Ladies and gentlemen, tonight Bapak is going to give you some more explanations about our spiritual path.

However, Bapak asks you not to think of these explanations he is going to give you as teachings. For these explanations are not teachings intended to guide you; we have no teachings in the spiritual association of Subud. You will receive for yourself, directly from the power of God, in a way that will be in accordance with your capacity, your strength and your individuality.

That is why if you have a religion – whether it is Christianity: Catholicism or Protestantism; Islam: the various forms of Islam; Buddhism; Hinduism; and so on – you have no need to worry. And neither should you get the idea that this latihan is Indonesian, nor think that it is a philosophy of Mr Muhammad Subuh who comes from Indonesia.

On the contrary, Bapak wants to tell you that what God has given to Bapak – this spiritual training of Subud that we call Susila Budhi Dharma – is an awakening of the soul that is triggered by receiving the contact from the great power of God directly from Almighty God. Thus this spiritual training embraces everything that has already been received by humankind from God. And, as the power of Almighty God governs everything that exists in the realm of God’s power, even though you are of different races and have different religions, and even though each of you receives the latihan in a different way, the goal that you receive from within is the same – you are heading towards the One who is leading, teaching and guiding you; towards Almighty God.

This is in complete accord with what is stated in the holy books, in particular the holy book of Islam, which comprises Almighty God’s instructions to his messenger Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be with him. Human beings are told, and this applies to everything, to all God’s creatures: ‘You came from God, so you must return to God.’ The same thing is expressed in Christianity – by Christ – with the words: ‘From the Father, back to the Father,’ which means: ‘You come from God and you will return to God.’

In fact this gift from God to humankind, which acts to open a person’s heart3 and mind, and causes that person to obey and submit to Almighty God, is not new. This latihan did not just arrive now; it existed long ago. So this training that you receive and follow is not new; it has existed since before humans came into being in this world. But its form has changed, in keeping with the age, in keeping with the development of the human intellect and the passage of time.

You can imagine that in ancient times, in what we call the age of the camel, in the age of bows and arrows and hatchets, before the age of aeroplanes, before there were cannons or Sten guns or machine guns, conditions were very different. For that reason this training you now receive takes a different form from that which existed before. However, although its outer form has changed, its content is the same.

For instance, in Islam it was done by praying five times a day: at dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, in the evening and at night. And the way it was done was to prostrate oneself; to say, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ [God is supremely great] and to carry out the movements of the prayers. Other religions had something similar. Now, for you, it is different; it fits with your way of life – so do not be concerned or worried about what you receive in the latihan. However, you should never say that people who worship God in other ways – by saying ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and by doing this [gestures] – are not worshipping in the right way, are not worshipping properly, or that those ways are outdated.

Indeed, the way we need to worship these days must be different. In the past it was good enough to worship that way, but the situation is different now. Such is the magnificence and power of Almighty God that God’s knowledge far exceeds human knowledge, and far exceeds the knowledge of any of God’s creatures. That is why God has been extraordinarily wise in allowing human beings to receive in a way that does not feel strange to them, with the result that ready or not, willing or not, their heart and mind are bound to submit to what they receive from God.

The fact is that many people today who are highly educated, because of their level of education cannot accept that by doing what Bapak described earlier – by prostrating oneself and so on – they will fulfill the requirements needed for a person truly to worship God. And neither can they accept that by doing this they will find the power of God that is inside them and envelops them.

It is true that people who lived long ago were, on the whole, willing to accept advice. But people today, whose minds are so intelligent, who are so highly educated, who have titles like Dr, and so on, do not need advice, because they are very clever. Instead, they need to receive something real – some reality. They need a real experience. That is the point, brothers and sisters. That is why God has been so wise in bestowing – among other ways – [the latihan] that you receive.

Bapak says ‘among other ways’, because it may be that apart from the spiritual association of Subud, apart from what he has received, others may have received something similar. Bapak cannot say whether what they have received is like the latihan or takes some other form. He cannot say, because he is like you: he is an ordinary person who gets sick, who will die, who gets hungry if he does not eat, who gets sleepy if he does not sleep, who feels hot in the sun, and who feels cold too.

So, do not get big-headed. Do not get arrogant and think that Subud is the only way; that Subud is more real and more effective than any other way. Just do your latihan diligently and practise what you receive. Because if you practise [what you receive], and if you do your latihan diligently, and if you do not think too much when you do the latihan, you will start to get a clear calm feeling and you will be able to receive what you need for your self.

Your latihan – Bapak has seen how some of you receive the latihan – is still at the stage of purification. You have not reached the stage where you can receive lessons. Before you can receive lessons you must first be cleaned of all the dirt and mistakes that you have within you. That is why your latihan is sometimes hard to bear, why you sometimes beat yourself, you feel oppressed: you experience all kinds of unpleasant feelings. At other times you suddenly feel fearful: your heart is anxious, your heart is troubled and you cry. And sometimes you feel joyful, but for no reason. Those kinds of latihan show that the process of purification is taking place and working inside you. But it means that you have not reached the stage at which you can know how to use your self and your individuality.

Bapak will use matter to illustrate this. Before someone knows how to separate matter into its different elements, they cannot tell gold from iron, or gold from dirt. But once a person can separate the elements from each other, they can tell them apart and can separate the gold from the dirt. This applies to you too. Because your inner being has been mixed up like soil, even though you have gold inside you, meaning that you have a pure feeling – one that can receive lessons, that can receive the will of God present in your individuality – because that pure feeling has been contaminated for so long, from the time of your ancestors until now, first it has to be separated out, first it must be cleaned.

Therefore Bapak cannot tell you how long you will have to do latihan [to get clean], as it depends on your individual state. It takes some people ten years to get clean. It takes other people twenty years to get clean. Other people take thirty years. Some people die before they are clean. And there are some people who get clean in less than ten years. Bapak cannot tell you how long it will take; it depends on you. That is why he always tells Subud members not to worry that you are not progressing fast enough, and not to think that God is unjust because you cannot immediately receive what you most need, which is to know the nature of your individuality.

Of course, you want to know why. What is the reason? Why does it take so long? Why is it not as easy as it used to be, as was described by people in the past who received God’s grace with ease?

Brothers and sisters, you exist, you are here, because of other human beings, because of your parents. It is your parents, your father and your mother, who caused you to exist. As Bapak explained last night, the coming of a child in the mother’s womb comes from the intercourse between the mother and father, from sexual intercourse between a man and woman. Both during intercourse and beforehand, neither the man nor his wife gave any thought to the fact that they would be blessed with a child. Generally – Bapak says generally, but it is not always like that – generally, a man and woman have intercourse because they are attracted to each other out of pleasure or love, not because they want to have a child - a child with a good content, with a clean spirit, a clean inner feeling.

As a result, the child born from the intercourse between a man and a woman, between the mother and father, has a content that is unsuitable – he or she does not have a clean life force, does not have a clean inner feeling. In consequence, when the child grows up they cannot behave well, cannot behave in the right way or behave correctly, because they are driven by a bad content, by a dirty inner feeling. And that is as a result of the wrong kind of intercourse between the father and the mother.

That is the reason why many people, many of you – if Bapak may say so – find that when you receive the latihan it takes a long time to complete your purification, and you do not receive the latihan well. For that reason Bapak urges you to be accepting and grateful to God that God has given you something that makes you aware of the faults in your being.

In truth, this is an incomparable benefit for you – that by doing the latihan you have begun to be aware of your faults. Whereas before you received the latihan you would have felt that all human beings are the same. Some of you may even have said, ‘If I want to, if I make the effort, I am sure to succeed,’ meaning that you felt you could receive to the same degree as people in the past could receive.

In broad terms, when you first receive the latihan you get a sensation in your body as if something comes from the upper part and moves to the lower part of you. You feel something moving inside, from the upper part down the length of your body to the lower part. In Islam, that sensation is symbolised by the letter alif.6 And that is why in Islam the letter alif is said to be a living letter. It does not mean that alif is alive, but that it denotes the arising of life, the arising of the life force that encompasses everything.

Following on from that, you get another sensation as if some-thing moves across inside you. That is symbolised by the cross. So the [sensation] that goes from the top to the bottom is the symbol alif, which represents Islam, and this movement [gesture], the cross, symbolises Christianity. You cannot separate this movement from this movement [gestures], because they both come from Almighty God. They represent God’s grace that has been bestowed on us. And these two sensations can become the source of elucidation, the light or the beacon for human beings, so that they can sense and understand that God exists and that God is their Creator.

According to the history of Islam, Islam did not come into being with the birth of Prophet Muhammad the messenger of God. Islam existed before Prophet Muhammad was born. In fact, according to the history of Islam, it existed before Adam. So, Islam came first because Islam means ‘life’. Thus the religion of ‘Islam’ is a religion that is alive, regardless of the name it is given. ‘Islam’ is the outer form of worship by Prophet Muhammad, the messenger of God.

This is to give you some understanding, so that you do not get the wrong idea and think that Islam came from this place or that place. No. Islam came from God, just as the cross, just as Christianity did. In the same way, Christianity did not arrive with the birth of Christ. No. It existed before that. Both [Christianity and Islam] existed before human beings did; they were already in existence when human beings came to be.

Bapak says this because the sensation that goes like this and then like that [Bapak gestures], is not an object. But, if you can receive it, it is a light – not a light like the light of the sun or any other kind of light – it is a light that descends from above. It is symbolised in the story of the ascension of Prophet Muhammad by the lowering of a golden staircase from heaven. It is symbolised in Christianity by the light of the Holy Spirit shining on human beings, which was received by Christ when he was born on earth.

Bapak does not say that [Christianity and Islam] are one and the same, but this is a real experience in the latihan that he cannot ignore, that he cannot deny. For whatever Bapak has received in his latihan, at some point you will receive in your latihan; some of you may have received this already.

Here is an example. When Muslims perform their prayers they say, ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, la ilaha illa’llah.’ [Bapak demonstrates the way Muslims say the dhikr prayer7] In essence, that is the same as the gesture Christians always make, like this [Bapak makes the sign of the cross]. What does that mean? It is the same thing, but [Muslims say] ‘Allah, Allah, la ilaha …’

So if you say, ‘Allah, Allah,’ you should move like this [Bapak demonstrates]. But it is wrong, it does not come from inside, if you say it like this, ‘Allah, Allah’. [Bapak pronounces ‘Allah’ in a different way] When you say ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,’ like that, it is wrong.

When you say, ‘Allah’ you should move like this [Bapak demonstrates]. When you say, ‘La ilaha illa’llah,’ the movement should be like this. [Bapak demonstrates] But not like this, ‘La ilaha illa’llah, La ilaha illa’llah.’[Bapak moves in a different way.] No. It should be like this. [Bapak repeats his former movement.]

So, the outer form [of Islam and Christianity] differs, but the content is the same.

Once you can detect this for yourself, once you can receive this yourself because you are sufficiently clean, because you are pure – but you cannot receive this yet – you will not be fanatical about anything, or be obsessed with something you have studied or take pleasure in.

So, the truth of what God has given to human beings is to benefit human beings; it is to enable human beings to return to God. God does not favour one group of people over another, God does not discriminate between people. It is human beings that do that. You will experience all this for yourself; you will be able to prove this in your latihan, once you have been purified. But if you are not clean yet, you cannot receive this. Not yet. That is why you need to receive, to receive with a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness toward God, because God has given something to you that can make you aware of the faults in your being.

This has been about the presence of the latihan. Bapak does not want to say anything more, because if he keeps talking about it the explanations will get deeper and deeper, and he knows that you cannot receive this, you are not ready to receive the proof of this yet. You will just think that it is a story. So now Bapak will talk about the process of the latihan.

In the latihan, when you receive, you feel as if something is moving inside you, but you cannot tell where those movements start from. That is certain. Why is that? Let us liken you to a table. To make a table you should start with one of the legs; you should start from a certain point. But that is not the case for you in the latihan. In your case the latihan can start from any part of you, from a foot, even from a place that is inappropriate.

Why is that? It is due to the faults that you got from your parents. That is why it is said in religion – Bapak has to refer to religion again – when a husband has sexual relations with his wife, or a wife has sexual relations with her husband, they should never forget their religion, they should never forget to say, ‘Allah ‘la ilaha illa’llah. Muhammad ar-Rasu’llah.’ That is in Islam. And in Christianity, they should never forget to do this. [Bapak makes the sign of the cross.]

They need to do this, so that what happens to the seed that will become a child, that will become a human being, will come from the right source. You should not just follow your own pleasure. That is the reason why when you do the latihan you cannot tell where the latihan starts from.

You are not the only ones with this problem. Bapak came here from Colombo and India. One by one he tested the members there, and the fact is that they have been doing latihan longer than you have. In the latihan Bapak asked, ‘Where does that movement start from?’

‘I don’t know.’

Then Bapak tested with another person, ‘How was that? Do you know where it starts from?’

They felt it.

Earlier, could you feel where it started from? Before you felt it you were already moving. So, it is as if you have finished your meal without being aware of it.

That is the cause of the problem. So, we cannot tell where an individual’s latihan will start from and where it will end. But even so, do not be concerned, because the power of God is always inside you. And, ultimately, anything inside you that is wrong will be put right and put on the right track. But it takes a long time.

Bapak will end this explanation now. He will test with you so that to some extent you will receive the truth of what he is talking about. Because even for Bapak, if he talks too much and you just listen but you do not have any proof, it feels disappointing. So, it is best if he does some testing with you now: can you receive this or not? Let’s begin.

[Testing]

Notes

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]

6. The Arabic letter Alif is the first letter in the Arabic character set, and has the numerical value of one. In Islam it has particular significance as being the first letter in the name of Allah. The hand sign of the Alif is a single downward sweep of the right hand from the top of the head down the body.

7. Dhikr is a Muslim prayer referred to as ‘the recollection of God’, which consists of repeating ‘la ilaha illa’llah’ [there is no God but Allah], while rhythmically turning the head from side to side.