Brothers and Sisters,

Bapak would like to thank you - first of all, the lady Chairman who welcomed Bapak, and then all of you for the welcome you have given Bapak here. Bapak feels very happy to be able to visit you here, and Bapak feels good about this place you have. However, Bapak would suggest that in future, if you invite Bapak here you can also invite more Subud members; in other words, more people from the country round about, the idea being that if Bapak does give a talk, then as many people as possible get to hear it.

Brothers and Sisters, before Bapak goes on to give you some clarifications, Bapak would like to give you an opportunity - in case there are among you some who would like to put forward any questions, or any problems, or if some of you feel dissatisfied with the Latihan Kejiwaan or something like that - to ask anything you like as long as it is something that is within Subud. In other words, Bapak doesn't want to hear any questions that are to do with things outside of Subud.

Question:

"Many people at this time are very busy in their lives outside to do with their work and going to school, and it means there are very few members who have time to do creative work or to participate in Subud activities, and it makes doing committee work very difficult."

Bapak's answer:

Is it really that everybody is so busy? Is everybody busy to that extent?

Questioner:

"We've had very few people willing to work on the committee for one thing. There's been myself and the treasurer and we have a librarian and a membership secretary, but no-one comes to the committee meeting, except myself and the treasurer."

Bapak's answer: Brothers and Sisters, you should understand that when you are asked to do something by the committee, when the committee makes a regulation or does something or decides something, this request or this decision is not made by an employer, or someone in charge of you, who is making these decisions or these requests in order to increase his own profit, or his own power. These decisions and these requests are made by you yourselves, because the committee exists through your own will. It was your decision to have a committee, so that if the committee then does something or asks for something or decides something, this is actually your own decision. This decision or this work that the committee wants to do is not for the good of the committee but for the good of all of you yourselves. It is like the House of Representatives. You talk about the House of Representatives in government. The law is not made by the government, it is made by the people. The law is made by the representatives of the people, because they have been elected by the people to govern. So that if they pass laws, if they make decisions which then are passed back to the people in the form of laws or regulations, and then the people don't like to follow them, it means the people do not like to carry out their own will.

It's very peculiar. In our case, if we set up a committee, it's for the good of all of you. It's not for the good of the committee. It's for all your benefit. So you should understand that the committee only receives suggestions and ideas from you. If the committee then lays down: 'O.K., this is how we will do things', then that has originated from you. If you then don't like to follow it, if you don't like to help the committee, then it is as though you are not willing to carry out your own decisions. You should understand that all this that exists is not for the benefit of Subud, it's for the benefit of you yourselves. It's not you who are serving Subud, or who are asked to do things for the good of Subud. Subud is just you. This Subud - which is all of you together - cannot be strong, cannot develop, cannot become glorious and great if you yourselves do not carry it out, if you yourselves do not work at carrying out the decisions taken together, which are expressed in the regulations and in the work of the committee. This is something that is very important for you to understand. It is like you coming to Subud. You make decisions about what you want to do, then if you don't carry them out, if you don't do the work that has to be done, why then did you join Subud? Why do you need to come to the latihan? If that is how you feel about it, it's meaningless. Why did you want to join Subud in the first place?

The example of this is Bapak himself. One can say that Subud exists because of Bapak. So that if Subud exists here, and there are problems here like this one, and Bapak were not to come here and see for himself, then Bapak could really be blamed for it. You could really say: 'Why? How come? You have set up Subud - Subud exists because of you, and you ignore the problems that go on in that place?' But Bapak does come, because Bapak knows that it is his responsibility to see and deal with the problems that arise all over the world, even though it means Bapak leaving Indonesia to come a long way - and you should understand that while Bapak is away from Indonesia, who is there to organize that Bapak's children and grandchildren have enough to eat, who is there to organize Subud in Indonesia while Bapak is away? But Bapak still comes, because Subud doesn't only exist in Indonesia - Subud exists all over the world. It's not enough for Bapak just to look after Subud in Indonesia. Bapak has to look after Subud here and all over the world where it exists. So you should take this as an example that if we do not act, if we do not work at what is needed for our Brotherhood, then it is as though we are neglecting our own selves.

Brothers and Sisters, any work, any organization, any movement whose members do not possess self-discipline will never get anywhere, they will never make progress. Actually, we are defeated, we are beaten. We don't have to be beaten - but, to be absolutely frank, we are beaten by other people. If Bapak were to speak quite openly, Bapak says we are beaten by the communists because the Communist Party are people who have great self-discipline. If you talk to a member of the Communist Party, he says: 'I am a communist.' He doesn't say: 'I am someone who is influenced by the communists.' Therefore you yourselves should also possess this much self-discipline. You should say: 'I am Subud.' Not 'I am someone who is ordered around by Subud.' Then you will understand that, actually, Subud is ourselves. If we are Subud, it means we are trying to acquire the qualities of Subud. We are trying to acquire the characteristics of Subud. And what is Subud? Subud is Susila Budhi Dharma. Susila means any action or behavior which is humane, which is moral and right and expresses our humanity. In other words, an action which is designed to correct things that are wrong, so that if we see things that are not right, we try to make it better. That is the meaning of Susila. If we are do possess this quality, it means that we have a feeling of responsibility towards human society in general, that we are concerned about what is going on around us, that we are concerned about the problems of the world and the problems that are encountered by people in this world. We work to put right the things we see that are wrong. That is the meaning of Susila.

The meaning of Budhi is that within our being there is the power of God; ,that within our being we can feel the power of God such as when we do the Latihan Kejiwaan. As Bapak explained to you the other day in his talk, this experience is something that came ,to us spontaneously -suddenly we knew it was there. This is what we try to get accustomed to being aware of in our everyday life.

Then there is Dharma. Dharma, in effect, means harmony and peace in our social relationships; that is, anything that is like mutual love, mutual understanding, mutual help and cooperation, which binds us together as one Brotherhood, as one family. That is ,the meaning of Dharma. If we possess Dharma it may not be that the whole world will suddenly become peaceful, but we feel ourselves to be truly united and harmonious in our life together. If we do not take this seriously, if we have a situation like that which was expressed by our sister here where people do not feel responsible for the things that concern our Brotherhood as a whole, for the things that make for the progress of their own group, then truly we are still very far away from possessing these qualities of Susila Budhi Dharma. And the more we allow the situation to be like that - as our sister explained just now - the more we allow ourselves to neglect the needs of our own Subud Brotherhood, the more we will be influenced by the lower forces.

Bapak has explained already that within us are the life forces. There is the material force, the vegetable force and the human force - and whether we like it or not they are there. They are there and are influencing us at every moment. The only way we can protect ourselves from that influence is if we experience the power of God working within us. If we experience the power of God, then at that moment we have a referee. We have someone who stands in the middle between our true human jiwa and the influence of the lower forces. But the less in our life we permit ourselves to experience this power of God working within us which we receive in the latihan, as Bapak just described, the more we will be subject to these influences of these lower forces that Bapak has just described, and the more we lose the opportunity to have something within us which can be a dam or a boundary for the influence of these lower forces.

Brothers and Sisters, if you visualize the state of the world today, you should be able to feel for yourselves how much mankind today needs unity. Man nowadays is not limited to a few million people or a few hundred million people - there are now thousands of millions of people in this world, and the significance of unity is something that is very important, both for man as a whole, and for our own Brotherhood. Bapak can illustrate it like this - this is only an illustration but it is a real illustration, it is the way ,things really are.

You know that all over the world now there is a union of labor - they are called trade unions. In the old days, before there was such a body, employers could treat their employees any way they liked, and they used the technique of divide and rule. In other words, if you could get that group of laborers to quarrel with this group of laborers, then you could do whatever you liked, and they could be given any condition of work that the employer chose. But the intelligence of man develops. Man considers: 'How is it best to do this? How is it best to do that? Is it better to arrange like this or like that?' Finally, the workers could see that by uniting they could attain or occupy a position of influence in facing the employers. After the workers were able to unite, the employers were no longer able to deal with them as they had before, and when the workers asked for better pay or better working conditions, or shorter hours of work, the employers agreed. Why did they agree? Because they were afraid.

It is clear that through union, through uniting, through coming .together for one aim and one purpose, it inspires respect in other people, it inspires respect for what you want to achieve and what you want to do. Brothers and Sisters, if you really want to know why Subud has not been expelled from Indonesia - or has not been suppressed, let us say - it is because the government is well aware that Subud is a spiritual movement which is now international. It has spread all over the world. Whether they like it or not, the government has to accept that Subud is there, and they allow Subud to go on and do what it wants because they are aware that there are Subud members all over the world. Indeed, this is true. Subud is an international movement. It exists now, apparently, in something like 76 countries. And Bapak isn't talking about towns or groups, Bapak is talking about countries - countries like the United States, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the whole of Latin America, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico - practically .the whole of Latin America, the United States, Canada. The United States, of course, has 52 states. Maybe not all 52 have Subud members, but .there are a lot of groups in the United States. In Africa, in many Muslim countries, in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ceylon, in many countries in Africa. So our Brotherhood is truly an international one. Our Brotherhood truly has standing and substance.

But, Brothers and Sisters, if among ourselves we are not united, if one member goes this way, another member goes that way, if everyone just looks after his own self and ignores the needs of the Brotherhood as a whole, then do not imagine that Subud will ever have the respect of anyone. Why? Because nobody will ever fear Subud, or 'have respect for Subud. They will know: 'What power has Subud got? What can Subud do in that condition?' Subud will always be something trivial in the world. But our unity should not be something that is only seen, it should not just consist of coming together all the time and being seen to be together -it should be something more than that because we know very well that in Subud we have members from all over the world. We have members of different religions, of different nationalities, whose skins are of different color and different pattern; and when we are together, when we worship God, we are one family. We do not feel strange, we do not feel uneasy with each other, we are one and we worship one God. This is the reality of our Brotherhood. It is through this unity, through the grace that we receive together worshipping one God that we will be able to receive things that are not yet known by humanity, that we will be able to receive guidance and indications and knowledge and understanding from the power of God which, up till now, man does not have.

Brothers and Sisters, people say that man is at the height of his power, at the height of his technological invention. But the fact is that, according to what Bapak has received, we are not yet 50 per cent of the way to what man will eventually achieve. This is something that Bapak has received. There is something else which Bapak has received which differs from what is believed by scientists all over the world. Bapak has received that man has existed in this world many times, at different periods of the earth's history, and that the men who existed before, before this time, attained to knowledge and understanding and power far greater than what we have now. This is something that cannot be known from records. Why is there no history about this? It is because over those periods of time nothing stays permanent - whether you write on steel, or whatever, it will all turn to dust.

Yet there are cities under the ocean which were once dry land, great cities which were once places of civilization. Why is it that we have no record of them? Because the changes that took place on the surface of the earth between those civilizations and ours are so great that man's intelligence cannot pass through them. Consider someone who stands very near a big cannon when it goes off - he will forget everything, and he will get a shock so that afterwards his mind will no longer remember who he is or where he came from. How much more when 'the surface of the earth is changing, when what was land before becomes sea, and what was sea becomes land, and all the mountains erupt. Man's understanding and memory are wiped clean, so that there is no record of such things having existed before.

All these changes and developments on this earth are caused by the will of God Almighty. It is also the will of God Almighty that man should learn unity and harmony within the human race. Have we not all descended from one root, from one ancestor - that is, Adam? And the memory of that fact, that we all come from one human being, is something that is given to man to remember; and those who remember it are usually chosen by God to be His Messengers, because it is clear that they are the ones who are capable of passing on the understanding of the true nature of man's being and man's life in this world. This is something that you are aware of and that you feel at the moment you make your promise when you come into Subud, at the moment you say the words that you say before you are opened. What is necessary, Brothers and Sisters, is that you go back now, you go back to the point when you were being opened, at the point when you entered Subud, and return to the original promise so that it is not something that gets forgotten and lost along the way.

Brothers and Sisters, that was Bapak's answer to the first question ( much laughter ). Bapak wants to know the questions that were asked by the other people; and Bapak wants to know whether maybe they have already been answered by Bapak's answer now; or whether there is still something more you want to ask.

Question:

The other night in Bapak's talk he spoke about how there are many more illnesses. And there are quite a few people in Subud now who seem to be drawn to work in the field of healing - not just medical doctors, but other forms of therapy and healing. Although Bapak has spoken about this before, I wonder if he has any further guidance for those people in Subud who are working in that field of healing?

Bapak: Man's illnesses actually arise from man's own actions and from man's own behavior. For example, in the old days what people ate was still relatively simple. If you had a steak, it was made of beef ( laughter ). But today you get a steak which is made of prawns, or you get a steak which is made of dog, or sometimes you get a steak that's made of snake. In other words, people eat all sorts of things, and the result is that they have all sorts of illnesses. So the complexity, the increasing complexity of man's illnesses and problems come about from his own actions, from his own behavior and from what he eats and so on.

Everything goes along with the situation of the times. In those days the situation was like that. Now the situation is different. When Bapak was a young man, in a town maybe you could find 100 doctors. Nowadays in the average sized town there are 100,000 doctors, so there are also more illnesses ( laughter ) because, of course, man's life has become more complex. What he experiences in his everyday life is discovered and is observed by more people - so the doctors are more and more observing more people, whereas before illnesses were usually rather simple. Now, because of man's behavior, as Bapak says, when man eats, maybe he gets served up an alligator, or a mouse or something ( laughter ) and he really doesn't know what it is. As a result his illnesses proliferate; and as a result of more illnesses there are more doctors; and as a result of more doctors, there are also more illnesses ( laughter ), because there are more people to think about his illnesses and discover more illnesses. This is as it should be, because the illnesses that man creates, the illnesses that man experiences as an inevitable result of his way of life, are something that man has to solve himself. In other words, it is right that to cure the illnesses that man experiences nowadays he has no choice but to follow the way of science. In other words, the way of the understanding of the mind; and through science to be able to correct and put right these things that man has experienced. In other words, through medical and other methods.

But what about healing through the kejiwaan? Yes, there is that too. There is healing in the kejiwaan. But what you can heal in the kejiwaan are the illnesses of the kejiwaan - and the illnesses of the kejiwaan are what? The illnesses of the kejiwaan are the illnesses of man's character. So that what can be healed through the kejiwaan is the illness of the jiwa, which is the illness of man's character. And this healing is what we experience in the Latihan Kejiwaan, and the proof of that is within all of you, although maybe you have forgotten it. But if you are able to feel again how you used to be before you joined Subud, then it is almost certain that you will remember that before you joined Subud the slightest thing that happened made you angry, so you can say that you were angry almost all the time, with small intervals. Everything upset you, everything made you angry. Or maybe you used to quarrel with your wife all the time. But as you have done the Latihan Kejiwaan it has become less and less and less and less and less. So that is the proof. That is what Bapak means by the healing of the kejiwaan; it is the healing of the character. But when it comes to illnesses that man creates himself - that is, through his eating, through what he does in his life - that is something that you can only cure through man's ability, through man's intelligence and so on.

An example of this - what can happen to you, the way man can create illnesses and disturbances and so on in his life - is contained in a story that Bapak wants to tell you about a Subud member who lives in Indonesia. His name is Dr. Rachman Mitchell, who happens also to be a medical doctor. Rachman is someone who likes fishing very much, and Bapak always warned him: 'Rachman, you like to fish, but be careful when your wife is pregnant - be careful during that time not to kill any animals, and not to indulge in your hobby of fishing at that time.' But once when his 'wife was pregnant he forgot and went fishing. It seems he caught a fish and the hook of the fishing line got caught in the fish's eye - and it happened that when his wife gave birth to their daughter she had one eye missing, so that the child was complete but had only one eye. Well, she has since then been operated on and a glass eye has been put in so that she can develop normally. This is an example - but it is an example that doesn't only happen in Indonesia, it happens all the time all over the world. Also here -only people are not aware of it, because they don't realize why that is. For example, women give birth to children who when they are born it is found that they have no brain. It is very strange. Why should a woman give birth to a child who has no brain. Of course, that child will die after a few hours. Still, it comes from actions like that which Bapak has described. But people are still unaware of these things. It's different in Indonesia. People know these things because for many, many years, for centuries, people in Indonesia have been expert in the inner world of man. They can feel things, they are aware of things which in ,the West we are not that aware of. This is why you have to be very, very careful in your life. Especially - and this is really something secret that Bapak is telling you - when you come together with your wife, or when the wife comes together with her husband to have sexual relations, beforehand, and during what you are doing, you must both remember the power of God Almighty, as when you are doing the Latihan Kejiwaan, so that through that Bapak hopes that you will be protected from every kind of danger that could impinge on you. Bapak hopes and prays that as a result of that your children will always be born safe and sound and healthy.

This also is the reason why Bapak always advises you to do enterprises, because enterprises are a training ground for you to feel always the contact with the power of God; at all times your feelings should be aware and conscious of the guidance of God Almighty. As time goes on all your actions will be guided and protected more and more by the power of God Almighty, so that you will not do things that will harm you or harm other people around you.

If you really want to know, this is the purpose or the idea of enterprises - not to become a very wealthy man or to amass great wealth for yourself - although there's nothing wrong with that. If through your Subud enterprises you can become very wealthy Bapak gives thanks to God Almighty, and hopes that that wealth will not become subject to the dangers which normally accompany the accumulation of wealth. What are these dangers? These dangers are that when you become wealthy you suddenly don't like to speak any more to the rest of your family who are still poor; or you can no longer meet with or have any communication with people who are poorer ,than yourself; or through being wealthy you feel that you have authority, or you have power, and you can do anything you like. These are the dangers for people who accumulate wealth. But if you have earned your wealth in the right way, in the way that Bapak has described, through doing Subud enterprises where you are always in contact with and guided by the power of God, although you are wealthy you will be a man who is truly charitable and has a feeling of social responsibility, so that you will truly use your wealth in a way that will help many people. That's Bapak's reply to your question.

There is one other thing Bapak wants to tell you - and that is the feeling that you probably still have, or the feeling you know well, the feeling that you don't like to be at peace with others. The feeling that you like to quarrel, that you like to find fault with others; the feeling that you like to dislike other people, or gossip about other people or find fault with other people. That affliction or that illness of your heart, or that condition of your heart, also has an effect on your life. And the effect it has is the following: that the things that you really want, the things that you are working for, that you hope for, .that you are trying to get, will always elude you. In other words, the good fortune that you hope for doesn't like to come to you, it avoids you as much as it can. Bapak will give you an example, so .that you can experience it for yourselves. Just quieten yourselves for a moment:

( Testing )

Bapak would like to tell you a story which illustrates the point that Bapak was making - a little story ( laughter ).

Bapak, of course, in his life has also had ups and downs, and there was one time when Bapak really had no money at all. At that time Ibu came to Bapak one day and said: 'Oh, Bapak, what am I going to use for shopping today, because I have to buy this and that and so on, and we have no money?'

Bapak replied: 'Well, that's the way it is, you just have to accept it. Sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't go well ( laughter ) - and there's nothing we can do but accept it.'

So Ibu accepted this, and a little while later there suddenly came a man to Bapak's house, and this man said: 'I have heard that Bapak normally buys and sells jewelry, precious stones. I've got a diamond here. Would Bapak like to buy it?'

Bapak knew very well that he couldn't buy it, and answered: 'No, I can't buy it.' But the man said: 'Never mind, you keep it for a few days - who knows, you may be able to sell it for me.'

So Bapak said: 'All right, how much do you want for it?'

'Oh, 12,000 Rupiah.'

So Bapak put the diamond away somewhere and the man went away.

Funnily enough, about a day or a couple of days later another man came to Bapak's house and said: 'Is it true that you buy and sell precious stones?'

Bapak who, of course, had never bought or sold precious stones ( laughter ), replied: 'Oh sometimes' ( laughter ).

'Well, what do you mean sometimes? Do you have any or not?'

'Well', said Bapak 'it so happens that I have one in the house ( laughter ) - maybe you would like to see it'.

So Bapak went and took the diamond and showed it to him. The man asked: 'Is it good, or not?'

'Well', said Bapak, 'it looks all right' ( laughter ) - because Bapak actually didn't know anything about diamonds.

'O.K., I'll buy it', said the man. 'I'll pay you 25,000 Rupiah for it.

Bapak was so shocked - it was so much more than what the other man had said, because the other man had offered it for 12,000 Rupiahs – that Bapak couldn't answer immediately.

The man who was offering thought Bapak was hesitating because the price wasn't enough ( laughter ), and he said: 'O.K., 30,000 Rupiah. I give you 30,000 Rupiah ( laughter ).'

So Bapak accepted the 30,000 Rupiah ( laughter ), and thought: 'Well, it's too much profit actually, but what can Bapak do?' ( laughter )

And the man went away.

A few days later the other man came back and said: 'Have you had any luck in selling the diamond?' 'Yes', said Bapak, 'it's sold.' 'How much did you get for it?' 'It was enough.'

'Oh', the man said, 'can I pick up my money?'

So Bapak paid him the 12,000 Rupiah. Actually, Bapak was going to give him a bit more, but the man said: 'No, no, that's enough - 12,000 Rupiah, that's what I want. You are giving me too much.'

So in two days Bapak had made a profit of 18,000 Rupiahs which Bapak took and gave to Ibu. And Ibu said: 'How come, so much money all of a sudden?' And Bapak said: 'Oh, that's the way it is. Sometimes God gives ( laughter, applause ) you a lot - sometimes He gives you a little. This time it's a lot.'

Actually, Brothers and Sisters, this is just an example or an illustration, but the fact is like that. Bapak has always experienced that although Bapak is actually a bookkeeper, in his own bookkeeping Bapak only looks at his expenses. Bapak doesn't bother to record his income, because what Bapak has found is that if his expenses are high, his income goes up. If his expenses are small, then his income goes down. Bapak's grandchildren, who look after the household, are already familiar with this.

If Bapak spends $500, they always say: 'Oh, never mind Bapak, tomorrow we will get $5,000.'

So Bapak says to them: 'No, don't say that. If people hear you, they will try to imitate living this way. ~t may be all very well for Bapak, but supposing that person is not yet like Bapak - it won't work' ( laughter ).

This is an illustration of what Bapak was explaining to you earlier.

Are there any more questions? What happened to that list. Ask the people who are on that list whether they feel satisfied, or whether they still have some questions that they want to ask.

( A list of six questions is read out )

Bapak feels that the questions you have put forward are mostly of a technical nature and, actually, many of them Bapak has already answered. But in order not to bore everybody else, it's better if you make a letter of all the questions and then Bapak can reply to you also by letter. If you would like to do that while Bapak is here, that would be the most effective - and also because there isn't time to answer them all now.

Bapak wants to try again. Actually, Bapak feels that probably what he has said has answered a lot of questions that were on the list, but we'll just have one last check around if there is anybody still not satisfied.

Question ( Sjarif repeats ): This was a question about children and the upbringing of Subud children and their future role. The most important thing Bapak has said about this is that it is part of our program - if one might say it like that - to start Subud schools; and the purpose of these is that the teachers should also be helpers who can direct the children, each one into his or her individual line or talent and ability in life.

Also, exactly the same question you asked - that is, the upbringing of children in Subud families and teenagers and so on - was asked in Germany when Bapak spoke to the helpers and committee in Wendhausen during this trip. Bapak would like you to get hold of that talk which answers that question - if you can. I think you can get it on cassette from Audiosette in Chicago.

Bapak would like to be excused now so that Bapak can have his lunch here with you all.