Brothers and sisters, to save time, Bapak will begin at once with what he promised; that is, to do some testing with you.

( Testing )

If you have in fact received the fruits of the fast you have been doing for twenty-four days, your body feels light, and not just this body alone; the whole of you feels light. That means that it is to some extent already purified, which means that you are less oppressed by nafsu and that you have been able to train the nafsu so that they work in an organized way and, as Bapak explained ( the day before ) yesterday, it is as if a place has been prepared and equipped to receive it if and when God bestows His Qodar upon you.

( Testing )

The testing Bapak has done is only in order that you can feel and know the results of having fasted for twenty-four days or thereabouts. Thus it is clear, brothers and sisters, that everything God has declared to His messengers is very useful; it is very useful to you and to all mankind. Thus what God has declared is for the sake of mankind; not for God’s sake, but for man's.

Man is required to fulfill all his duties and responsibilities in life, so that he can organize life and make it safe and secure and be able to fulfill all his requirements in life for so long as he lives in this world. To this there is added something that man needs in order to be able to return to the world of his origin. This is what is said in Islam when someone dies: Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rojiun. We come from God, or from the power of God, and to God we return.

That is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so we should not look upon the yearly fast in the month of Ramadhan merely as something incidental or of secondary importance. No, it is in fact very important for human life. Outwardly someone who fasts is said to be purifying himself, purifying his blood, purifying his feelings, so that gradually people who fast can feel what is not right or not as good as it ought to be about the way their blood and their feelings flow within them.

Yesterday, or the day before, Bapak said it is also good to fast if you are sick, for instance, or if you are frequently unwell. The fast should not be of such a nature as to force you nor should it be forced; it should be according to your strength, but it is necessary and important to do it. If you are not strong enough to do it for a whole month, do it for half. If you are not strong enough to do it for a full day, do it for three-quarters of the day. There should be no forcing, but it is important and necessary.

When you have been doing it for one, two or three days, you get used to it, so that nothing feels heavy or difficult. No.

Thus it is clear, brothers and sisters, that the fast really will purify your inner feelings; it will cause your inner feelings to be purified and you will automatically come closer to the things you hope for, and especially to those you need for your livelihood. This is really so, and it really does happen. In the old days people used to say ( in Javanese ) Jer basuki mowo beyo ( No victory without sacrifice ). That means that one cannot hope for any happiness without hard work. Of course this is necessary. The more difficult what you do, the heavier and more difficult it feels, the better; and the nearer it brings you to what you want.

It is precisely when you are fasting that you feel very light, for instance; which means that as a rule I have no wish to break the fast when the time for it comes, at six o'clock, nor do I feel hungry before ten o'clock. Something like that for instance. So the fast goes on longer than the normal time. It would be like that even if it went on till twelve o'clock, which would be really severe. Thus if you feel heavy under conditions of fasting or of prihatin, that is all better. Your jiwa, which is said to look after you and which always takes care of you, feels it as a protest. "Why do you not help the one whom you accompany and shepherd and take care of?" Then that which takes care of you will help you.

That is what the old people used to say. The people who do prihatin are not doing it in vain, brothers and sisters. They will certainly obtain results, for the contents of that prihatin makes them put more emphasis on God; makes them have more faith in God. You can see this when you get some disease or when you feel that you are ill. What do you say ? You say "God forgive me. Let me not be ill", for instance. Thus it is as if you protest when you feel uncomfortable, and you beg and pray to God for relief.

Thus the more you do prihatin, the stronger becomes your faith in God, and the more it strengthens your belief in God. If your faith in God is strong, God gives in return, and His love for you is greater and stronger. Thus you get something in return. You must not let your belief in God be only on your lips, but you should show it and prove it. That is what is called amal. Amal is something you do.

What Bapak calls the ngomong, the companions that go with you in life, are the life forces. These begin with the material life force, then come the vegetable life force, the animal life force, the human life force itself and so on. You can receive proof that what Bapak says is true because you have already been trained and have received the latihan. Please receive, just as you are sitting. No need to be complicated.

( Testing )

The way to get the material and vegetable life forces to help you is simply by doing the fast sincerely and by doing prihatin sincerely. For in that way you can empty out desires and you can empty out self interest. This is obvious. When you are always buying lottery tickets and always remembering about them, you never win. But when you only buy a ticket because you are forced into it, that is just the time you win. Yes, and perhaps you have sometimes had a bet, not now, but in the past. If you bet because you intend to bet, you always lose, but if someone else forces you into a bet, you actually win.

It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, that emptying yourself of nafsu is the one and only way really to prepare a place to receive what will come later, and to prepare a place to be able to receive what God will give you. So very obviously prihatin and fasting are very important for you, in order to change your fate, and so that a bad fate can become good.

This really is so, and Bapak has experienced it himself. As Bapak said just new ( during the testing ), why is it that the material and vegetable forces help Bapak but do not help you? It is because of Bapak's amal. Bapak has done what the One Almighty God tells him to do.

This is why this fast is not only to make the body healthy, but it also fulfills your needs. This is just with regard to outward things; not yet speaking of what affects your jiwa. That means not yet speaking about your inner.

Those of you who do the fast will be able to experience what does touch the inner; you will experience changes in your habits and customs. If your habits and customs change, it means that your jiwa has also changed. And why does your jiwa constantly need to be changed? Has it been changed already? It is clear that many things which your ancestors experienced have been handed down to you and still continue in you. Now that it has come to you, it is up to you, brothers and sisters, to stop it if you can, so that you can experience what it is like to return to your source, or to what our people, the Indonesians, and especially the Javanese, call the a asal-usul ( origin ).

Thus we return to our origins. The origin of man is the true human jiwa. We should not allow beings of truly human origin to have a material jiwa, a vegetable jiwa, an animal jiwa or an ordinary human jiwa.

( Testing )

That is enough for now, brothers and sisters, for it is already twelve o'clock. Bapak always says not to force things, but be normal. Thus he feels that this will do. For it is actually not right to force things. Bapak therefore ends this meeting and will continue on the twenty-seventh night.

Thank you; good night, sleep well and have a good saur.