Brothers and Sisters,

First of all, Bapak would like to thank your Chairman for the words that he spoke at the beginning, and for his prayers that Bapak's further journey may be protected and blessed by God Almighty. Now, before Bapak replies with his farewells to you all since, as you know, Bapak is leaving New York tomorrow, Bapak would like to continue first with his explanations about the Latihan Kejiwaan and its relationship to enterprises, so that you will acquire a clearer idea of what Bapak means by enterprises, in order that you can then put this idea into practice as well - and as quickly as possible.

Brothers and Sisters, Bapak has seen and understood and witnessed the situation of all of you in your Latihan Kejiwaan, and about this Bapak can say that you have made some progress. Bapak doesn't want to say or to give you the idea that you have not made any progress during all this time. You have made progress. But the progress that you have made is not yet so very evident, nor is it yet really satisfying. So that is why Bapak now always calls on you again really to persevere and do your Latihan Kejiwaan diligently and always be willing to surrender anything to the power of God Almighty - for it is only God Almighty who can improve something that cannot possibly be improved, or who can repair something that cannot possibly be put right. It is only through Him that you can achieve what you are hoping for.

Now Bapak would like to continue and give you some explanations which will increase your conviction and your confidence in the fact that the Latihan Kejiwaan is really a latihan that has come to us by the grace of God Almighty. In other words, that it is really the gift of God Almighty, the gift which all mankind is indeed looking for. Because without something that is given by God Almighty, without the gift of grace of God Almighty, it is really not possible for man to put aside, to become freed from, the influence of the lower forces which exist within him. These lower forces are a framework of existence which Permit man, by their help, to stand up as a human being in this world. Although this is their nature, that it is through their help that man can live in this world, yet they always disturb man in his worship of God Almighty.

Brothers and Sisters, Bapak has frequently explained to you that the framework of the lower forces, the framework of these accessory forces which have been given to man, is actually one with man himself, so that while man lives in this world he has within him, and shares his being with, the material forces, or the forces of the human body. Now, although this is so, these lower forces always present an obstacle to man and always disturb him and obstruct him in his effort or in his wish to return to the world of his origin, which is beyond this world - or heaven. Now, because of this, men have in the past often tried to free themselves from the influence of these lower forces by reducing their involvement with the material, with the vegetable forces and so on, by restricting their traffic with society, with the outside world, by neglecting the needs of their physical body and by practicing all kinds of asceticism and so on, by reducing their food and their sleep and so on. There have even been people who have cut them out altogether - that is, they have gone to distant places where they have practiced meditation or something in isolation from everybody, and have completely fixed their thinking, directed their thinking, towards achieving happiness of life in the next world - that is, in heaven. Well, this is man's wish, and this is man's intention and will, and man's ambition is always very great and very nice. But can man achieve this? Can man ever reach this goal by these kinds of efforts! The answer is 'No'. It is impossible because the lower forces are part of man's fabric.

Take the material forces. Taken in total the material forces are represented by this planet, earth, which consists of all sorts of minerals and material things; and it is through working on these things that man can extract from the earth steel, copper, aluminum, silver, gold, etc., all the things which exist in the earth, and fashion these into all sorts of tools and implements that he needs. Man can also use plant life from the earth to give himself material things which he needs to work on and make into tools for his life in this world. So how can man separate himself from the influence of material things? Or how can man become independent of material things once he has already been willed to live in this world? This fact is symbolized by the creation of Adam, because before Adam was created in this world was, in fact, the time before this world existed. But as soon as this world was ready for him, Adam was brought down into this world from his world of origin - that is, from the world to which we aspire to return once we have died.

So once Adam was born in this world he was accompanied and provided with, by God Almighty, all the lower forces that he needed to live here, including the material force. Once Adam was here in this world, he could no longer exist as he used to do in his world of origin, free from the influence of the lower forces. But these forces which were given to Adam to enable him to live in this world were an encumbrance and a disturbance and an obstacle on his way to return to the world from which he had come. But God is All Mighty. God is All wise, and God knows the needs of all his creatures, and that is why God provided human beings in this world, in addition to the lower forces which they needed to live here, with something else which was the representative within man of God's power - and which man could only feel and become aware of it if he received it as a gift, or as a blessing, from God Almighty. It is this power which was received by the Messengers of God, the prophets in the olden days. Through receiving this they were able to see and feel and know the reality of the whole Universe, beyond this world; they would then be able to give advice and help and direction to their fellow human beings in this world, in order to encourage them to follow in their own footsteps, in order that they also would eventually become able to receive this gift of God Almighty. This gift is the only way that man can, while living in this world, learn to distinguish the power of God within him from the power of all the other lower forces; that is, to distinguish the separation between his own being, guided by the power of God, and the influence of all these lower forces, from the material to the human, which without God's help man cannot possibly separate from and distinguish between.

Brothers and Sisters, without receiving the grace of God Almighty, without the guidance of the power of God Almighty, it is impossible indeed for man to find the right way in his life. It is impossible for man to be guided correctly and find his way in this life without God's guidance. But to feel God's guidance, or to understand and get to know God's guidance, is indeed very difficult - or not so much difficult as completely impossible to be thought about. The reason for that is that the will of man - that is, the heart and the intelligence of man - normally only has faith or believes in something that he can do, something that can be seen, something that can be heard with the ears, something that can be smelt with the nose, something that can be tasted with the mouth, and something that can be thought about. Therefore, we cannot actually blame people who say 'God doesn't exist', because God cannot be seen with the eyes, God cannot be heard with the ears, God cannot be smelt with the nose or tasted with the tongue, nor can His form be grasped with the hands. So to get to know God with our ordinary instruments is completely impossible.

Brothers and Sisters, this is why the power of God is something that cannot possibly be reached or understood or achieved by the heart and mind of man, because the heart and mind are related and influenced by things that exist in this world. Men have tried - this is the reason why it is so difficult for man to know and to understand the power of God. This is why men are always looking and trying to understand and to feel how they can receive and how they can know the power of God Almighty. In trying to achieve this, their own thinking confuses them. In this effort to try to reach an understanding of God's power, and to try to receive when God will finally guide them, their own thinking overcomes them - or there is a kind of revolution in their thinking, and so they force themselves to do something which is really not at all right, or completely out of place.

Supposing that maybe a person living in a state of comfort and well-being, in a state where he has everything he wants - he is comfortable, he is surrounded by other people and he can live harmoniously and prosperously with them - and suddenly he decides to leave all this, to go away to a place which is completely devoid of all comforts and all that he needs, and to begin to neglect the needs of his physical body, even to torture himself. For example, to wear clothes which are not at all suited for a civilized man, and to reduce his food and so on. This is completely against the will of God Almighty - because the will of God Almighty is that man in this world should develop his life, that man should learn to arrange this world and to organize this world according to his needs.

It is God's will that man, for example, if he feels cold, then he should find a way to protect himself from the cold; that if he feels too hot, he should find a way to protect himself from the heat; that he should find ways of protecting himself from material things that might hurt his body. In other words, it's God's will that man should develop and progress forward in arranging his life in this world. So the effort to go away and to get back to how people used to live before in a primitive way is something that goes exactly against God's will. For example, it's God's will also that if we feel tired because we have to walk a long way and to travel a long way, that we should find a way whereby we can do it quicker and more easily. As we have now -we have ways of travel whereby we can go from the North Pole to the South Pole, and they seem as close as, for example, from New York to Long Island. This is something that is the state of the world today; and, actually, this is not something that one can say is the maximum that man can achieve, because God is All merciful, and God in His generosity to man gives him still far greater opportunities to progress and to organize this world.

What man has achieved now is only part of the way to what God will give him later on. So if, nowadays, for example, we have a vehicle that can travel very fast, maybe from here to London in two and a half hours like the Concorde, maybe in 100 years or 200 years we will have something that will travel in half an hour from New York to London. Why not? Because God is All wise, God is All powerful, and God is All knowing, and God is All loving to mankind. Why not? The Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him, was able to travel from this world to the Seventh heaven in only six to seven hours and back again - because it is said that Prophet Muhammad left this world after the evening prayer at 9 o'clock, and returned again as dawn was breaking. Yet the distance from here to the Seventh heaven, or the Eighth and the Ninth, is far greater than the distance from here to the limit of the Universe, or the distant galaxies. So if that distance can be traversed by God's will in seven or eight hours, then how easy it is for God, for example, if God wills, to find a way that man can to travel from here to the moon in only an hour.

It is clear, Brothers and Sisters, that God gives man the opportunity and the guidance to develop his life in this world, and to progress and to organize his life in this world in the best possible way. For this man has been given the lower forces -that is, his intelligence, his heart and mind and all the lower forces which form part of his being. But God, because He knows the needs of man in this world, has also given man something else; something that can guide him from within, and something else; something that man can feel within himself - but this is something that can only be received by man if it is God's will. That is why in religion man is not told to make efforts to find God, and to search for the power of God. Man is only told to have faith, to surrender and to have a really deep faith and belief in the power of God, this power which he cannot yet understand, because it cannot be understood by his mind, because it is believed that when man is in this state of surrender and submission and faith, then it is possible for him to receive and to feel the guidance of this power.

Now for us in the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud we have been enabled to receive this. We have been enabled to receive this power of God Almighty which can guide us and which we can really feel as something that manifests within us, because the power of God is such that we can feel its guidance arising from within our own being in the form of a vibration of life, a vibration which is a life within our own life. When we first received the latihan, we were able, for the first time, to feel this vibration as a movement within our inner feeling which gradually affected our physical body and first made us aware of something that was like a great life within our normal life. These movements which we receive in the Latihan Kejiwaan are something that we have already experienced. They start and they go back to the beginning of our life where we learn to walk, to move our arms, to touch, to use our voice and so on - all the things that we have already learned since the cradle. We have already learned these things, we already know them. Why then do they repeat themselves? They repeat themselves so that we can become aware of the power of God. So that we can become aware of the power of God as something within us that moves us from within, and thereby to become aware of a deeper life; a life that exists within our life, but is greater and wider than the life that we normally know.

Indeed the grace of God, the power of God, and man's access to the power of God, is something that is very, very difficult to think about. Because of this difficulty of thinking about the power of God, experts in the kejiwaan, or people who are very much educated in spiritual matters, have always advised that if you want to understand, if you want to make progress, if you want to seek for the spiritual, you must reduce your interest and involvement in the effort of living in this world. If you really want to make progress in the kejiwaan and to receive an understanding in the kejiwaan and a wisdom in the kejiwaan, then you must reduce your efforts, you must abandon your drive to make money and to make a living in this world. But this idea is something that is, in fact, already based on a mistake - because these spiritual teachers who proclaim this message have already forgotten that the reason they can live at all in this world is because they have a house, because they can eat food, because they can wear clothes and have all the other conveniences that man relies on in this world. Without those they would not be able to be here in this world at all.

So this effort of putting aside, or trying, as it were, to reduce one's interest or one's efforts to gain material things or material welfare, is something that is completely twisted and strange. But this has had the effect that people who dislike religion have pointed an accusing finger and said that religion is a drug, religion is opium which robs people of their wish to work, of their wish to achieve an improvement of their life in this world; that religion is something that makes us weak and apathetic. Really, this is true. We have seen it in many places, and this exists also in Indonesia, that people who wish to seek for the spiritual let their life go to pieces, they walk around in a state of disarray, they wear clothes that are totally unsuitable and filthy, and just eat whatever they happen to get from passers-by and so on. This is something that is commonplace. We see it in many places all over the world. And it is this which brings an accusation, or an idea, that religion is something harmful, is something that weakens man's life in this world.

This is why it is a great good fortune for all of you who have received this Latihan Kejiwaan, because you have received a guidance, and a reality of this guidance of the power of God, even though you are not yet convinced, even though you are not yet completely sure that this is really the guidance of God - that this is really what mankind is looking for, that this is really the secret that all mankind would like and is seeking. Yet you have experienced it, and you are able to receive something in the nature of the guidance of God's power within you. Even though you may not be yet completely sure yourself of what this power is that you have received within you, yet you can weigh it up yourself, you can try to evaluate yourself from your own experience. Is it not true that when you do the latihan, at that moment you feel completely satisfied, you feel at peace, you are oblivious of the needs of your life in this world? You are oblivious of the problems of your life. You only feel happy, complete, satisfied and at peace within yourself.

Brothers and Sisters, this is not a common thing in this world. There are not many people who have peace of mind in the world today. You may think that people who have great wealth are very fortunate. You may think: 'Oh, that man must be really happy because he has untold wealth -he can do anything he likes.' Yet, if you really knew, out of 24 hours a day maybe not for one minute does that man have peace of mind - that is, a state which you experience any time you want it by doing the Latihan Kejiwaan; that is, a state where you feel truly relaxed, truly at ease, truly satisfied and happy. That state will elude them all the time because they are always disturbed - constantly affected and oppressed by the needs of their life, by the things that they have, by the things they have to do, by all the things that oppress them. Bapak has tested this with you yesterday with our brother Feri. Bapak asked Feri to think and to feel about the state of this world. And then Bapak said to Feri: 'O.K., now put all that aside - surrender to God Almighty, and just open yourself to Him.' Immediately Feri felt relaxed, happy. All the worries and the cares that he felt before had disappeared. This is the proof, Brothers and Sisters - and is it true or not, Feri? ( laughter ).

Well, Brothers and Sisters, actually you can weigh this for yourselves. You can feel this and you can sense it for yourselves - whether it is true or not what Bapak has said. So you are really extremely fortunate because you have received the thing that the whole world is looking for - and yet they cannot find it, no matter how hard they look. Brothers and Sisters, everything that happens in Subud happens by the will of God. It is not necessary for Bapak to state that the Subud latihan is the power of God, is the guidance of the power of God. But the evidence is there, you can check it for yourselves from what Bapak has just told you.

Brothers and Sisters, Bapak is not someone with great wisdom, with great knowledge. Bapak has never studied very deeply. Bapak has never gone to university or studied hard to gain a lot of knowledge, and yet Bapak has a great deal of understanding and Bapak knows many things that men do not normally understand. This is because of God's will, and no matter what Bapak has received from God Almighty, Bapak has always prayed to God Almighty. When Bapak received so much knowledge and so much understanding from the power of God, Bapak always prayed to God Almighty: 'Oh God, do not give this to me only, but give this grace to all mankind.' And God has answered Bapak's prayer because you have all received what Bapak received from God Almighty. Actually, everything that has happened in Subud is God's will. How could it be that Bapak, who had nothing, who had no money whatsoever, could travel around the world? And even if he had the money, that he would be received by people, that he would be listened to, that he would be respected by people in other countries all over the world? How could this happen if it was not the will of God? Not only that - Bapak doesn't come from a country with wide connections; a country that is respected by others. Bapak comes from a country which people mostly have not even heard of. Yet Bapak has been able to travel around and is loved by people everywhere he goes. But this, again, was already revealed to Bapak many years ago, long before any of it happened.

In the years when Bapak was being tried, in the years when Bapak went through his trial of his life - during twelve years - Bapak during that time already received indications from Almighty God that one day Bapak would travel around the world during that time it was revealed to Bapak that one day he would travel around the world and be respected and loved as a father by all mankind. Because, one day when Bapak was sitting quietly, completely empty with nothing within him by the power of God - at that moment Bapak received a book, a book in which when Bapak opened it he saw many people, people of various colors and races. On the first page of this book there was a picture of a man, and when Bapak looked at this picture, the picture smiled and moved. When Bapak looked under the picture there was a caption, and this caption was originally written in Arabic. When Bapak had been small Bapak had been educated as a Muslim - that is, he read Arabic and so on because Bapak came from a Muslim family. But as this was a long time ago and Bapak's Arabic was a bit rusty, it seems that Bapak took too long to read this caption - so while Bapak was reading it, the caption changed to Roman script, and it said: 'Prophet Muhammad, Messenger of God'. When Bapak read this, the face smiled and nodded to Bapak. Bapak then turned the page and there he saw many, many people all with the color of Bapak's skin - that is, brown or yellow. They were moving, like in a film. They were moving, they were crying, they were laughing and shouting and jumping and dancing and doing all sorts of things that men do in this world. Brothers and Sisters, this was not a dream or something like that. Bapak was wide awake, and this was a real book in Bapak's lap. Bapak turned more pages and on the next page there were people also going through all sorts of activities - laughing and crying and shouting and so on - but this time with white skins, so me very white and some less white, like all of us.

Bapak turned more pages and it was the same, similar pictures with men of all races and all types. When Bapak closed this book Bapak was told that this is something that will happen later, something that Bapak will see and will know later. Then Bapak closed this book and held it to himself, because Bapak felt this was something very valuable and very interesting. But at that moment the book disappeared, and Bapak felt very disappointed. But Bapak was told: 'Don't be disappointed, because this is within you and all that is in that book will happen to you later on.'

A little later, not much later, sometime later, Bapak was again in the same situation. Bapak was very quiet and relaxed and at that moment Bapak received another book, and this book was different. It was a thick book like a dictionary, but all the pages were blank. Bapak asked himself; 'What is the point of a book with blank pages?' As Bapak asked that question, writing appeared in the book and the writing answered the question and said: 'This book will be written in. When you ask, the answers will appear in this book.' Bapak was very interested by this and asked many, many questions, and Bapak read a lot - maybe Bapak read for half an hour. Bapak was told many, many things at that time. Bapak was told about wars and about the Second World War; and Bapak was told that after the Second World War Indonesia would become free. Then Bapak was told that after that, Bapak would travel around the world and experience what he had seen before. It was even said in that book - Bapak was called in that book 'The Father of all Mankind'.

This is something, Brothers and Sisters, that has, in fact, come true. The evidence is right ,here, the reality is right here now. How can it be that Bapak is admired and loved by all of you, who love Bapak more than those of your own nationality? This cannot be if it is not the will of God Almighty. Brothers and Sisters, this is the fact that Bapak has always prayed to God Almighty that what Bapak has received will also be received by all mankind. And the reality that God has granted Bapak's prayer is that we have been able to receive the Latihan Kejiwaan. This is, then, the generosity, the love of God Almighty to mankind. Brothers and Sisters, you may read about the history of religion and you will never find a movement in this world, a religion or a spiritual movement, that was able to receive people of all races, all religions: this has never happened before in this world, until now in this Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud. Indeed, this is the will of God Almighty, and this is the nature of God's gift to man -that it knows no boundaries and it is given to the whole of mankind. Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, we are open because this is a gift from God and no-one else. It is open to everyone who wants it no matter what nationality, no matter what group he belongs to, no matter what the color of his skin - it is open to everyone. Nor is it forced upon anyone who does not want to receive it. We must receive in Subud everyone who asks - but for those who do not wish it, we are not allowed to force them or to encourage them. This is why in Subud we do not need propaganda of any kind, because Subud is entirely the will and the power of God Almighty.

Brothers and Sisters, it is clear then that the receiving of the grace of the power of God, the receiving of the Latihan Kejiwaan, is something that we obtain in the middle of our everyday activities, in the middle of our everyday life, without sacrificing in any way the activities and our attention to the needs of this world. This is indeed the will of God Almighty. This is what is referred to in Islam by words which mean 'We have to seek for our needs both in this world and in the hereafter.' So, Brothers and Sisters, it means that in order to worship God Almighty in the latihan it is not necessary for us to neglect the needs of our life in this world. On the contrary, it is essential for us to search for and to obtain what we need for our life in this world. This is the reason why Bapak always, over and over again, encourages us to start enterprises, because it is enterprises that provide us with an arena for practicing and becoming able to deal with the problems of this world - to do our work in this world, while at the same time worshipping God Almighty and not neglecting the worship of God Almighty, and always being in touch with the guidance that we receive in the latihan.

This is something that Bapak hopes you will really put into practice. As for the way in which we organize our enterprises, this is done in the normal way. In other words, enterprises have to be carried out by people who are experts in the field of the enterprise itself. That is, if we are setting up an enterprise in buying and selling, then you have to look for a businessman who understands trade. If we are setting up an enterprise in the field of building, we have to look for technical people who understand about building. So it must be that each enterprise is done by the person who is qualified and has the know-how and the expertise to carry it out, and not someone who understands nothing about it but is put there because the helpers received 'Yes' when they tested about it in their testing.

This is something that is the cause of the failure of enterprises. Bapak has heard, for example, that here in the United States you have had enterprises which have failed, and this is because you have gone along and done something which was approved of by the helpers who had actually no understanding about enterprises. What helpers understand is the kejiwaan - and they would be fine, you can use the helpers if you are doing an enterprise in the kejiwaan ( Bapak chuckles ). But there are no enterprises in the kejiwaan, because the One who enterprises in the kejiwaan is God Almighty, and man's enterprise is here in this world. And for that we should be able to do it, because we not only have our know-how and our expertise, but in addition we have the guidance of the power of God Almighty which should enable us to find the right way in anything that we are doing.

Brothers and Sisters, do not be afraid of starting enterprises, because it is through this that we will finally be able to put into practice the ideals of the Subud Brotherhood - that is, to be able to contribute to the social welfare of this world. When we have been able to begin to do this, Subud will begin to acquire a good name in the whole world. So that all doors will be opened to Subud, and Subud will be looked up to by all the countries where it exists as a force for good, as a force for improvement for society. Not only will we be allowed to pursue our activities of doing the latihan, and doing our work, but it may well be that in future years when we want to hold a Subud Congress, the government of the country where we are holding it will put at our disposal a large building or facilities where we can not only do the latihan but have our meetings and achieve the thing that we are trying to do.

Brothers and Sisters, Bapak asks you to pay very close attention to this and not be afraid of starting enterprises, with the idea that once you devote yourself to enterprises this will obstruct your progress in the kejiwaan - because nothing could be further from the truth. We have to pursue both our needs in this world and our needs in the next world without a separation between them, without separating our life in this world and our life in the next world, because the whole world is life, the great life where the power of God leads us and guides us. It is true that experts in the kejiwaan in the past have tried to lead people in a direction where they could become aware of the kejiwaan only when they were still, when they ceased movement, when they were quiet and uttered no sound, so that in this life they became familiar with death. But what we have received is not that. When we have received the latihan it is a latihan of movement, and a latihan of life, and it is through the latihan that we become aware of the great life which extends beyond the boundaries of this world. Our latihan is not a thing of death. We are not directing ourselves towards death, but towards life. And the reason why this is important, why we have to get accustomed to pursuing our everyday life while not neglecting the worship of God Almighty, is because we can die anywhere. It's not sure that we will die on our mattress in bed at home. We may die while we are walking, we may die while we are driving our car, we may die while we are flying in the sky in an airplane. But if we have within us the Latihan Kejiwaan already, as we all have, then no matter where we are, we will always be in the lap of God at that moment.

Brothers and Sisters, what Bapak has given you now is indeed a short talk, but it may be that it has struck a responsive chord within you, so that you feel satisfied by what Bapak has told you. Bapak really prays that the words that Bapak has told you tonight will truly reach to your inner heart which envelops all your inner feeling, so that from it you will be able to put it into practice - that from this there will arise some action on your part that will make this that Bapak has just said a reality. Bapak truly prays that God will give us the grace and grant that all our ideals which were put forward at the last Subud World Congress in 1975 will come true.

Bapak would now like to say a few words of farewell, because Bapak and his party will leave New York tomorrow and proceed on their way. Bapak would first of all like to thank all of you very much for all that you have done for Bapak and his party while they have been here. Bapak would then like to pray to God Almighty that He may grant all of you His blessing, both inner and outer, so that all of you will be in a state of happiness and well-being, both you and your families. Bapak asks all of you, in turn, to pray to God Almighty for Bapak and his party that on their journey, which is still very long, they may be protected by God Almighty, that they may receive God's blessing in order to be always in a state of well-being and happiness.

That is all. Bapak wishes you goodnight and good rest. Thank you very much