Brothers and sisters, before Bapak gives you a talk Bapak is first of all going to do a little testing with you. The purpose of this testing is so that you can really feel for yourself something of use and the benefit of the latihan kejiwaan.

And now Bapak would like to start with the ladies, but of course, those who have not been tested yet on previous occasions. Ten ladies, either helpers or committee members, or those who have been doing the latihan for more than five years - ten, or maximum twelve - come to the front.

( Ladies come forward and are arranged to get ready for testing )

Relax.

Free your hands.

The meaning of relax is that you are prepared to receive and to feel whatever it is that you may receive.

It is time now to get to know all the various parts of your being, all the various parts of your body with which you have been provided, so that later, at the end of your life when you leave this world, you will really know each of the members of your body.

Show now, but don't move with your will or with your wish because Bapak is not facing your wish now or your will, but Bapak is facing your jiwa. So move now with your jiwa.

( Testing )

Every part of your body has been surrounded and enveloped by the law and decree of God. So everything you have done in your life will be known by the angels and by the Power of God. That is why man cannot tell lies to God: because every part of his being has the Power of God and the law of God within it.

( Testing continues )

Just follow the movements. Don't in any way think about it. Otherwise what will become clever will be your thinking and your nafsu rather than your jiwa.

( Testing continues )

This sort of testing which Bapak does with you is very important so that you become able to answer your own questions about your talent.

( Testing continues )

Return standing up straight. Stand up straight and don't go on just moving in various ways so that you train yourself to act and to move when you need to rather than do things which are unnecessary.

( Testing continues )

When Bapak does this testing with you, it's clear that it is not an ordinary latihan. Its purpose is that when Bapak gives a talk you can really receive what Bapak is saying so you don't understand it in theory, but in practice as well.

( Testing finished and second group of ladies come forward to test )

The meaning of relax is don't think about anything. When Bapak faces you now Bapak isn't facing you with his thinking but with his jiwa. That is why we call this the latihan kejiwaan. The meaning of latihan kejiwaan is the training of the jiwa because this is awakened by the Power of Almighty God which manifests within your being. So it's completely free from the influence of the heart and mind. The heart and mind are the abode of the nafsu, and it is this nafsu which is very easily manipulated by the lower forces: Sometimes they whisper this and that within your heart. So don't move unless you are moved. The one who will move you is your jiwa.

( Testing)

Do you feel better ? Yes or not?

( Yes )

So what this means is that you have been able to feel the movement of your jiwa - not yet one hundred percent - but the feeling you have just been able to receive. And it is sure that from a little it will become more, and from a small movement it will become deeper so that it won't always go on like this. But it will spread to your feeling and eventually to your understanding.

You cannot expect to become clever the moment you start studying. You have to go through many stages. Nor can you expect to become a fully grown adult without going through the stage of being a baby first. Clearly everything will take time, and everything has its stages. What is important is that you surrender yourself fully to Almighty God, for it's the love of God which will guide you and will help you. On the other hand what is important for your mind, for your thinking, is to be able to make use of the nafsu; because it is this nafsu which gives you the enthusiasm and strength to work.

That is why in Subud we have two duties. We have two responsibilities: One is to worship Almighty God according to his guidance. And the second is to use our heart, our mind, our nafsu, to look after our life in this world. So don't ask God for money. God doesn't have any money. But God is the one who has power and authority; and he creates those who make money.

( Ladies dismissed and men called forward to test. Bapak repeats advice about how to begin testing. Testing begins )

This is really interesting because it means that from your latihan kejiwaan you are able to grasp what is wrong with your own self, with your work, and with the way you behave - your own shortcomings.

So this is a kind of experiment, or a kind of experience for you. And it is also something that you will eventually learn so that later on you will be able to do this sort of testing for yourself - even when Bapak isn't here with you. This means that you will be in a position to answer questions from your own brothers within your group who would like to know about their right work and their talent.

( Testing continues, finishes, and starts with second group of men )

In order to be able to receive, you have to, first of all, introduce each one of the members of your body, each one of the parts of your being, to your jiwa; because it will be your jiwa that will have the authority when you have died.

( Testing continues )

So within every part of your being it has been written down by the Power of God what its use is. So you, who should be an expert in the kejiwaan, must know the purpose that has been written into each one of the parts of your being.

( Testing continues )

This is something that you really need to feel - the fact that even when you are sad you will be able to laugh, thanks to your jiwa. At the same time if you are very happy because you have lots of money, you still can feel that there is no reason to laugh.

( Testing finishes )

Now that you've all sat down again and settled down, Bapak is going to give you a talk about the way of the kejiwaan - its benefits and its uses.

Brothers and sisters, from your experience of the latihan kejiwaan, it should be already clear that the latihan is the source, the spring, from which everything originates. Everything human beings do - every action, every form of behavior that human beings have in this world - originates from the latihan kejiwaan. This is because in the latihan kejiwaan the one who guides us is the Power of Almighty God.

And God is truly Almighty. God is truly All-Knowing, All-Wise, and All-Embracing. God is the creator of everything in the universe. And God does not create things by parts - half done. When God creates something it's complete and self sufficient. Truly, man, as one of God's creations, has been made complete, has been given everything that he needs for his life.

So truly it is wrong, very wrong, if you see human beings who are poor, ignorant and living in conditions which are miserable and destitute. Even more wrong are people who say God is unjust because he hasn't given us what he has given to others! Also wrong are people who say that God has decreed we have to be poor and there is nothing we can do but accept what God has decreed even though we are miserable. Truly that is wrong because that state of misery or poverty is not the Will of God. It is the mistake of man himself.

Everything God has created has been created complete and sufficient to itself. In the case of man, man has been created with physical functions, his senses, his heart and mind, and his nafsu - everything man needs for his life in this world. And with it, the lower forces, or the framework of life forces, that Bapak has described to you.

We have been provided, within our being, with all the life forces that exist in this world. Among them, the material force, which is called in Islam the roh raiwani, or the satanic life force. Now indeed it is true that this satanic life force is an obstacle, or a danger, to man; it is a disturbance to man in his worship of Almighty God.

That is why in religions we say, "Oh God, save us from this satanic force," or "Oh God, save us from this satan," and things like that. But the fact is that if we were separated from this force we would be incapable of doing anything. We would not be able to act in any way in this world. Why? Because we would have nothing with which to do anything. We would have nothing with which to live, to ward off danger and so on.

It's quite different with animals. A tiger has sharp claws and sharp teeth with which to fight, defend himself, and protect himself from enemies. But what does man have? Can man, if he is naked, if he is without material things, fight with a tiger?. Or even with a cat? He will lose because the cat has sharp claws and sharp teeth which a man does not have.

How is it then that man can be greater than the animals? How is it that man can overcome the animals? With his intelligence. Although he does not have sharp teeth or horns like the buffalo or bull, man has been given an intelligence. He has been given a human intelligence with which he's able to make things, with which he is able to use the material to make all the things he needs. This is how a man can be superior to the animals. By using his intelligence - what Bapak calls the budhi (it is this which is able to make weapons, for example) - man is able to kill not only one or two tigers, but he is able, if he wants, to kill a thousand tigers at once.

And the tool of this intelligence is the roh raiwani, the material life force which is within man and which man can use. So although it is true that this satanic life force is an obstacle in man's surrender to God, in man's worship of God, without it man can do nothing. Without it he is completely helpless.

Indeed it is really true to say a human being is God's weakest creature. He is a creature who would lose everything and be defeated by everything around him if it were not for his intelligence. Man has no claws, no teeth for fighting, no fur on his body. If he gets a little bit too cold, he already gets sick. Or if it gets a little bit too hot, he gets sick - quite unlike animals who can put up with much more. But because man has been given his intelligence he can survive. He can win out; and he can produce everything he needs.

So it is clear that if we represent man's being as a house, the material life force is really the lowest; it is the first floor - or the foundation. But what house can stand without a foundation? So truly the material life force is the foundation of man's being. And it is the requirement for man to be able to become. a complete being in this world.

( Gap in tape here - beginning on 2nd side of 2nd cassette )

And the fact is that Almighty God is Ali-Knowing, Ali-Great, All-Wise and Ali-Understanding. And God, indeed, has provided us with our heart and mind, our nafsu, our senses, and so on for our life in this world. But on top of all this, and besides all this, God has provided us with something else - something that is free of our nafsu, free of our heart and mind, and which comes from beyond our heart and mind and our intelligence.

What is this something else? It is something that arises spontaneously, something that arises unexpectedly, something that comes to us from beyond our own ability to foresee, wish for it, or understand it. It is something that we can understand only after we have received it. We cannot understand it beforehand.

What is this something? It is that something which has been received by the prophets in the past, by the messengers of God. And now at this time, in this age, by a very great good fortune, it has been received by mankind in general - among them, you yourselves.

This is our great good fortune: that this is something that Bapak has received and has been able to pass on to all of you.

And this something, this gift that we have received, is like what was received in the past by the prophets and the messengers of God. And it is something that is free, like what they received. What we have received in this latihan is free from the influence of the heart and mind. It is free from the will of the nafsu. It is free from all the things that disturb us and agitate us in our everyday lives.

Why is it that we depend on Almighty God? Why is it that we have to depend on God Almighty for everything? Because it is only God Almighty, only the Power of God, that is able to clarify the state of our being and to bring clarity into our self and into our inner feeling.

It is only the Power of God that can put aside the influence of the nafsu. As Bapak has told us - Bapak doesn't know whether he told us here or somewhere else - the faults, sins, and mistakes that have accumulated within our being are not just the result of our own mistakes and wrong actions. They are the results of everything that has come down from our ancestors - all their mistakes, all their errors, all their sins have come down to us. Actually, if you really feel about it and understand it, there is no hope of correcting all these things in our life time. How long do we live anyway? At most a hundred years - maybe a hundred and fifty years maximum. Yet all these mistakes have taken thousands of years to accumulate. This is our inheritance. It is what in the Vedas, the Indian holy writings, is called karma: that the sins and wrong actions of a person come back; they have an effect. Things that we do that are wrong and hurt other people come back to our descendants.

Actually there is no hope in one life time of clearing all this, of purifying it. But don't worry. Because everything is possible for the Power of Almighty God. If it is the Power of Almighty God that undertakes this purification and correction, then there is a possibility that it can be achieved.

This is something that you should have been able to feel and receive when you were opened. When we are opened we are able to understand, feel, and experience for ourselves that the power of God is capable of purifying our inner being. The power of God is able to act within us to clear up and reduce the traces of, the accumulations of mistakes within us.

If then you are already able to feel this and be deeply aware of this - the effect of God's power within you since you've been doing the latihan - then really it is very disappointing if you do not really practice the latihan kejiwaan. You will, yourself, be able to feel how disappointing it is if you do not really follow this latihan and let it work within you. That disappointment - and that waste m will be something that you will really feel when you are faced with your death at the end of your life.

And really we are very lucky that we have received this gift and that Bapak has received it and has been able to pass it on to us.

The receiving of this within our being can be compared to the rising of the sun in the early morning. For when we begin to feel the action of the Power of God within our jiwa, our state is like the rising of the sun at dawn. And the dew which has accumulated on the ground, on the leaves, on the grass and everywhere, as it were "disappears" by itself. It evaporates by itself under the action, under the working of the rays of the sun. In the same way, the nafsu, which we can compare to this dew, withdraws by itself under the action, under the working of the Power of God which rises within our being.

This withdrawal of the nafsu from within our being, makes it possible for us to receive something that we need within our being - something unexpected, that we cannot foresee before we receive it.

That is why it is very important for you to practice this latihan and to practice the movements you receive in the latihan. These movements are truly different from what is called gymnastics, or something we originate with our will; these movements are something that arise spontaneously - free from the influence of our nafsu and our heart and mind.

From this latihan it is possible for us, eventually, to begin to feel things, to begin to know things, to begin to receive and understand things - such as you experienced just now in the testing. You am already able to begin to feel how an Englishman laughs, how a Frenchman laughs, how a person does this and that. In other words, you're able to begin to receive and feel how another person works, how A or B feels and so on. So your being has begun to open out and to receive things beyond your own understanding and experience.

What you have experienced so far is still only on the level of movement. What you have been tested in is only your hands, feet, mouth and so on. But this will go deeper as you practice the latihan. This ability to feel how someone else feels, how someone else is, will get deeper and deeper until it gets into your inner feeling. And finally it gets into your understanding.

When it gets into your understanding, you will be able to think beyond your brain. Normally what you are able to think and understand is what can be thought by your brain. But if you practice what Bapak has just said, you will be able to think not with the brain, but with the jiwa. Then what you think and understand will be from beyond the capacity of the brain to think and understand.

You are enabled to do this because of the Power of Almighty God. The examples of this are the prophets: the prophet Abraham, Jesus Christ, Mohammed. None of them studied anything. None of them went to school. And yet they were able to receive an understanding that was beyond normal understanding.

For example, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, as you know, was born in a level of society that was, let's say, at the lowest level of society. And yet, because it was God's will that He would become a guide for mankind, that He would become a Giver of Directions for mankind, God's will could not be opposed. God's decree cannot be put aside. So no matter where Jesus came from, no matter his lack of education; yet he was able to receive and to receive an understanding that was truly great and wide about man's life in this world.

The reason Jesus was able to receive in this way is because He was created by God from a seed that was truly clean, truly pure. Because it was God's will that He would one day receive this and be able to give a new direction, a new guidance, for mankind in general.

Brothers and sisters, it is really true that from the latihan we will be shown everything that we need for our lives. We will be shown what it is we have to do, what it is we have to feel, what it is we have to understand. All of this will become clear and we will be able to receive through the practice of our latihan.

So it is as if, through the latihan, we are able to receive the beginning of the development of our life. So Bapak will use an example. Supposing our right work, or our talent, is to be a singer. Then through the practice of our latihan, eventually, little by little, we will be able to receive a form of singing, a way of singing, a voice, a quality of voice that is completely different from anything that we have learned, from anything that we have been able to do with our own effort. And apart from that fact we ourselves will hear this voice with a feeling of surprise, with a feeling of astonishment that we am able to produce this voice which we have not experienced before. Eventually we will also be able to understand the meaning of what it is that we are singing, the content of what that song is.

So from this kind of experience you will be able to understand and be able to convince yourself that it is through the latihan kejiwaan that you will be able to receive what you need for your life. Then, ultimately, you will become people who are really useful to the human race, in other words, useful to society.

Now that is the fruit of the latihan. As for the other matter of what level your jiwa is on, or what is your spiritual position in the realm of the framework of life in the world - that is something we don't need to talk about. It is something that we don't need to express in this world or to use in this world. Because actually that has no use in this world. It is only something that has a significance in the next world. As Jesus himself said to his disciples: Here in this world I am only an ordinary human being. It is only in the next world, in the hereafter, that I sit on a throne and have a duty and a responsibility which cannot be described with the words we have in this world.

Now that was if you are a singer. Supposing you are a writer, again you will be able to have an understanding of life that you can express in your writing, that actually comes from beyond your understanding of your life that you normally have. In other words, it will be possible for you to receive more than what you really understand. You will be able to receive an understanding that goes beyond your own intelligence. Actually, it is as though you will be protected from your own knowledge and your own intelligence and given something that is more than that. An example of this is the holy books that have come down to us from the past.

So it is clear that it is from your worship of Almighty God that it is possible for all of us to truly, gradually become people who are useful in this world. And then it will be through that experience, through that experience of your life in this world, through the experience of receiving something that is really useful that you will then become convinced that God is truly real, that He really exists and that He is Almighty.

So that we can more quickly reap the fruits of our latihan, Bapak always advises us to do enterprises. Because these enterprises that Bapak is always talking to us about are something that grow out of the latihan kejiwaan. In other words, the enterprises that Bapak talks to us about are a form of work, effort, activity that we do in the world to earn our living by using what we have received in the latihan kejiwaan.

The purpose of enterprises is that whatever you are doing, whatever you are working at, is always accompanied by the I closeness of the Power of Almighty God. So that when it starts to develop, when it starts to open out and to grow, your life can reach a level or a state where you are no longer in darkness, anxiety, or confusion - where you are no longer in a state of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, but where, truly, you are beginning to experience something satisfying, something complete in your life.

And this is very important. Because, in general, people, when they experience wealth, when they acquire wealth and knowledge, do not gain happiness. They do not gain satisfaction. you have to know, to understand that contrary to what people say or to-what-you may think, people who are very rich or people who are highly intelligent and have a lot of knowledge are not at all happy, are not at all satisfied; their lives are not enjoyable. Because, for a person who is very, very rich, who is not accompanied by the Power of God, who does not have the Grace of God within him, his wealth is a sickness. He has wealth sickness. It is something that oppresses him so that he cannot sleep. When he sleeps he cannot sleep soundly. When he is awake he worries. He cannot even sit peacefully. He does not enjoy his food. He does not enjoy anything he does because he is oppressed by his own wealth, by his own material things.

Similarly, someone who is very intelligent and has wide knowledge. He cannot sleep soundly, he cannot enjoy his food, he cannot enjoy anything because his mind is constantly working. So then what's the point? All this wealth, all this knowledge that they have acquired with so much effort, and which they have really, really pushed themselves and have worked hard to acquire. What has it brought them if it does not bring them finally, at the end of their lives, to a state of peace and satisfaction? What is the use of it? Bapak wants to illustrate this with an example that Bapak happened to read about in a magazine somewhere. Apparently there is a young woman who inherited a vast wealth from her father. Apparently this happened in Greece. And she inherited not one or two million dollars, not even a hundred million, maybe five hundred million or a thousand million dollars. So really she had everything she wanted; everything she could possibly desire. And then what did she say? What does she say when she's asked, "How do you feel?" She says, "Well, actually I feel so sad; I feet so oppressed that I'm just waiting to die. I'm hoping that God will take my jiwa away so that I can join my father and my brother who have already died." Now why would she say a thing like that? Why would she feel that way? It is because she's oppressed. It's because she is disturbed and haunted by her own wealth.

So, brothers and sisters, this is the reason why Bapak advises us to do enterprises. The nature of enterprise is that we deal with the material. We work with the material. But if we later become rich, we won't be oppressed by that wealth; because we are protected, we are protected from the influence of that wealth by the guidance of the Power of God. Because in everything we do we will be surrounded by and protected by the Power of Almighty God. So that our wealth will not disturb us, but will be something that serves us.

Then, instead of us being manipulated by the material forces, we will become human beings who are able to manipulate the material to make it into a tool for our own welfare and for our own life.

And this is why, brothers and sisters, we are not at all forbidden in Subud to become rich. We are not at all forbidden in Subud to acquire wide knowledge, providing we do not forget, providing we do not lose touch with our worship of Almighty God.

So when Bapak advises you to do enterprises Bapak is in no way trying to encourage you to become greedy for material wealth or something like that. What Bapak is trying to get you to do is to put yourself in a work situation where you can really feel the guidance of the Power of God. You can really feel the latihan in the midst of your work. At the same time as you are working you are still able to feel the latihan kejiwaan.

And this is why Bapak is constantly doing this testing with. you: How do you move if you're doing this kind of work? How do you move if you're doing that kind of work? Because you know yourself that when you receive that, you don't receive it because you will it; you don't receive it because of your nafsu. But it comes spontaneously from within. And that is the experience that you are looking for in enterprises. That is the meaning of enterprise.

And that brings us to an awareness of our two duties in this world: our duty to worship God according to His guidance and free from our own nafsu and our heart and mind. And the second duty: to take care of our life in this world with our heart and mind and with our nafsu - but not forgetting the guidance of the Power of Almighty God.

Brothers and sisters, that's all that Bapak is going to say to you tonight. And, in case you are disappointed because you feel that Bapak hasn't talked to you long enough, then it's very likely that Bapak will still talk to you again before he leaves Vancouver in the next few days. But for tonight, Bapak is going to conclude his talk at this point and Bapak gives thanks, gives praise to Almighty God that Bapak has been able to express to you all that you needed to hear tonight. And finally Bapak only thanks you and says good night and wishes you a good rest for the rest of the night.

Thank you.