throne of God to earth, passing through the seven heavens, the seven levels of life, takes an angel fifty years at the fastest. Now an angel travels faster than light travels from the sun to earth, and sunlight takes fifteen seconds to reach the earth. So, even though an angel can travel so fast, faster than the sun’s rays travel to earth – because angels move a thousand times faster than the speed of light – the journey still takes an angel fifty years. Hence, you can work out for yourself that if a human being were to go from here to the throne of God, even after seventy million years they would not have got there. In fact, it is impossible for a human being ever to get there; after all, how long can a human being live? They would never make it.

So, clearly, the journey a person has to make to reach God cannot be thought about or perceived or imagined. Therefore do not try to imagine, do not try to think about, where God is or how to get there. You cannot do it.

And you should know that the path a person must travel to reach God is full of obstacles, full of temptations, and there are many detours leading this way and that, here and there, hither and thither. Who puts those temptations there? The low forces; the life forces we call the material or satanic force, the vegetable force, the animal force, the life force of people themselves. And they are not so much temptations, but they dazzle you – their brilliance is a lure for human beings, so a person cannot tell which way is the right one, the best one, the direct path to God. That alone can cause a person’s journey to God to founder. But it is even more difficult if a person thinks about or reflects on the distance between here and the throne of God, a distance that is impossible for you to travel.

That is why religions advise their followers just to have faith. It is enough to believe in God. It is enough to believe that God is Almighty. It is enough to believe in whoever was the messenger of God. Because if a person has faith, their heart and mind will not compel them to search for God. It is enough if the heart and mind are inactive. It is enough to worship God by letting go. That is the state a person needs to be in for their inner feeling to be opened by God’s will, which has been placed in every creature; God’s will that is there within each one of you.

And now we have this grace from God. Maybe … well, Bapak does not know what God’s will is, because Bapak is a human being like you, who gets sick and will die, so Bapak just says maybe. Maybe God has assessed and concluded that if a person only has faith they can never find what God has made available inside them, because they are constantly disturbed by the advancement of their own intellect.

That is why the arrival of this spiritual training, which you experience moving within you, is a benefit beyond compare. Perhaps it will only happen later, after you have made a lot of progress in your latihan, that you will regret the time you wasted in the past.

So, as is said in the stories, because there is no possibility for a human being to discover the path to God, and because it is also impossible for a person to cross that vast distance, God willed that God’s will, or God’s power, should be put in every nature that God created. And by using this power that is planted or manifests inside them, God’s creatures, human beings, can sense and be guided by God.

The proof of this is also to be found in stories of old. This story will be familiar to those of you who are Muslims. The distance from the earth to the throne of God and from the throne of God back to the earth is so great that an angel takes many years to cover it, and yet it was covered by a man who started out at 9.30 pm and returned home at 4.30 am – there and back. That man was Prophet Muhammad. This is an example.

How can a journey that takes an angel fifty years, or one hundred years there and back, be made by a man between the hours of 9.30 pm and 4.30 am? How many hours is that? Seven hours! That is if you want to have a comparison. Does that mean that human beings are more powerful than angels? No. It is not that human beings are more powerful, but that God has placed God’s will – God’s power – inside human beings.

Brothers and sisters, this is just to make a comparison. It doesn’t mean that God said that. No. It’s just a story; that’s it.

People in the past, particularly messengers of God or people chosen by God, did not lie, they were not deceitful. Why? It was because they were moved from within, from God, not from themselves. Because their actions came from within, they did not act out of desire.2 On the contrary, they acted from the cleanliness of their inner feeling, from the purity of their heart. So, naturally, they did not lie.

Therefore, what Prophet Muhammad said, what Jesus said, what Abraham said, what Moses said, was true. They did not lie. They were not like you; they were not like people today who cannot possibly speak with complete honesty. You are certainly – well, maybe – like that too.

Suppose you have ten rupiah, it would be impossible for you to admit that you have ten rupiah. No. If you have ten rupiah, the most you will admit to having is one rupiah. Why is that? You are human; you cannot speak with complete honesty, because you are worried. But Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Abraham and Moses never felt worried; their hearts and inner feelings had been fortified by the power of God that manifested within them.

And what did Prophet Muhammad have that enabled him to cross that great distance – a distance that is impossible to travel – in only seven hours? What was it that Prophet Muhammad had? He had nothing more than his ability to surrender to Almighty God; to surrender with patience, acceptance and complete willingness to let go. That is the tool which is so effective, which is beyond compare.

In the same way, the members here [in India] will be familiar with the way people worshipped God in the past – they isolated themselves away from crowded places, they went without every kind of pleasure, they did not move for years on end. And even after doing all that, it is not certain they received anything.

Well, maybe some of them received something. But you can decide for yourself, could you do what they did? You have got used to eating bread with cheese and butter every morning. You cannot do without your breakfast. You have got used to eating every day; you cannot go without eating. You have got used to going out and doing this and that. You always go to the movies and so on. Could you do what they did? It would be extremely hard for you.

That is why this training you have received is a path that, as the English say, is ‘very simple’. But it is still difficult for you because you have to be patient, accepting and willing to let go.

As has also been explained in the holy books, a person can only reach their goal – to return to God – if they have found the path that is for all humankind. One path for all humankind. But people are not like that. This person wants to do it their way; that person wants to do it their way; someone else does it their way. There is this way and that way, that way and this way.

So, if people were to find God in that way, it would mean everyone had their own God. There would be a God with black skin, a God with white skin, a God with brown skin like Bapak, and one with red skin; and then there would be a God who wears clothes like this, and a God who wears a hat, and a God who dresses like this. If that were true, God would not be the same for everyone. God would not be called Almighty; God would not be called All-holy.

In order to find a word that fits, in Islam they say ‘Allah’. Allah comes from the words al-heelal or al-Allah; meaning, that which encompasses everything. That is why it is said, ‘If you think that God is like a human being, you are wrong. If you think that God shines like a light, you are wrong. If you think that God sits on a throne encrusted with diamonds and jewels, you are wrong. If you think that God speaks a particular language, you are still wrong.’

So then what? God is not like that. God has no form, God has no colour, God does not radiate light, God does not meditate, God has no nationality and God has no race. But, God rules everything. So if you want to say ‘God’ – God’s true name – you would have to say the name of everything that God has ever created, all at once. How is that possible? How could you say, ‘Table, room, chair,’ all at once? ‘Tttttablechair …’ [Bapak laughs.] You cannot say it.

That is the way it is. So it is clear that the God you seek is beyond your imagination. For that reason, do not look for God. Surrender to God. Because God’s will is there inside you and it will guide you, it will lead you in the direction you need to take for your life.

Well, although Bapak does not say or promise that you will be able to be like them, because of course you are not the same as the prophets – you are not Prophet Muhammad, you are not Jesus, you are not Abraham or Moses – it is certain that, little by little, you will find the best way, the most beneficial way to live your life.

And this has now become a reality for all of you. How can people of every race and every religion be together in the spiritual association of Subud? How is it possible for them to mix together? In fact, this is not possible; it is impossible for these people to be together. It is impossible. When Muslims mix with Christians, they fight. They are bound to fight; you cannot put them together. One says this is right, the other says that is right: right meets right – they fight to be right.

Well, that is just the Christians and the Muslims; it does not yet include Buddhists, Hindus and others.

‘This is right!’

‘This is right!’

Right, right, all are right. They fight!

Because this is real now … [inaudible]. Yes? This has become a reality. Maybe – again Bapak says maybe – it is God’s will that the spiritual training of Subud has come into the world at this time so that it can be received by and bring together people of different races and different religions.

Bapak will give you an example. Nowadays Bapak travels everywhere. A Subud member asked Bapak, ‘Bapak, will I, will we, be made to join Islam?’ Bapak replied, ‘No! If Bapak were to make you join Islam, that would mean that Subud is Islam. It is not.’

Subud is not a religion. If Subud were a religion, everyone would have to join the religion of Subud. A Muslim would have to join the religion of Subud. A Christian would have to join the religion of Subud. That could never happen. It would be like this all over again [gestures].

Subud is not a religion. The people who are in Subud, its members, follow their own religions. There are Hindus, there are Buddhists, there are Christians – Catholics and Protestants – there are Muslims, and there are members of other religions and other movements, too. But after they join Subud they can get along. That is because everyone receives [the latihan] in their own way, according to their own individuality.

And in Subud, in the latihan, you can receive in a tangible way the guidance, direction and advice from God’s will, directly from the power of God. So, you do not need to search for God, because you are already being guided and led by God. And if you are already being guided by God, and you are heading towards God, and the one who is leading you there is God, but you still search for God, you will go wrong. If you do that, it shows that you do not have faith, and consequently you do not put yourself in God’s hands. On the contrary, you are being influenced by other life forces, and you will end up getting lost you will take the wrong path.

The way for you, brothers and sisters, is simply to receive and follow the latihan just as though you are making everyday movements. For, once you can receive this latihan completely, once you have completed or received the total purification of your being, of your whole self, you will be able to feel and be aware that as you walk, as you wave your hands about, as you see, as you hear, as you smell, as you feel, as you think and imagine, and so on – in short, in every movement you make – your life will be guided by God. It will be guided by God and you will know and realise this is what it meant to be a messenger of God.

That was why Prophet Muhammad – because he was a human being who could feel God’s counsel – could receive God’s guidance when he slept, when he was awake, when he talked, when he spoke, when he laughed, when he cried; everything he did was guided by God. In everyday language this means that every part of him was alive, thanks to God. That is why he was called Rasul [Arab.] which means the messenger: the messenger of God.

When you do the latihan, some of you shout, some of you laugh, some of you walk around. Earlier I saw one of you walking fast, but you did not collide with anyone else – it was as if you were guided. So, do not be startled if you see someone move like that in the latihan, because as Bapak said earlier, each of you is being trained in line with your individuality.

So, you do not need to copy or imitate anyone. Do not do that. If you see [someone else and you think], ‘Why do they walk, but I don’t?’ Do not think like that. Perhaps that person needs to walk, and all you need to do is this. [Bapak gestures]. Someone else needs to laugh, or to shout, and so on. But all you need to do is go, ‘Hm … hm … hm’ [Bapak hums]. So, do not change the way you move. Do not try to copy anyone else. Do not do that!

Many members complain, ‘Why isn’t my latihan like that of the others? Other people whistle, they leap around, but all I do is move like this! Have I been opened properly? Am I being trained?’ they ask.

‘Oh,’ Bapak replies, ‘You are being trained and you have been opened. But you are following your own path. If you find that hard to accept, laugh, then ask your child to laugh like you. Can they? Or, tell your child to laugh, and then you laugh like them. Can you? You can’t, can you.’

A child cannot imitate the father; neither can the father be like the child, let alone imitate anyone else.

That is how it is; even though we all share the same goal – namely Almighty God – it is God who guides and leads and directs you as you receive this spiritual training. And in this way you will be able to keep your promise: that you are all human beings and you all face one God.

This is the end of Bapak’s talk tonight. He will end at this point and continue on another evening. And Bapak wants to thank all of you for coming here to listen to this talk; he thanks all of you for that.

Please forgive anything that Bapak may have said that was out of place.

Thank you.

Notes

2. Desires: the word nafsu, which is usually translated as ‘desires’ or ‘passions’ depending on the context, refers to the motivations within a person that are influenced by the low life forces.

The content of the desires is the wish to be capable, the wish to be good, the wish to receive more quickly, the wish to be cleverer than others, not wanting to give in, not wanting to be called stupid, and so on.

Bapak, Paris 1959. [Vol. 6, 59 PAR 3 p239]

3. Heart: the word hati, which is usually translated as heart, is the feeling that is limited to our mortal nature. Literally, hati means ‘the liver’ and is considered to be the seat of the feelings, emotions and desires. ‘Heart’ is not a perfect fit however, for in Bapak’s usage it is also the place where imagining and daydreaming take place. Therefore in some places the word ‘imagination’ has been considered to be a more appropriate translation.

The content of the human heart is the images of all that a person has experienced from childhood, throughout their life and into old age.

Bapak, Paris 1959. [Vol. 6, 59 PAR 3 p239]

5. At that time, it was still the accepted practice in Indonesia never to have more than one body in a grave.