Brothers and sisters, as usual Bapak starts by greeting you, by saying Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatur, which means Bapak bids you the peace and blessings of Almighty God, that it is by God's Grace and God's protection that Bapak has been able to meet with you tonight and that you have been able to meet with each other to hear Bapak's talk which he is going to give you.

Brothers and sisters, tonight' Bapak is going to continue to explain to you about enterprises. The word "enterprise" is an English word and therefore it shouldn't be hard for you to understand it, but Bapak knows that for many of you the concept of enterprise, if you translate it into Indonesian, is Usaha. Usaha means effort, and it also means work. So actually, it means the awakening of the human being. When a human being awakens, he works. This working is actually his duty and his responsibility for as long as he lives in this world. So the meaning of the word enterprise is actually an awakening. This can take many forms and there are many varieties which this effort or this work can take.

Enterprise is something that we cannot put aside because it is part and parcel of living in this world, since it is directed towards fulfilling our worldly needs. Most of you are familiar with a form of enterprise known as employment. Employment is where you work in an organization - it could be a big Organization or a small organization - where you have a responsibility or duty and you do that and you are called an employee.

Some of you are also familiar with a different kind of enterprise where you stand on your own feet. That is an enterprise where you give the orders and you are the one who receives the orders. In other words, you stand on your own feet. That is another kind of enterprise. But whatever the kind of enterprise, it is a duty or a responsibility that you cannot put aside in this world, Now why does Bapak need to emphasize or advertise or promote this idea, this concept of enterprise, to you and to all Subud members, something that Bapak has done for a long time?

Actually we need to do enterprises in Subud something that has come up repeatedly in our World Congresses - in order that Subud members can begin in their work to stay close to the guidance which they receive from their jiwa; that in their work they do not lose touch with the worship of Almighty God. This is the content of what Bapak means when he talks about enterprises to all of you. Wherever the opportunity and whatever form it may take, whatever you may be doing in your ordinary life, you do not neglect and you do not set aside your worship. This is something that you have experienced in the latihan kejiwaan. For example, in your latihan kejiwaan you experience that you walk, but that walk is not your normal walk. It is a walk which, if the content of the walking were expressed in words, it would be as if you were saying "Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah." In other words, the content of that walk is worship of God. As you walk, in the very act of walking, you are praying to Almighty God for His guidance, for His blessing, for His protection. That is the proof; that it is possible to move and it is possible to act at the same time as you worship Almighty God. So in fact, once you are able to experience this, it means that you become aware in your everyday life of the Power of God that envelops you inwardly as well as outwardly.

If you want an example of this, you don't have to look far.

Look at Bapak himself. In whatever Bapak does - for example, now, when he is talking to you - the act of talking is something that does not require effort on Bapak's part, because he only needs to speak. This is because the talk is already there - it only remains for Bapak to speak it. When Bapak talks to you, it is for Bapak as if he were reading a text, the difference being that he doesn't read out a text that he has written out beforehand. He is reading a text which is written in his own inner feeling. This is the reason why what Bapak says and the content of Bapak's talk is always in accordance with the needs of the audience. It is not something Bapak has thought up, but something that is in contact with the audience he is facing. That is why for Bapak there is no feeling of embarrassment or bashfulness or awkwardness in giving a talk to so many people, because the talk is already there. This is an example of what Bapak means by working and at the same time not losing touch with the worship of Almighty God.

Hence we have, for example, the holy books which came down to us and, which contain true instruction for human beings. But the situation today is rather different because as we progressed, as the world became more complex and as human beings had to confront things more and more with their minds, gradually they grew to rely more and more and give greater stress to the use of the heart and mind and less and less have they the opportunity, or do they give themselves the opportunity, to feel the guidance that comes from within, that is, the guidance that comes from God's Power. In the world today, there is really no opportunity in general for human beings to put aside the constant activity of the mind and to feel the contact with the guidance of God's Power within them, to the extent that sometimes you even find it difficult to go to sleep because your mind is still chewing things over, all the problems that you have to continually think about.

In this state it is almost impossible to feel God's Power which envelopes our being inwardly and outwardly. It is hardly surprising therefore that a person in this state - and where are many people in this state - no longer have faith in Almighty God, no longer believe in the existence of God Almighty, for they rightly observe that God cannot be seen, that God cannot be grasped with the heart and mind. The reality of God can neither be demonstrated with the mind nor can His form be seen in the way that one can see things around one in the material world. So therefore people Conclude that God does not exist. This situation comes about not because God does not exist, not because God is not a reality in all his creatures and all around us, but because a person in this state, as are most of us, is closed off and screened from God's Power by the heart and mind. So this constantly active heart and mind forms a barrier and the existence of God and the reality of God cannot be felt.

Brothers and sisters, it is clear that human beings in this state have lost contact with the reality of God's Power and this is why Bapak is always pushing you in the direction of enterprises. What Bapak means by enterprise, which he mentioned earlier, is an opportunity for you to once again get used to living your life in a way that is constantly in contact with the action and the guidance of God's Power. The proof of the reality of what Bapak is talking about is our experience in the latihan, the content of which is movement that arises spontaneously without our will, without our thinking and without our planning. Now obviously, while this movement is limited to that which is coarse, while this movement is limited to your legs and to your body, it is not yet convincing. As this movement opens out and begins to affect your feeling and your imagination, then you begin to see and perceive the true nature of this guidance and the reality which is behind it.

In the olden days, people were aware of this. People were very clearly aware of a spontaneous movement arising within their heart and mind; in other words, arising within their understanding and their feelings. They called this the Instruction of God. Because they were aware that this spontaneous movement which arose within their understanding was from God, they therefore tended to be obedient to it. They were aware, also, that God's guidance in life arises spontaneously within the organ that is being guided. For example, if you talk, and God wants to guide your speech, He will guide it through your tongue, through your organ of speech, not through your thinking or through something else. People were aware of this difference in the olden days.

But today this distinction is very unclear for people. For example, long before you did the latihan, you could not only speak, but were very good at speaking; you not only could sing, but you were very good at singing, so that those of you especially whose job required public speaking could be said to be extremely good at it, and anyone who listened to you was convinced that what you were saying was true, but the fact is that it was all from the nafsu. All that was still from the heart and mind and did not have any content of God's guidance.

Brothers and sisters, this was your state before you were opened, but after you were opened, something new took place. For example many of you have never before in your life said "Allah." Certainly those of you who are Christians have never said it since you are not Muslims, why should you say it? Yet, when you were opened and did your latihan, many of you said, "Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah" and you had no idea what this meant. But this is the guidance in your speaking and this experience in your latihan was already the beginning of God beginning to teach you through your power of speech.

Now if God can teach you in your organ of speech, why should He not begin to teach you in all your other organs, whether it is in your eyes, your ears, your feet? No matter what you have to use in your everyday life, God can teach you in that organ. This is something that you will be able to understand really clearly only when you die. But you have to understand now, maybe you can begin to understand, that God has created man in this world not as a joke. God has created you here that you might become aware of being created, or of coming into existence and also of your ceasing to exist. So actually it is God's Will that you should become aware of this process.

As Bapak said, what you have received, what you have been given by God in being created in this world – in other words, you were here suddenly and suddenly you had this physical body - is something of priceless human value. As Bapak said the other day, all you have to do is use it. It is a gift. You didn't have to do anything to get it. Actually, if you can feel about it, if you can consider it objectively, you have been giver something of extraordinary value. There should be something going back to God, after God has given you this free, without any effort on your part. Surely there should be some gratitude. The fact is, once you are really aware of life, you will understand that even infinite gratitude to God, a boundless gratitude to God, is not enough to repay what God has given you. He has given you your life in this world. The only way you can repay, or thank God, is by giving this physical body back to Him. That means, living your life with an attitude of patience, acceptance and submission. That is the form of gratitude that a human being can give Almighty God.

Brothers and sisters, if we consider our situation, if you look at yourself, you have to ask: where is my gratitude to God? What form does my gratitude to God take for what He has given me? The truth is, if you are honest with yourself, your shortcomings towards God, or the lack on your side in your relationship with God is enormous, it is absolutely enormous, for, as Bapak has said, even infinite gratitude is not enough to repay what God has given you. This is what Bapak wants to explain to you.

To illustrate what Bapak said to you earlier: Bapak didn't yesterday nor the day before yesterday, have any intention or plan to tell you this today. He wasn't thinking about what he was going to tell you tonight. There was no premonition in Bapak yesterday that today he would tell you what he has just told you. It is something Completely spontaneous. More than that, what Bapak was talking today before he came here was 'Well, tonight I have to give another talk to all these people. But the time seems to be very short, because whenever I talk, someone reminds me that the time is very short and suddenly we have to stop. So maybe we will only have an hour and a half, or maybe we will have only one hour,' or something like that. As Bapak thought that, the answer came out of his own mouth, "Even five minutes is enough to express what you are going to say to those who will hear you." This is what Bapak is trying to explain to you; that the guidance God gives is perfect. It is complete. Bapak is not trying to give you some fairy story that he has not experienced, or that is far fetched. What Bapak is explaining to you is the absolute reality.

Brothers and sisters, as Bapak said, what you have, your being in this world, is something given to you. It is given to you to use. If you can become aware of its use, if you can become aware of your life as Bapak has just described, then you will see the meaning and the purpose of your life and you will see its continuation through death into a world of joy, usually described as heaven.

Brothers and sisters, when Bapak talks, Bapak always needs to illustrate his talk with a concrete example, in order that what he says should be reflected in some form of reality. So also tonight, although this is not an occasion for testing, Bapak would like to give an example of what Bapak has said. Therefore Bapak would like one of the helpers, someone who has already been doing the latihan for some time to come to the front. It seems Ian could tell in advance that Bapak would call him because he was already taking off his shoes when Bapak spoke his name. But you don't have to undress completely - you can even keep your jacket on if you want to. You can test even if you are fully dressed! ( Ian puts his jacket back on. )

( Testing begins )

Just as when you are in a state of latihan, there is nothing, you do not concern yourself with anything, but you are aware of a Power that envelops you and protects you and which envelops the whole universe .....

Follow ......

Where is God and His Power?

( Ian tests )

Yes enough. ( Bapak laughs. ) What you received is a sufficient answer. It is clear from your answer that God envelops everything around us and you can know it from this. You can become aware for yourself. It is clear that if you can be aware, if you can feel the Power of God close to you and within you in your everyday life and that Power is the Power that owns and controls everything then it stands to reason that it will be easy for you to find your way in life.

Again. And now Bapak would like everybody to receive.

Bapak is going to say some words and you will receive them inside your being. "Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah,"

Bapak is going to change and what Bapak says will be heard outside your being. "Allah, Allah, Allah. " Were you able to receive that? ( Many people answer: yes ) So what Bapak has explained to you is confirmed, that God's Power envelops you both inwardly and outwardly.

God is Almighty and loves all his creatures, including mankind. So it stands to reason that if one of his creatures truly worships Him and truly surrenders and follows, then God will show him the right way. He will always find a way in his life in this world.

Why then do people not find their way? It is because of the action, it is because of the repulsion by the heart and mind. The heart and mind always repel, always withstand God's Guidance and God's Instruction. The heart and mind block the influence of the Power of God which could help man, or could help each one of us to find our true way in life.

Once again ( to the audience )

Bapak is going to blow at your left ear.

Bapak blows.

And now Bapak is going to change to your right ear. blows again.

That's enough. Were you able to feel it? ( laughs ). Among all of you there were quite a few who could feel it. Were there ?

This is the reason why it is generally required in religion that before you pray, you should purify yourself by washing. In Islam it is called Wudu which is to purify ourselves before we pray from all impurities that may be within us. You do that by washing your hands, your face, your ears, your hair and so on, with clean water. What is needed is not the water, but the content of the water, which is , of course, the Power of God. This also illustrates that God's Power is not only in living creatures, creatures we can see, but it is in everything that exists. If water did not contain God's Power, you would not see any water; it would not exist. In order for something to exist, it must contain God's Power. So that actually this Wudu, by which is meant the purification before we pray, is an example to indicate that God's Power is in everything. It also is a reminder to purify your whole being in order to be able to face Almighty God in order to be able to receive from Almighty God. As Bapak said, in everything that exists, God's Power is there. This is why, when you do something wrong, although you may not admit that you have committed a sin, God knows. God knows because God is within everything. God knows everything that you do, whether you are aware of it or not whether you admit it or not. This is also why that act of purification is necessary.

Brothers and sisters, this attitude is a condition, or a Way for you to create a bridge or to become aware of the bridge between your life in this world and your life in the next. But if you neglect the contact with god's Power in your everyday life, then your life will certainly go astray.

It may be that you do not yet clearly understand the relationship between your life and material things, between your life and plants, between your life and animals, and with other human beings. It may be that these relationships are not yet clear to you, but that clarity will come through the latihan kejiwaan. The latihan kejiwaan is God's instruction, God's teaching for yourself, for your life in this world; in other words, how you must deal with all the things in this world. And An order that you may become aware of this teaching, little by little, Bapak always promotes the idea of enterprises. Because God's guidance can guide you and everything you do, no matter what form your work takes. Even if you happen to be a film star, when you are on the set, God's guidance can be there, in the middle of what you do, in your movements, in the way you act.

Even though this is in the midst of a talk, Bapak always likes to give examples, so just listen and it will be translated into English:

( Bapak sings )

Life, in reality

Is feeling your own being

In truth God Almighty

Is already close to all of you

Closer than your own feeling

And completely fills your whole being.

Bapak sometimes asks you whether when you sing, for a special occasion, say, for example, to welcome Bapak or whatever, do you find that the words arrange themselves in your mouth, in the same way that Bapak has just illustrated? In other words, whether you are able in the midst of your singing, to express something that fits the needs, of the occasion? If you are, that is God's Guidance

God guides you in the midst of what you are doing, in the midst of where you are what you have to do.

This again illustrates what Bapak told you earlier, that really you are provided with everything. You only have to use it. Everything that you have, all your faculties, your physical body and all its instruments, they are there for you to use. You don't have to make them. They are just yours. They are given to you. So this is why, because God has given you this, God is called Rahman and Rahim ( The Gracious and Merciful ) and if therefore your life goes wrong, it is not God's fault, but your own. There is no favoritism with God, So whoever with a firm intention and a strong will truly worships God, with patience, acceptance and submission, that person Will not go astray, He will receive God's guidance in his life.

So truly the latihan that you have received is guidance from the One who created you and that is why it is something rare. That is why if you look in history, you will never find an example in the past of something like this latihan, because it is not easy to grasp. It is not something commonplace. To grasp the Shariat, that is, the normal religious observance, is easy, because the Shariat is a set of rules made by the heart and mind to unite a lot of people and make them act as one.

You can master the Tarekat, or the meaning of what is taught in religion, because that also is an effort of the heart and mind But Hakekat, the reality, or the inner spiritual reality which you receive in the latihan, cannot be grasped, cannot be mastered by the heart and mind because it is at the disposal of Almighty God. It is Almighty God who can only provide that. It is only in this latihan that it is possible for you to be given understanding which you do not have, or to be given understanding through your own understanding.

If Bapak pushes you hard to get your own latihan hall, to get a big latihan hall, the purpose of this is for your own benefit. What is the point of having a latihan hall? The purpose of a good latihan hall is so that it is easier for you to get guidance for your life. That is its purpose. It is not a status symbol or something like that. It is for your own benefit. Don't underestimate your ability or your capacity to do something.

For example, Bapak said earlier that Bapak has built a latihan hall in Cilandak and now he is building a hotel. Bapak doesn't want to be conceited, but maybe it won't be less good than the hotel you are sitting in now. Maybe even, it will be the best hotel in Jakarta. It is called a Five Star Hotel, so it will have five stars, whatever that means.

This, if you ask how this can be done, truly it is impossible. How can Bapak do such a thing? How can Subud do such a thing? We have no money. Without money you cannot do this. But the strange thing is, that it is in fact possible because of God's Will, because of God's Guidance. The fact is that people who have the money who want to lend money, look for us because they want to lend us money. They want to work with us in order to help us achieve what we want to do.

Certainly when this hotel is built people will be very surprised. People will say, "How can Subud do a thing like that?" Bapak himself doesn't know how such a thing becomes possible.

Bapak said that these comments on the hotel were just an intermezzo or an interlude. Bapak doesn't underestimate what you can do if you are really willing to try.

Bapak was talking about the Hakekat. That is the reality, the spiritual reality. To be able to experience, to be able to know the Hakekat depends on one thing. It depends on an attitude which Bapak always describes as patience, acceptance and submission. To say it is easy, but it is extremely difficult to carry it out. In order to help Us, to give human beings an opportunity to train themselves in patience, acceptance, and submission mankind has been guided, as Bapak explained the other day, to do a kind of fast, once a year. This is what in Islam is called the Ramadan. It exists equally in other religions. This is a time that is set aside when through doing this fast we are able to become aware of the influences which normally act on us in our everyday lives. That is, we become aware of how we are influenced by the nafsu in our everyday lives. We are enabled to gradually reduce this influence.

Brothers and sisters, this influence of the nafsu, truly it is something essential for man. Man needs it for his life in this world. But God has given man something besides that nafsu. That is the guidance that comes direct from Almighty God. It is that which man can obtain in religion through doing the fast. In religion, the purpose of doing the fast is that, after twenty days of practicing it, ( as Bapak described the other day ), you are able to make contact with this Power, with this something that God has placed within our being, which permits us to check and to control and not to be influenced by the heart and mind and by the nafsu. This is if you have done the fast correctly.

Brothers and sisters, those who are lucky in doing the fast received something called the Lailatul Qdar. This is spontaneous change in the inner feeling, a spontaneous change which arouses within the person who experiences it, a feeling of love and compassion for his fellow human beings. That such a thing is possible is proof of God's love for man.

This experience is the same as that which we have received in the latihan kejiwaan. That is our ability to separate the heart, mind, nafsu and our ordinary will from this guidance that comes from within. Bapak frequently tests with you when Bapak asks someone to walk with the heart and mind, walk with the will and then walk not with the will but with the latihan. Of course, many of you who do this test are not able to feel it, but many of you are able to feel it. That is why in order to feel more clearly that separation or that distinction, Bapak always pushes you toward the idea of undertaking enterprises, because that is what Bapak means by enterprises - that in your enterprises, in the work that you do, you make it possible, you set up conditions whereby you can become aware of the interplay between the influence of the nafsu and that of the inner guidance.

So in your enterprise, in your everyday life, what you do is then in line with that guidance. In your everyday life, in your everyday work, you will not do things which harm other people, or which restrict the freedom of other people or in some way infringe on other people's rights or other people's freedom and happiness. It is very important that you should not be people who receive the latihan on the one hand, and still go on living lives totally influenced by the nafsu, totally unable to work together, unable to cooperate with others and unable to bring the benefit of your latihan to what you do and to your ordinary life.

If you are truly attentive within yourself, you will be guided towards what is right. You will be shown the way that is right and you will be shown the distinction between what is right and what is wrong. You will be reminded when you forget. Your life will really bear fruit in a way you will like.

So brothers and sisters, the reason Bapak encourages you to do enterprises is to train you to always remain close to God's Power and always to be in touch with God, no matter where you are or what you are doing. This is so that you can put into practice the saying: "Inna li'illahi wa inna illaihi roji'un." ( We come from God and we return to God. ) So that truly when you come to the end of your lives, you really are in a position to return to God, as that saying implies.

This is Bapak's clarification of the concept of enterprise which many of you still find strange and about which many of you still entertain doubts. Many of you still have a suspicion or still have a prejudice that maybe doing enterprises will somehow restrict or obstruct your receiving of the latihan and the progress and development of your inner self and your inner understanding. Actually, nothing is further from the truth. It is just the other way round. Maybe :that is true of the enterprises that you used to do before you joined Subud, where the motive behind them was only your nafsu - in other words, your motive was to become wealthy, to become powerful, to become a big shot. In other words, it was purely selfish in its attitude or in its approach.

The purpose of enterprises in Subud is what was illustrated by the testing done by our brother Ian earlier. It is the reality of the experience that God's Power is everywhere around you and within you. So that whatever you do, you do it in accordance with God's guidance. You will not act in a way that is wrong or harmful, but you will be reminded of the right way, or the right approach at the moment when you act, through this awareness. When we pray ( in Islam the prayer called the Takbir ), we say "Allahu Akbar", it means that God is universal and God is everywhere.

This is the content of what Bapak means by enterprises. It is not directed towards becoming a powerful person, amassing wealth and so on. That is not to say that wealth is wrong or that being rich is wrong. On the contrary, there is nothing wrong with being rich and it is very praiseworthy to be rich, if you can achieve it, as long as the wealth that you create is not harmful. You must use it is a way that is beneficial and not harmful, in a way that is in line with your needs. Why not? There is no restriction. There is no reason why you should not own a hotel like this Hilton hotel. The reason you do not own one is because you haven't found the right way to do business, whereas Mr. Conrad Hilton found the right way. If he could do it, why should you also not be able to do it?

The important thing is: if we make money, if we become successful, we will not worship our wealth. We will not worship those material things because they will remain on the material level. That is the lowest level of existence.

For us as human beings, our true aim is not the material.

Our true direction and our true aim is the Power of Almighty God. If you want to know what is the direction of the latihan kejiwaan, you only have to consider that the guidance we receive in the latihan comes from the power of Almighty God. And God is Almighty. So clearly, if God is Almighty and He guides us, then His Guidance will lead us in the direction of Almighty God, so that we put into practice the saying, "We come from God and we return to God."

So put briefly or concisely, this is the purpose and the content of the latihan kejiwaan. That is, it is the way whereby God guides us to return to Him.

Brothers and sisters, having explained to you the basis and the intention behind the idea of enterprises, that Bapak has frequently discussed with you and mentioned to you, Bapak feels that he would now like to close his talk, in order not to have happen what has happened the last couple of times when Bapak overran his allotted time. So Bapak would now like to finish here. Of course Bapak will continue to explain about this and about the kejiwaan in the coming days during the Congress which you are on the verge of holding.

Bapak would like to conclude now and say good night to all of you and thank you very much.