Coombe Springs, England June 30, 1957
Code Number : 57 CSP 3
( The recording begins abruptly. )
...so that human beings, together with the body, don't come to nothing; so that it doesn't happen that while one's alive in this world one does this with the body, one does that, one takes it there, one brings it here, and one can do nothing without it; but after death, this goes to the North Pole ( laughter ), this to the South Pole, and this to Africa ( laughter ). Then, when the person arrives before God, God will have to ask, 'Who's this?' because the complete form of a human being will be lacking.
Anyway, my children, you certainly hope that what arrives in heaven is more than just one of your ears. Or, perhaps, more than just your nose. If you can get to heaven, let it be the whole of you, complete with your understanding, so that you can really feel what conditions are like there.
For that reason, what all of you, my children, have received is not a teaching given by one person to another; Bapak isn't teaching it; Bapak isn't giving you lessons, my children; Bapak's only opening you and saying, 'Here it is, my child, the way that's right for you.' After that, it's up to you yourselves to choose your own walking stick. Will you choose a fine one? Will you choose a bad one? It's enough for Bapak that he has opened the way.
And on that way, it's God who will give you really useful lessons. For example, a person won't learn colloquial English really well unless an English person has been the teacher, and the lessons have been given ( here ) in England, too. How can a person teach human beings in such a way as to get people into heaven, when the teacher is in the world? The teacher can say, 'Really, heaven is truly blissful. All the food is delicious.'
But if it's asked, 'Have you been there yourself?.' 'Not yet.' How can people believe? The teacher's only saying that ( inaudible )·
. . . to the second wall, the wall of the feelings. And if that can be completed, it will penetrate further to the third level, what Bapak calls the wall of the body of the understanding. And if that's completed, only then will it penetrate to the fourth wall, what Bapak calls the wall of awareness of human life. Only after you're there, my children - if we compare it with people sitting - can you sit in one row with the greatness of the power of God, which has been present there all the time.
Only then will the perfect human force of man be able to understand, able to feel properly, what the living power of God is like, the power present within everything that's within, so that belief in the One God will no longer be strange to you. For the power of God can be confirmed, can be known, only by human beings if they are already perfect. This is because the sight, hearing, sense of smell, speech and feelings will no longer be closed off by forces below the human level. So, my children, you'll see the power of God later; it will no longer be possible for ( your sight ) to be shut off by the walls in front of you. It will no longer be possible for it to be hidden from you by your closed-off eyes, and so, in your quietness, it will appear .... ( inaudible )·
. . .that the human being who can be said truly to see is the one who has already been shown the heavens which extend in tiers, what are called the heavenly bodies. Only then is it possible to feel for the first time truly what God's gifts are like, what God's love of mankind is like, and how noble the life of the true human being is, for then there can no longer be found anything that's distant, anything that's difficult, because God will have brought whatever is far, in front of you, and God will also have made it easy to find everything you need to find. For this reason, the prophets have advised, 'Believe in God's existence and His power, and follow the messengers God has sent'
The guide who is right for you is God's messenger who is also like all of you. What's the reason God's messengers are human beings too? Because God doesn't want to estrange human beings from one another, and also because human beings have to trust one another. It shouldn't reach the point where human beings believe in something other than human beings, because if they do, it means they believe in superstition.
Coombe Springs, England July 21, 1957
Code Number : 57 CSP 5
You cannot yet grasp how God's power is. But God knows and receives about the situation of each one of you, about all that has happened as well as all that hasn't yet come to pass.
Many people, in their minds, don't believe God exists. Indeed, God and His power are not like humans. In the stories of the prophets, the prophets advised that the power of God will appear and can be felt by human beings if they can leave behind all their thinking and desires. Why is that? The mind, understanding and desires are weapons and tools for human beings to acquire the highest knowledge possible within the sphere of human activity.
But the heights of man's mind and the sharpness of his thinking are nothing before the One God. God is Almighty and cannot be overreached by the creatures He has created. Whatever heights a person may attain through the cleverness of his mind, he will not go beyond the level of his own spirit or position as a human being. For that position is made up of experiences he has had through the progress of his feelings, thinking and awareness.
For these reasons, Bapak always tells you, and recommends to all of you, that you should really believe and worship God sincerely. And have full faith that God is the only one who can give you something you need for your life. Your faith and surrender can be put into practice by doing the latihan regularly. For, through the latihans you receive, you are gradually awakened, beginning with your coarse, outer parts. In reality, you are being awakened from a dead, weak state under the pressure of subhuman forces.
If your thinking and desires interfere, your latihan stops by itself, and you are unable to receive more or wider. For this reason, in the latihan you need to surrender yourselves body and soul to the One God, with a full feeling of patience, and entrusting yourselves to God with sincere submission. So even if you surrender, but in your heart there's no feeling of patience, and within the feeling of your heart is the wish to become clever quickly and receive quickly, this will, on the contrary, slow down your receiving.
Also, even if you believe and you are patient, but you cannot yet entrust yourself to God ( tawakal ) . . . the meaning of tawakal is this: suppose you are required to leave behind everything that is pleasurable for you, you have to have the courage to be tawakal, the courage to let go of it all. And, even if you already believe completely, and are completely patient, and completely entrust yourself to God, but you don't yet submit sincerely ( ikhlas ), you will still be slow in your receiving. That is, even if you have those three qualities completely, but you are not yet ikhlas.., and the meaning of ikhlas is: God alone owns everything, without exception.
What Bapak has been saying is illustrated and can be read, - no doubt you’ve read it - in the story of the Prophet Abraham s life at the time when Abraham had two sons, Ismail and Ishak. The Prophet Abraham was a human being who had full faith in God. He was a man of extraordinary patience. Because of his complete faith and patience in the face of whatever happened, God promised him He would give him happiness in this world, that is, a child.
When the Prophet Abraham received this promise from God, he couldn't help laughing in his inner feeling. He laughed to himself not because he didn't believe God, but because he felt he and his wife were already too old. At that time, Abraham was more than a hundred years old, and his wife was about ninety!
. . . And God told Abraham, 'Abraham, you are a creature who really believes in me, in God, and you believe that God is All-powerful over everything that happens. You must believe what I am going to promise you and say to you. How would it be if I want something that you have?' The Prophet Abraham replied, 'O God, I believe in you completely, more than my own soul. I will surrender whatever God wills.' Then God said, 'Abraham, kill your child, who you always love, at my command, by your own hand, and no one else's.'
Bapak has already explained about the desires and forces, and how in reality they are accessories, and not enemies or an obstruction for human beings. Besides these, there are four brothers in the self of every human being. All four of them nest and reside in the will, within a person's heart. Of these four brothers - five including the human being himself- the first wants the person always to win and beat others. The second brother wants a person to be rich, richer than others. The third wants a person to be well known and have a better name than others. And the fourth brother wants a person to be wise, wiser than others.
These four brothers are always there within the heart, in the will of a human being; and they are always rising up to maintain their various positions. So, a person whose belief in God is not strong and who isn't very patient in a given situation, and doesn't entrust himself to God and sincerely submit to God, is very easily disturbed by them. People always follow these four brothers in their inner feeling if they haven't yet found strength from God, or the right way to occupy their position as human beings.
Coombe Springs, England August 11, 1957
Code Number : 57 CSP 7
Also, even if you believe and you are patient, but you cannot yet entrust yourself to God ( tawakal ) . . . the meaning of tawakal is this: suppose you are required to leave behind everything that is pleasurable for you, you have to have the courage to be tawakal, the courage to let go of it all. And, even if you already believe completely, and are completely patient, and completely entrust yourself to God, but you don't yet submit sincerely ( ikhlas ), you will still be slow in your receiving. That is, even if you have those three qualities completely, but you are not yet ikhlas.., and the meaning of ikhlas is: God alone owns everything, without exception.
Eindhoven, Netherlands - October 11, 1957
Code Number : 57 EIN 2
So clearly, the movement that arises in this training originates from something beyond the state of human beings. This is the way the prophets received revelations in times long ago. In a state of peacefulness, quietness and awareness, free from desire, thought and imagination, a human being will feel the vibration of life, which envelops him both outside and inside. People call it the khatir ilham ( divine inspiration ), meaning the movement of life that comes from God's grace. It is not in the breast, or in the brain, or the stomach or any of the human organs. Yet, it is there also, because of your awareness of God as a result of the peacefulness, quietness and awareness of your inner feeling, which truly repents and believes in God and entrusts itself to God with sincere submission.
It is really very difficult to describe where and what it is, because it is the presence of God's power. In Islam, it is called sifat zatullah, that is, the presence of God's power which envelops outside and inside. That is why we should never claim that it is within 'me.' And that's why it is very difficult for someone who is looking for it. People force themselves to go away from society, and away from their wives and children, and many give up the pleasures they have enjoyed for so long. Clearly, the presence of God's power that Bapak just referred to is not easily possessed or received when a human being cannot yet quieten his desire, calm his inner feeling, and paralyze his imagination and thoughts.
Such is the greatness, wisdom and omniscience of God, that human beings in fact cannot place any limits on God's will. For God in His wisdom is greater than anyone and can determine His own will. So all of you feel that in all probability this situation of ours is also from God. Why do we settle for that? Because first of all we have the examples and stories of the messengers of God long ago, and second, we have the evidence and reality that we receive whenever we do the training.
That's why Bapak advises you not to compare this with other exercises ( inaudible ), for it will give rise to a feeling of worry and anxiety, will impede and darken you in your receiving of the training ( latihan ). In fact, it shows that your belief, your obedience and your sincere submission to God are not yet real. For, even supposing a given teaching were not right and not real, you would eventually be able to receive the true reality through your belief, through your obedience, through your trusting that only God can give the right way for human beings to go towards God.
Clearly, truth and reality lie primarily in patience, faith, submitting sincerely, surrendering and entrusting yourselves to the One God. And the reality you have received can strengthen and confirm your belief, your trust, your surrender and patience towards the One God.
There are many stories - perhaps you have heard them here too - which have been told and passed on from mouth to mouth in India and in Indonesia. There was once a pupil who was very sincere in his obedience to God and also in following what his guru told him. However, the guru felt that if the pupil was shown the right way, he would become more clever than he was. So the guru gave his pupil guidance that would harm him and bring him low. But because in his heart the pupil, as Bapak said just now, really served what the guru told him and also believed in the greatness of the One God, Who alone could give him the way, he was able to receive in the end. Where he was supposed to receive wrongly, or fall in a hole, because of God's grace he was able to receive the right way for his life.
This is only an example to show that if you really believe in God and that only God can give you the way, even if there were something wrong in this guidance Bapak gives you, you would be diverted by God's power to the right way that you need for your life in this world and in the next.
Coombe Springs, England - October 20, 1957
Code Number : 57 CSP 11
Know that the One God, the Creator of all things, created us. We exist because of God's will. We can think, and we have our character, also because of God. So, when we are facing the One who created us we should wipe clean everything that is in us. God knows and perceives what is in the feeling of your inner heart within your breast. But God also knows the strength and capacity of each one of you to receive a gift from God. For this reason, Bapak suggests and hopes you just receive what happens in the latihan with patience and surrender, without thinking about anything.
There are many people who appear to be sincere and may indeed be sincere in their heart when they worship God. And many surrender within their heart every day and every night, mentioning only the name of God the Almighty. But why don't they receive guidance from the One God, straight from God to themselves? The reason is that the state of their heart's surrender to God, and their heart's belief in God, is founded on man's rules, and is not by God's will.
If you feel for a moment and consider how Bapak opened you, and how in your opening your soul ( jiwa ) could immediately awaken and receive the true vibration of life, which envelops you, both outside and inside... When you were about to receive it Bapak's words of advice to you were very ordinary words and less than the way in which people usually praise, extol and glorify the greatness of the One God. Yet you were able to receive it. You were able to feel it for yourselves.
So it wasn't the words that enabled you to receive, nor was it the words that enabled you to be cleared of the obstructions that were in your inner feeling. What Bapak did, and what you received, was really by God's will. So in practice, in reality, what you did in the latihan seemed easy, and light and possible. You can conclude from this that if something is willed by God - even something considered ordinary or completely insignificant - it becomes easy. This is why Bapak tells you: just receive in the latihan. God knows what is within all of you.
Manchester, England - November 11, 1957
Code Number : 57 MAN 1
Man's thinking and brain should not be stopped or silenced. When a person's brain stops thinking, and when the will that is in his heart ceases to function, it means he is dead. That is why in religion, in Christianity as well as Islam, one is not permitted to stop thinking, to stop one's heart, and especially to stop breathing. If one does, it is said to annul or violate man's worship of God. As a result of these prohibitions, people generally, especially in religion, are obliged to perform only what Bapak usually calls the syariat ( prescribed religious observance ); that is, they only believe in God, so that they do not have to think too much. Besides not being allowed to stop their thinking, so they think and believe just like that, they are also forbidden to cut down on food and sleep, or to go off and leave society.
Indeed, this is absolutely right, and Bapak approves. God and His wisdom, God and His revelation, God and His greatness, cannot possibly be understood, and cannot possibly be felt by the heart of man. Nonetheless, people fear these prohibitions and are obliged to do what is usually done, that is, only the syariat.
However, Bapak can say that in this last century man has become a man of thought, a man full of knowledge, a man who can be proud of the greatness and extent of his ability to create things that are admired by other people. Since man's situation has become like that, and there is no evidence or proof to support his belief in God, it is as though he is getting further and further away from God's greatness. It is not that man does not believe. But there are no proofs to fortify his heart in the belief that God and His power exist.
Hence, the coming of something brought by Bapak was like a miracle. It was miraculous and wonderful for philosophers to discover that a human being could receive it, and so easily. Indeed, Bapak agrees with the inference and opinion of other groups who have not yet received this training ( latihan ), when they say it is really not some mystic lore or a path to God if it is received so easily. But they forget, or they cannot yet grasp, that God is the One God, God is more in every respect than human beings. He can give man a way that can open people and make their way to God easy, or confirm their worship of the One God. If we consider and feel it, perhaps this is God's will, because human beings at this time will not believe something for which there is no proof, evidence or reality.
Clearly, God has given the way to us. God has given the way to all of you, in a time when it is impossible to attain it easily. God's gift to all of you does not impair or conflict with your situation as it is at this time.
London, England - March 4, 1958
Code Number : 58 LON 1
And, because of the idleness of the inner feeling ( rasa diri ) and because, with the passage of time, the human brain and heart have come to work increasingly harder, the result is that human beings focus the thoughts of the mind more on externals, paying more attention to worldly things, more attention to the state of the world than to the inner feeling, than to their own lives. And because of this, many human beings have a greater belief in what happens outside of themselves - a greater belief in what exists outside the human self- than in their own selves. Ultimately, then, many members of the human race are no longer aware of the nature of what is there inside their personalities, or their inner feeling.
Coombe Springs, England - March 9, 1958
Code Number : 58 CSP 2
There is no lack of people in society who, although they may be highly educated, and may have studied deeply what is good human behavior and morals and ethics, still have feelings of envy and hatred towards other people, and still do not like to give in, and always like to be the winner. The reason for this state of affairs is none other than this: such a person may be well educated, but owing to the urging from the low force within his inner heart, that person - whether he wants it or not - still has, within his heart and mind, imaginings and reflections that are not good, and not right, and are not yet in line with God's will for a human being. Although this is the truth of the matter, the person who Bapak just gave as an example will not acknowledge the mistakes that are within him. Certainly, he will claim that what is within him is absolutely right. He may even claim that he is more right than others. This claim comes from the force within him, even though it is a low force, because it has control within him. So, even though he is wrong, he claims he is right.
Perhaps all of you can feel this yourselves. Certainly you would not admit you are wrong, or not as clever as someone else. Even if you are really not as clever as your friend, you always maintain, 'Ah, I am as clever as you are!' Indeed, this is a characteristic of the subhuman forces that always control human beings. This is why in the life of the Prophet Jesus, he gave the example: 'If your right cheek is struck, offer your left. If your right hand is struck, offer your left hand.' The real meaning of this is that someone who really has a human soul should be willing to give in. Being willing to give in does not mean losing; it means being more aware and more clever than someone who is beaten.
Although this kind of behavior is really an obstacle and a terrific disturbance of man's progress in cleaning himself so that he can know and receive a revelation or gift from God, it is impossible for human beings to avoid it. Certainly, if you consider, you cannot possibly give up your belief in yourself and only believe other people. You would not believe the view of others more than your own. Indeed, the true yardstick is within one's own inner self. But, as Bapak said before, it is impossible for the human being, by putting the obstructions aside, to become the content - Bapak illustrates with an example - of the lamp. A lamp lights whether it is filled with kerosene or castor oil. But its light is not as bright when it is filled with castor oil. How can it be changed so that it burns brightly? It has to be cleared out and refilled with kerosene. When it has been refilled with kerosene, the lamp will shine more brightly than it did before.
Jakarta, Indonesia - June 25, 1958
Code Number : 58 JKT 2
Bapak wants to explain that, in reality, life after death is a life that has left behind man's ordinary understanding and awareness, what is usually called bewustzijn ( Du.: consciousness ), which is still entirely enveloped and influenced by the desires, heart, imagination and thinking mind. In the life after death these have no power any more. The thinking mind cannot reach that far, because the thinking mind is limited by the grave - it goes no further than death. It ends with the grave. So when a human being dies, the life story of his thinking, his desires and his heart is over. Who carries on at that point? Only the power of God. Only God's gift that is within man's being, namely, what Bapak called manu and nur Muhammad a moment ago; that is, the seed of the perfect human being.
It is therefore said in Islam, 'If you understand or see God with your thinking mind, with your heart, with your desires, it is not true belief.' But it is also said, 'If you do not know with your thinking mind, your heart, your desires, you are an unbeliever.' So which is right? If you know, it is not true belief, but if you don't know, you are an unbeliever. These words are only a way of saying that man's heart and thinking mind cannot think about or understand God's power, and life after death. Only God can do such thinking, only God can give understanding to human beings - how God does this He knows best - so that they can receive it free from desires and thoughts. God knows when and where it is necessary to give this to human beings.
New York, NY U.S.A. - May 6, 1959
Code Number : 59 NYC 2
It is true that your state, when you do the latihan in the way you have received it, appears very similar to other practices or ways of receiving. Indeed it is hard to appreciate the real difference if you have not yet received a lot in your latihan. Such practices are common; for example, in the Islamic world people tap on a tambourine ( Bapak raps on tile table ), or a drum. ( Laughter ) Or they play a flute. ( Laughter ) The participants are told to listen. But after a while it's as if they fall asleep. Once they're asleep they start to move - yes, just the way you move.
So they experience those vibrations, and those forces enter into them while they are unconscious, and they remember nothing. They are completely overwhelmed by the lower forces, which influence them when they are in that state. It may look like what all of you have been practicing and receiving - in other words, it may look like Subud - but in reality it's radically different. Because when you receive movements in Subud - both those of you who have just started and those who can already receive a lot - you are always present, complete, whole and conscious. This is because at that moment you are being influenced, not by lower forces -subhuman forces - but by life forces that are higher than human beings, so you are able to understand with your own understanding. Whereas, under the influence of lower forces - material, vegetable and animal - human beings understand on a level lower than their own understanding. In other words, they gain understanding in oblivion, in unconsciousness.
These two kinds of understanding have different names in Islam. The first is called iman ( faith ), and the other is called ingat ( remembrance ). Iman means consciousness in the human understanding, but ingat is human understanding alone. For this reason, it's said that human beings can have true faith in God only if God brings their faith to life, whereas human beings can remember God - whether they do it seriously or not, whether their remembering reaches Him or not - using no more than the belief and understanding of their hearts and brains, or thinking minds. This is why it happens that although many people believe in God, are conscientious about worshipping God in accordance with the advice they've been given and follow the teachings of their religions, many among them have also not yet received the true contact that originates from a Spirit that is higher than human.
So what really happens in our latihan, and especially at the time of the opening, is that you are asked to surrender and have faith in the greatness of God. But these words are only a symbol or a sign. In truth what opened you and enabled you to receive the contact was simply the fact that you were standing close to those who had received the contact with the greatness of God before you. So all of you who have received this contact have already become channels. You have become one with the life force that has authority, which flows to awaken human beings who are still asleep and powerless.
San Francisco, CA U.S.A. - July 3, 1959
Code Number : 59 SFO 1
Many people say that God really loves human beings, and that God is really within human beings; but how can they confirm such words and draw that conclusion if they cannot yet really feel the closeness of God's power, of God's love for human beings? Such a belief, one that goes only so far, very easily disappears or is very easily put aside. The result is that many such people still do things that are wrong, or unconsciously do things that harm their body, ( harm ) the path of their own life. This is because they are not yet able to receive God's love and God's guidance within their self with complete clarity, in the way Bapak just described. But if you have that within your selves, you will not end up doing something wrong, because whatever part of your body you need to use for doing it will, by itself, become powerless and won't work. In this way you are really guided by the power of God in a direction that is right and pure.
Of course, people's hearts and minds generally say, 'How can we believe in God, how can we trust the advice of the prophets, if we can't see God with our eyes, and can't touch God with our hands? If God were like a table, that we could see and touch, then we would believe.' Indeed, you cannot blame such people for having this opinion, because they have not yet been given any evidence, have not yet been guided rightly so they can witness and know. The reason for this is that their hearts are still continually influenced by the low forces, which do not want human beings to leave them behind, but want human beings to give more importance to the low forces than to their own selves.
For you ( their opinion ) will not seem strange any more, because for someone who cannot yet know and witness the reality that is in their self, that's how it has to be. So Bapak hopes that you will not criticize such people, or blame them. Besides that, even though you feel the need to give advice to others who do not yet believe, don't forget your own latihan, your own worship of God. In this way you yourself can soon receive and be cleansed; and eventually you can really show proof of what you have, and what you possess as an excellent human being.
Los Angeles, CA U.S.A. - July 24, 1959
Code Number : 59 LAX 5
Clearly, it is an absolute obligation for human beings to worship God, which is why many people do it in churches, mosques and other places. Therefore you should do the latihan just as you would do your worship in the mosque, in church, or in other places of worship.
People throng to these places to worship. In their worship they rely simply on the belief that God will know when their heart is sincere and loves God. They hope that as a result of their worship God will grant them a good journey when they eventually come to their appointed day; that is, when they die. They believe that if they worship God sincerely - even though they cannot yet know what God and God's power are like - God will forgive them and will clean away all the faults from which they suffer. It should be even more like that for all of you, who have, to a greater or lesser extent, received the reality of God's power that envelops the self of human beings both on the inside and the outside. You have been able to receive it, and are aware it is something different.
Coombe Springs, England - August 9, 1959
Code Number : 59 CSP 1
Bapak will give an example: a communist. A communist does not believe in God, only in matter; yet if a communist is willing to join Subud, he or she will stop being a communist. Their communism will disappear, or they will turn into communists who believe in God. So it is clear that Subud will change not only people's behavior but what is in their souls. So, whether they want to or not, they will end up that way, because this is the power and the will of God. This has already happened. In Indonesia there was a communist; he did not believe. 'Oh, I don't believe there's a God. There is no God - that's all nonsense!'
'The point is,' Bapak said, 'are you willing to join Subud or not? You can just try it.'
I'm willing to try it, but.., oh, I'm sure I won't believe.' 'That's all right, just start, and try it for three nights.'
He agreed and Bapak opened him. He came for three nights. 'How was it?'
'Ah, now I believe there is a God.' ( Laughter )
Melbourne, Australia - March 8, 1963
Code Number : 63 MEB 2
There are also members who, having followed the latihan for months or even for one, two or three years, say they have not yet been able to feel and receive anything. If that is true, it is really their own fault, because when they are going to do the latihan they think about many things. Well, Bapak is not blaming them and he does not feel surprised, because indeed most of you read very many books, so all the contents of those books have gone in here [gesture]. Then, every time you are about to start doing latihan, it all appears here [gesture] [in your mind]. Therefore, whenever you start doing the latihan, Bapak hopes you will let go of all that and believe in the One Almighty God – believe that nothing is of any use unless it is given to you by God.
Brisbane, Australia - March 14, 1963
Code Number : 63 BNE 2
There are many people who study spiritual issues – that is to say, questions relating to the life that leads to God – who have come to a halt along the way. If that is all that happens they are fortunate, because many others become confused in their hearts and minds.
This is the reason why, in religion, we are not taught practices that involve cutting down on everything we need for our life. We are only reminded and advised to act and behave in an ideal way; meaning, with a feeling of patience, acceptance, love and com-passion for all life, and with a feeling of mutual appreciation. For only in that way, when people genuinely obey and follow such precepts and act like that, can they spontaneously receive the contact with the greatness of God. And so a contact with the greatness of God, with the power of God, does not exist only in Subud: it can be anywhere. That means such a contact can be received in any religion, if the advice of that religion is truly followed.
Therefore we should not regard Subud as the only ideal way, nor as the only way to receive a contact with the greatness of God. Rather we should consider and believe that if it is God’s will, anyone anywhere will surely receive this contact from God. It is very important for us to have this opinion or belief, so that we do not become conceited; meaning that we want to be the only ones who know, or claim that what we have received is the best. In fact that would cause you to fall to a lower level; you would encounter a dead end, difficulties or darkness in your latihan.
By having the former attitude we will avoid any vindictiveness from other people or other groups. And because we avoid these obstacles and disturbances from others – by not being proud or flaunting our own virtues – we can proceed and behave in a way that is truly free and good, without any disturbance.
Los Angeles, CA U.S.A. - March 31, 1963
Code Number : 63 LAX 1
Can human beings not achieve something with their mind, heart and desires that can be called wonderful, beautiful, or extra-ordinary? Of course they can. With their heart, mind, desires and brain, people can reach a profound understanding in this world. But the understanding that they acquire in the world will be useless for their life after death.
Well, people may say, ‘What’s the use of seeking understanding, stature, nobility, and knowledge in life after death? It’s of no use. After all, people in general cannot even see it.’
Indeed, that is true; spiritual [accomplishments] cannot be seen by others. In religion it is the same. In religion it is said that if people behave well, following the guidelines given by the prophets and messengers – by Jesus himself, for example – they will become aware of their life. It is also said that such people will have all their sins erased and be acknowledged by God, so that they can be near God. And people really believe this. Millions believe it. So it is clear that something that is truly beyond human imagination, beyond the human mind and will and understanding, can be attained just through belief.
In Subud, however, in your latihan, besides believing in God and God’s greatness according to the teachings of your respective religions, you also find clear proof; you witness and experience that what Jesus said is very true: that God is within you and that God always envelops and protects human beings. You have been able to verify and to witness this. So, in reality, as well as believing in the existence of the One God, you have witnessed for yourself that truly, within your individuality, within your self, there is an unseen power that arises and awakens beyond your thinking, beyond your mind and heart.
That is why this spiritual training – the latihan you follow every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Tuesday – is truly the technique, the reality, of what you have heard in the teachings of the religion you follow. So in truth, brothers and sisters, this latihan of Subud is not a training that goes against the religions. It does not go against Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism, or any other religion or movement. Subud does not go against any of them, because Subud is the technique.
So, suppose you obtain theories from there, there and there [gesture]. Now you need to implement them and see whether they are true. Well, that is what you discover in Subud. That is why Subud consists of people with every kind of belief; for example, there are Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, people with every kind of religion. There are even those who have no religion, but once they join Subud and receive the latihan they say, ‘This is truly the reality, and a clear proof. Whether we want to or not, we believe that God and God’s greatness is really there within human beings, in both their inner part and their outer part.’
This is the basis, the basis of the latihan, of preparing yourself to receive this Subud spiritual training. As when someone new is being opened: you are required not to think about this and that, nor to imagine all kinds of things, but only to feel your own being and believe in God’s greatness. When you feel like that, it means that you surrender fully to the greatness of God: only God is great, only God is all knowing and able to guide you. That is the basis of this Subud spiritual training.
Singapore - February 24, 1963
Code Number : 63 SIN 1
This is what exists and what happens in the latihan you receive and practise. In Subud there is no teaching whatsoever, nor is there belief in anyone or anything except the One Almighty God. We base ourselves on our own individuality, supported by our surrender and patience, entrusting ourselves to God and letting go of everything.
Wellington, New Zealand - March 27, 1963
Code Number : 63 WLG 3
The fact that in the latihan you sometimes move, shriek or howl like an animal does not mean that you are affected or influenced by low forces having entered your inner feeling at that moment. It is caused by something that was already within you before you joined Subud, and that needs to be reawakened in the latihan so that thereby, you become clean and no longer have this in your inner feeling. And in its place will come your life force as a human being, which will eventually take charge and be in control in your inner feeling. Only then will you truly be able to receive guidance and education from God that is especially for your life as a human being, so that you know about life in this world and its continuation, the life after death. Therefore do not feel afraid if you experience a latihan like that, with screams or strange movements, because it is all purification of your inner feeling.
As an example, brothers and sisters, Bapak can give you an illustration. Here Bapak is talking only about an excellent human seed, he is not speaking in general; that is to say, not everyone is like that. This only applies to human beings who are indeed born as human beings with a human soul. When such a child is born, they know, understand, see, hear and can feel what exists in the realm of the soul. Nevertheless, as the child grows bigger and can see the shapes of this world and the various kinds of things in the world, and is eventually able to think, they then start to be affected by the atmosphere of this world. The more the child is affected by the atmosphere of this world over the years, the more their connection with their soul, which used to be the framework of their life, is buried. So in the end this person understands the things of this world better than spiritual things.
That is why, with regard to their belief in God – the question of whether Almighty God exists – human beings still make use of their thinking mind. So what believes in the existence of God is their thinking, whereas actually their thinking cannot possibly experience the reality of God’s power. Hence many educated people, who have clever minds, seem not to believe in the existence of God, because they think that if God existed God could surely be seen, thought about and touched. This is because, indeed, people have got used to understanding things with their thinking mind and intelligence.
That is why human beings in ancient times said words to the effect that, ‘God exists, but does not exist; yet it is impossible that God does not exist.’
Truly, these words are very difficult to understand and to interpret, because how can it be that God does not exist and yet it is impossible that God does not exist? If Bapak interprets these words: God is said to exist because people believe that God surely exists on account of all that has been created; because if something comes to be, someone must have created it. That is true of the human beings on this earth, the earth itself, and of the whole universe that is seen in the sky: if that exists, surely there is One who created it. It could not exist without a Creator. So, basing their belief on that, people say God exists. Then again, they say [God] does not exist, because [God] cannot be found; [God] cannot be discovered with the mind, the heart or the senses. Finally, they say it is impossible that [God] does not exist.
While human beings still use their heart and thinking mind, certainly they will not be able to know. But when they no longer search and no longer wish to know God, and simply surrender to God, then they will know: for the One who gives them the knowledge of God’s existence is not a human being but God alone.
Bogota, Columbia - April 16, 1963
Code Number : 63 BOG 1
When you were newly born, your inner feeling or inner self was still able to grasp, receive, and feel something – namely, the connection with your soul – that adults generally cannot understand or know. Then, as a small child, once you were able to see the shapes of this world and to hear and feel the things that exist in this world, your connection with your soul began to become distant and to close. It became even more so once you started to use your heart and mind: your connection with your soul then became completely closed. One could say that you were in complete darkness.
From then on, your belief in something – your belief in your life, even in the greatness of God – depended solely upon your experiences while living in this world. That is how far your inner feeling has come from your soul, which is actually [supposed to be] the pilot of your being. So, eventually, when your soul awakens and your inner feeling gets to know your soul and can feel the vibration of life – the way you have just received it – you feel amazed and it feels strange. You think it is something new, whereas in fact it is not; it has existed ever since humankind was created in this world.
So it is clear that what you have received, even though it is still only a little for those of you who have just been opened, it is something you possess and a state that really has always been there within your being; it is not something new. Because Subud is not a religion, it is not a teaching, and there is no theory in it. It is an opening, a receiving. In time, each of you will be able to receive that which belongs to your own self.
Bogota, Columbia - April 18, 1963
Code Number : 63 BOG 2
Since the movements in the latihan are moved by the power of God, and what is awakened is the human soul and what receives is the human inner feeling, everything that human beings experience exists in the latihan. So, when you are receiving the latihan it is not surprising if sometimes you receive movements that resemble those you have learned; for example, sports and other kinds of movements. You will also be able to experience and receive dance movement in the latihan.
This being so, people with every kind of belief, and of every nation that exists on this earth, can follow the latihan. It does not cause them to reject or to offend against anything that they have experienced in their various religions.
Take India, for example. In India many people follow the religion of the Buddha, while many are Hindus. But because Subud is something that, you could say, encompasses and envelops all beliefs and religions, the members in India who are Hindus are able to receive the latihan in line with what is experienced in their religion. There are also those who are Christians and Muslims. They too experience in the latihan according to what has been received in their religion. Hence they do not feel jealous of one another and there is no conflict among them.
And in their view – that is, in the view of those who are Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus or are of other religions – Subud, the latihan, is very suitable for every one of them. So, it is clear that Subud is not a religion or a belief, nor is it a teaching or a theory, but it is an association of people who are able to receive from God a technique that is the true reality of the spiritual life. The way you receive is suited not only to your religion, but also to your nationality, your behaviour or whatever it is that you need. Therefore the Subud latihan will not harm your religion or your nationality or your needs or customs.
Blonay, Switzerland - July 20, 1964
Code Number : 64 BLN 1
Act and behave as you do when you are practising your religion, whatever religion you have. If you are a Christian you practise your religion by going to church, and by remembering God before you eat and before you sleep. In the same way, the Muslims worship by going to the mosque and by saying Bismi’llahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Rahim [In the name of Allah, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate] before beginning anything they are going to do.
These are your customs as Muslims and Christians, and Bapak would like you to practise them. The only difference is that you have received that the One you will worship and follow and obey in whatever you must obey, both in this world and the next, is there within your individuality and has demonstrated His power there: it is a feeling that is sensed as a vibration, and leads to movements that you experience as coming from beyond your will and your thinking. Bapak is saying this because for most people this is only a matter of belief and also of ancestry, whereas in your case you have witnessed and felt for yourself that there is a power within you that is beyond your ordinary power.
Nevertheless, those whose practice is based only on belief are sincere. They practise these things every day, every evening, month after month and year after year – sometimes until they die; so even those who just depend on their belief are very sincere. But you, besides believing in God’s power, have witnessed that God’s power really is within you; therefore it is certain that it is more real to you, and you will be more convinced and more sincere than they are.
Malang, Indonesia - October 25, 1966
Code Number : 66 MLG-1
How can we convince ourselves and witness that this is really so, that what is here is limited and what is over there is not? It is because the experts who set the time limit are our heart and our thinking, which we do not use over there but do use here. Therefore, for as long as a person is still accompanied by, still possesses, a heart and mind, they will be subject to limits. Over there, because human beings no longer possess hearts, minds or desires, they no longer have limits. So once they receive bliss, that bliss goes on; that is what they call ‘eternal’. This describes how it is for a human being who has been purified, received God’s gift and is able to receive God’s words.
You will not – and should not – believe what Bapak has been telling you until you have been able to receive it for yourself; even if not all of it, at least a little. For this is evident in your own being. You are already able to receive it to a small extent whenever you do the latihan: even though you feel depressed before the latihan, or you feel unwell, or your thoughts are disturbed, once you are doing the latihan you feel relieved, as if you have no needs, and you feel at peace. Those who have a husband are not worrying about him; those who have a wife are not worrying about her; those who have children are not worrying about them in the latihan. And that experience is just a tiny part of the whole. It is just a drop of water compared to the ocean.
As Bapak said earlier, for a person whose whole being has been purified and who has received God’s gift or a revelation from God, their happiness, their feeling of peace, their submission and acceptance, is more than that; it is more than when you are doing latihan. That is the reality, brothers and sisters, even though you have been able to receive only a little of it.
Santiago De Chile - May 26, 1967
Code Number : 67 SCL 3
Adam and Eve, who are called the first human beings, were not heavily influenced by the material world and they were not much affected by the desires, so the union between Adam and Eve could be described as a holy union. But for you, who have been dominated by the desires and who have been under the sway of the material world, it is impossible for you to be like Adam and Eve. Even so, God knows that and God has given you help – the latihan. It is precisely this spiritual training that will reveal to you the secrets of life that are normally hidden from human sight.
The longer human beings existed in this world, the more they forgot, the more they lost the ability to receive what Adam and Eve had once received. That is why religions advise, recommend and instruct that when two people want to get married, when a man and woman are going to wed, they are told that they must believe in God and that everything they do in their life must be dedicated to Almighty God. That is the case in Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam. In Islam a marriage is not recognised, it is not consecrated, blessed or valid, unless the couple state the profession of faith: ‘Ashhadu al-l a il aha illa’ll ah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ras ulu’ llah,’ which means that there is no God to be worshipped other than Allah and that the couple state their belief that Muhammad is the messenger of God. That is what they say.
The couple are made to say that so that whenever they have intercourse, and throughout their life together, they never forget God and never forget to act rightly. It is so that the couple will always behave rightly, which is their way of repaying God. But in reality, regardless of whether they get married in a church or a mosque, once they are married the couple forget. They pursue only their passions; they act only from the desires. They are so dominated by the desires that they cannot experience what they are meant to receive in their inner feelings. That is why sexual relations between a man and a woman, intercourse between newlyweds, is no longer the way for them to re-experience and learn how they came to be.
As Bapak has told you, God has placed God’s will in every nature that God created, including human beings. But regardless of whether a human being believes or does not believe that God has placed God’s will in human beings, God does not get dismayed in the way a person would. That is why, in the words recorded in the holy books, ‘To believe in God is all right; not to believe in God is all right.’ It is fine to believe in God, and it is fine not to believe in God. That is because nothing affects God, nothing can touch God. That is why God is Almighty, that is why God is great – as the Dutch say: onbevlekt, ‘without a blemish’.
What it does mean is that if a person does not believe in God, they do not believe in themselves. Someone who believes in God believes in themselves. That is why Bapak urges you to do latihan regularly, with complete faith in Almighty God and a feeling of patience, so that as quickly as possible you will receive and get to know that which, in reality, is there inside you and which constantly guides, educates and leads you.
Those of you who cannot feel the latihan strongly and cannot move like the other members should just be patient. The reason being that if you wish to move, having such a wish will block you. But if you are patient and do not worry about what you will receive, you will receive. Many members in other places have experienced the same thing, members who have been in Subud for eight or nine years. What is more suprising, there are even people who have been helpers for eight or nine years but who cannot receive. One of them even said to Bapak, ‘What is this thing that you call latihan?’ Very odd. But after Bapak did latihan with him in person, he could receive.
So if you cannot feel the latihan strongly yet, Bapak asks you to be patient. It is certain that you will be able to receive it. There is no difference between one person and another, and God does not discriminate between one person and another. What is important is to be patient, to dedicate yourself to God; trust God completely and then you will receive.
Leicester, England - July 8, 1970
Code Number : 70 LTC 1
Nowadays, with the development of the mind, man can make what are known as space ships, enabling him to reach and set foot on the moon.
Clearly, these other worlds are other vessels; some maybe are greater than this one, and some are smaller. And where there is a vessel, there will certainly be its content; there will be creatures to parallel those here. But some creatures here may be inferior to creatures out there, and others out there may be inferior to those of this world. Out there are also beings on the human level, so we may draw the conclusion that not only does mankind here on earth believe in God; so too do the inhabitants of those other distant worlds created by the One God. Those beings believe in God. If they believe in God, what is their name for God? Will His name be God? No, that is the English name; the Indonesians say Allah, or rather Gusti, for Allah is the Islamic name. For the Indonesians, the Javanese, His name is Gusti.
Now, if this is so, are the names man has invented for that which they call God really His names? We do not yet know. On earth they are His names, but there will be no true name unless God reveals it to man. For God alone can tell the true name of God.
This is how it is when seen from the viewpoint of receiving the latihan kejiwaan, which enables us to penetrate to matters that it is not possible to think about.
Cilandak, Indonesia - December 5, 1970
Code Number : 70 TJK 7
If while your parents lived they only believed in, trusted, and were aware of the material life force, then that force will be dominant in you.
So everyone's content of life forces, of roh, of jiwa, is different. If in their lifetime your parents attached more importance to material things than to plant life and food, and if they considered animal life and the lives of their fellow men - especially the latter - of little importance, then you as their offspring will do the same.
This is why people are selfish and hate other people; why they dislike others and violate their well-being, their freedom, and their honor - why they degrade other people. This is such a temptation to them that only very little of the human life force remains in man's inner self
.This is what you recognize when you look at it from the kejiwaan.
. . . So now we experience the world or the age of evidence. When I walk, is it true that something makes me walk? Is it true that in our selves, during this life of ours, there is the Power of the One God that envelops us.
Just recently Bapak heard from Francis von Kahler, who asked for a directive on how to cope with people who wish to join Subud but do not believe in the existence of God. They have not yet received proof or evidence that the Power of God exists within them or that God is Almighty, but they wish to join Subud.
As the helpers abide by the rule that a person may only join Subud if he believes in God's existence, Francis yon Kahler did not dare and was not able to open a person who lacked that belief.
Bapak's reply was: 'This is a special ease; that is to say, although a person does not believe and has no faith in Almighty God, he can be accepted if he wishes to join Subud, provided he is willing and ready always to follow the latihan kejiwaan'. And we ourselves, brothers and sisters, should not insist that a person must believe in God, when he has not yet been able to have evidence of His existence, when he has not yet been able to witness it.
Bapak had experience of such a case when he was in England. Maybe some of you have heard that when Bapak was in England for the first time there was a surgeon, a doctor, suffering from a brain tumor. Other doctors were consulted by his friends, and he was told he must have an operation. However, he himself was a surgeon. His friends said: 'Your illness requires an operation, but we cannot guarantee that you will live. Maybe you will die'.
He himself considered: 'If I have to die anyway, it is no use operating. I would rather not have the operation if I just have to die'. He happened to know Mr. Bennett.
This matter was discussed with Bapak, and Bapak said: 'Yes, he may be opened.' Now this was a man who did not believe in God. He said: 'I wish to join Subud, but I do not believe in God although I am a Christian'. Bapak answered: 'Yes, you may join Subud even if you do not believe'. Bapak opened him in the usual way for new members.
When Bapak had opened him, he fell down and rolled on the floor. What's this? He fell, got up again, and sat down and wept. Bapak stopped the latihan and asked: 'How are you, Doctor? What is the matter with you?' 'I do not know what is the matter with me, Bapak.' 'Ah', said Bapak, 'this is the latihan kejiwaan !' 'Oh,' said the doctor, 'if this is the latihan kejiwaan, then I truly believe that the Power of God is within me. Really. Now I begin to believe that God exists.' This is what happened.
So it was all right to open him, brothers and sisters. That is why I told Francis von Kahler to make exceptions. But if possible, open people who believe in God, and so abide by the regulations of our Spiritual Brotherhood of Subud.
. . . . If people really wish to know about Subud, and want to feel what it contains, it would be better for them to come to Subud and ask to be opened. But Subud does not go to the churches to give talks there. For even if we speak to them a thousand or more times, as long as people cannot yet feel, cannot yet receive, or are not yet opened and so have no experience in the kejiwaan, they will not be able to understand or be aware of what Subud is.
It is as if you explained to someone that an apple tastes nice and sweet and somewhat tart. How could he believe what you say if he had never in his life tasted an apple?
So we only give clarifications to those who, in some degree, have already felt or experienced what we say. As now, with Bapak talking to you. Although you have not yet fully experienced what Bapak talks about, you have done so in some measure. Hence there is something in you to which Bapak can speak. In other words, you are already able to receive.
Chicago, Ill U.S.A. - May 2, 1972
Subud and religion
Code Number : 72 CHI 2
If you think about it, something that happened and which has been handed down for five hundred or even three hundred years, let alone a thousand years, will have changed. What causes it to change? It is not that God wishes it to change, nor is it God Who changes it, but human beings. The people who become believers and the people in charge of the followers of a religion naturally wish their religion to be more popular and more believed by its followers. This applies whether it is Islam, Christianity - Catholic or Protestant - Hinduism or Buddhism.
That is the reason why bit by bit the truth gradually begins to wear thin, so that what remains is only like a myth or a legend; it comes to be something no one can prove who wishes to prove it. The followers or adherents only believe; they just believe whatever is given out by their religion. Even though it has been altered and even though the truth in it has begun to wear thin, because people believe in it the religion really reaches the heart, the subconscious, so that people do not like and will not allow anything that contradicts their belief.
Brothers and sisters, although there is so much good in the truths which Bapak has received and which are to be found in Subud and in the Subud brotherhood everywhere, yet Bapak still does not wish to make propaganda for other people. Thus Bapak does not make propaganda for Subud to others. Even when people want to join Subud, it is not a question of Bapak making it difficult, but it is necessary to set a kind of probationary period of three months. Thus for a period of three months, brothers and sisters, there is a kind of probation for the people who want to join Subud, to see if these people really will come into Subud with sincerity of heart, and will they follow the latihan kejiwaan, and so that questions will not arise later on about what causes it and what are the connections between Subud and religion and so on.
That is why this period of three months is very important for all of you brothers and sisters, and for all the people who come into Subud: so that it can be checked during this three month period whether it will be all right or not, and so that they will not be disappointed in the future. For Subud is not a religion, brothers and sisters, it must be understood that Subud is a receiving, it is a possibility for harmony amongst the religions, a harmony between people of the different religions within Subud and a harmony between people of various races, between people who do not all belong to the same race.
Because it is like this, many people ask why Subud does not make any propaganda. Bapak answers, “Subud has spread all over the world without any propaganda." How much more would it spread if there were propaganda? The religions might have no followers left to them, because they had all joined Subud.” Bapak guards against this, brothers and sisters, to avoid chaos and confusion arising in the various religions.
And now this has arisen brothers and sisters, I do not know how it is here, but also in Indonesia itself many people belonging to the various religions are now asking questions of their kiyaiis, of their pastors, of their priests. They are asking to be given proof concerning their religions. Well, all that these priests can say is, "I cannot give you any proof beyond what is in the scriptures." And that, it appears, people do not entirely believe. It appears that they are pressing to be given proof of the religions to which they belong.
Then letters come to Subud asking if Bapak will give a talk in a church. Bapak refuses; not because of being asked to give a talk in a church, but because it is against our rules to make propaganda. No; if Bapak had given you a talk before you had received the latihan and become Subud members, of course you would not have believed what Bapak has been saying here, because you would not have experienced what Bapak was saying about Subud. That is why Bapak refuses. There have been requests on three occasions from bodies of clergy, asking Bapak to give to give a talk. But even if Bapak were to talk to them thousands of times over, how could they believe it unless they were already in Subud? Yes; how could they, when there are still many people who are already in Subud, many Subud members, still asking what is the connection between Subud and the religions? They ask, “What is the connection? Why can I not receive it?" This comes from people who are in Subud, let alone those who are not.
Therefore, whether you belong to the Christian religion, brother and sisters, or to the Islamic religion or to the Buddhist religion or the Hindu religion, the most important thing for you is to believe in the One Almighty God, Who in Islam is called Allah, in Christianity is called God, in Buddhism is called Maha Deva, in Hinduism is called whatever it may be. Believe in Him to the uttermost.
Baukru, Brazil - May 15, 1972
Code Number : 72 BAU 1
Brothers and sisters, this is indeed what people of this world have been seeking in order that there shall be no break or interruption in their worship of the greatness of God. That means that no moment is empty, for God is also the same with regard to human beings. No moment is empty of God's love for human beings. He loves them always, sleeping or waking, until the last moment when they die and leave this world. This is an extraordinarily good fortune; it is an inestimable blessing for you to have received the guidance and direction of the One Almighty God which are manifested in the latihan kedjiwaan of Subud.
As a rule, of course, when you believe in anything you believe with your minds, with your hearts, whereas what is always called God is something you cannot see, cannot think about, cannot touch so that your ideas about the One Almighty God are in fact still ineffectual. You cannot find anything which makes you really and truly believe fully in the existence of the One Almighty God. This then is what Bapak is explaining: that if one speaks about the One Almighty God, God is of course different from human beings; He is of course different from everything that He has created. This world, together with all the worlds everywhere which are called the universe, the vast universe with everything it contains - all this is the creation of the One Almighty God.
Edinburgh, Scotland - May 27, 1972
Code Number : 72 EDI 2
If you stand firm upon your belief in the One Almighty God and you are steadfast in this, all these things will come to you, so that if it is a case of food, the food will certainly feed you. But if you go looking for them, well, then you are here and the food is over there. But if you are already strong, the food will be like this, all around you. Thus there will actually be food to the right and to the left, before you and behind you, calling out to you to come and eat it. "Come on, come and eat me".
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 4, 1972
Code Number : 72 TJK 9
The majority of you here in Indonesia are drawn to the teachings in the holy books of the Koran. These state that in order for men to be able to draw near to God and for God to draw near to man, the first thing needed for man is to believe in God. In Islam this is called the sahadat, the sentence which runs: Ashadu anna ilaha illalah washadu anna Muhammadar rasullulah. There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God. That is the first thing. As a rule the first thing must be to believe. But you must not just believe only, brothers and sisters. To believe is not yet the end of it, brothers and sisters, if there is still no evidence or proof of it. Thus especially those of you who are in Subud must not just only believe. But this belief is necessary, because faith makes you strong, so that you will look for proof. Thus these words are just the sareat, the ordinary customs.
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 24, 1973
Code Number : 73 CDK 15
This morning Bapak touched on the fact that Subud, or the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud, is a technique, the technique, that is, of the truth or the reality of what you already possess. If, for example, what you have been following is the religion of Islam, then in the Latihan that you receive and whose path you tread you will be able to discover and obtain the truth or the reality of what you have been studying or following. Taking Islam just as an example, you will be able to find the truth or reality concerning its beliefs, its ritual observances, its fast, its alms-giving and its pilgrimage to Mecca. You will be able to receive the truth of all this.
Cilandak, Indonesia - April 14, 1974
Code Number : 74 CDK 9
This is why it is only necessary to surrender. If other people or other groups as what you are, you say you are in Subud. “What religion is that?” they ask. “What religion? Subud has no religion. If you ask me what is my own religion, it is Islam, as can be seen from the fact that I marry according to the manner of Islam. I believe in God, in fact I practice the ibadat.” “Why do you not go on the haj?” “Well, going on the haj is for those who can afford it, whereas I hardly have enough to eat as yet. So, if I went on the haj, I should have to crawl on my hands and knees.”
It is clear brothers and sisters, that you are not doing an exercise or practicing an exercise but you are being trained or exercised by the Power of God. This is indeed a period of time at which human beings receive latihan or training from the One Almighty God. That is therefore why Bapak says that Subud is not a religion, but an association of people blessed by God so that they are able to receive His guidance and direction. If anyone asks whether or why only Subud has this, that must be left to God. You make any protests to God. We can do nothing unless we are guided to it by God.
It therefore leads to confusion if people ask Subud to follow this or that or accept this or that. That cannot be. If Subud receives because of God, it also does not receive because of God. Subud includes the followers of various religions which are different from one another, Islam, Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu and yet others. There are people of no religion who come to believe. Free thinkers can join Subud and receive for themselves and it will automatically be in accordance with their needs.
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 6, 1974
Code Number : 74 CDK 13
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 24, 1973
Code Number : 73 CDK 14
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 10, 1974
Code Number : 74 CDK 15
Thus the more you do prihatin, the stronger becomes your faith in God, and the more it strengthens your belief in God. If your faith in God is strong, God gives in return, and His love for you is greater and stronger. Thus you get something in return. You must not let your belief in God be only on your lips, but you should show it and prove it. That is what is called amal. Amal is something you do.
Cilandak, Indonesia - March 28, 1976
Code Number : 76 CDK 5
Bapak knows that recently or in the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion about the question of religion, the question of technology. That is, the people who hold to religion want that mankind should act in a way that is harmonious, should cooperate, should work together, should share what they have to make a world that is truly peaceful, and that men really work together and cooperate and help each other. In other words, that men should try to live according to the will of Almighty God. While in the pursuit of technology, man pursues knowledge in such a way that he is always faced with greater and greater progress of his knowledge of the world. He meets with more and more success in his ability to master this world. He gains more and more power through his discovery so that he wants to achieve more and more mastery over this world. Because every step he takes, he sees more wonders and more power coming into his hands. So that in the end, his wish to progress knows no bounds because he always sees in front of him more and more possibilities to advance, to progress. So that the confidence in his own power grows all the time, and he certainly forgets any boundary to his ability to advance.
But in his wish to advance, he doesn't advance in the name of humanity. He wants his discoveries, his power to remain the province of his own country, or if not his own country, he himself or his own group. So that he conquers all sorts of things in this world. He gains great power, and can even conquer other worlds, like he can go to the moon, etc., but he doesn't do this in the name of humanity. He does this in the interest of his own group. And there is not one nation in the world, but many. There is not one person in the world, but many millions. So each one of these are seeking for more and more power through the advance of technology and science. So it is clear that as more and more people progress, as more and more people learn about the world and gain more mastery over the world, so there is bound to be more and more tension and dissension in the world as these different groups grapple for power, through the advance of technology, through making weapons of great power, through all sorts of things that they can discover.
Now those who advocate the other way, the way of cooperation, of sharing, of mutual help, that is, those who believe in religion, are looked down on by those who pursue technology and science. They are looked down on because religion in their view teaches man to be apathetic. They say, "These religious people, they only want to live just in any way they can live, so that once they have finished their life on this earth they may go to heaven". Because indeed for someone who really believes in religion what is important, is what they will experience in the next life. As long as this life can be taken care of, as long as they can just survive, that's enough. So it can be said that religion teaches man to be apathetic. So those who pursue the way of progress, the way of knowledge, they don't care about heaven, they don't care about the next world. They want progress now, they want to achieve whatever they want to achieve now in this world, and they don't care what happens afterward.
Now what is needed is for those who believe in God, for those who believe in religion to tame, to bring under control the power which is unleashed by science and by technology. But how can they do it? Because they cannot convince those who hold the power, they cannot convince those who make the discoveries, those who believe in the progress of man's mind and man's understanding. Because for these people, they are just apathetic, and they are people who are advising them to restrain their curiosity and not to make progress. So it is as though those who believe in God, those who wish to follow that way, are powerless to control the others, because they cannot supply the proof. The reason for this is that what they say is based only on belief.
It is only now, with the birth of Subud, that there is some hope that we can bring under control the progress of man's mind and man's understanding. Because in our case, our belief in God is not based on belief but is based on reality, on evidence. In our case, we worship Almighty God, but this worship is not based on something we have learned, on something we believe, but is based on reality which is present within us, and is based on a reality which we can feel in the latihan kejiwaan. And this is what Bapak illustrated just now. That this is present within us at the time when we do not make any effort, at the time when we do not try to do anything, but at the time when we just are quiet, when we quiet ourselves. So in this case, it is possible for us to act in a way that controls the progress of this world, that controls the material, and brings it into line with God's will. Because in our case, what we have received from Almighty God is something that exists within us free from the effort of the heart and mind. Those who believe in religion, what they believe in is something they have learned with their heart and mind. But in our case what we receive in the latihan kejiwaan is present at the moment when we put our thinking aside, so as Bapak demonstrated just now when Bapak sits quietly and doesn't make any effort, and doesn't think, or doesn't wish for anything, then Bapak feels this movement within him. Now Bapak thinks about the airplane. Immediately the movement ceases. Now Bapak stops thinking about the airplane, again Bapak feels the movement. Now Bapak thinks about his wife, again the movement stops. Now Bapak stops thinking about his wife. Again the movement starts.
Tokyo, Japan - April 21, 1976
Code Number : 76 TYO 4
Normally for man, as far as his relationship with God is concerned, this is limited to belief. Because indeed man's power towards God or man's ability to achieve something towards God is limited by his ability to believe. So man's power towards God does not go beyond that. Man has no ability beyond just his ability to believe in God Almighty. And this is the reason why in all the great religions, man is taught that all he has to do is simply to carry out the practice of the religion, to observe the practice of the religion, that is to do his worship according to the rules that are laid down for it, in other words what we call in Islam the shariat. But this belief in Almighty God which man is enjoined to maintain or to feel towards Almighty God is something that can very easily, without his being aware of it, be diverted towards the realm of the lower forces. So it becomes directed no longer towards God, but towards the realm of the material forces, of the vegetable forces, of the animal forces, and of the force of the ordinary human life.
San Francisco, California - April 26, 1976
Code Number : 76 SFO 3
So, if we look at the time of Adam, the prophet Adam, at that time the revelation of God did not yet expand very much in the realm of man's intelligence or man's understanding. So it can be said that man's understanding at that time did not expand very much. Because, first of all, the conditions of the world did not yet demand a great cleverness from man. He did not yet have to seek his living by earning money as a means of exchange for the things that he needed. In those days there was a saying that as long as you lived you received good fortune, in other words, everything was available to man that he needed to live.
So not only did he not need a sharp intelligence, but there was not yet a place in this world for such an intelligence. So in those days it was enough for men to base their whole life on just believing in the existence of God Almighty. There was not yet any need to put into practice some special form of worship or some special ritual or action that man needed to worship God. Later on, when we come to the time of Abraham, we come to a point where it begins to be necessary for man to use his intelligence to survive in the world. And for this reason also, in addition to the belief in Almighty God, that men were enjoined to have, it was also given to them a certain way of worshiping, or a certain ritual for worshiping was laid down, in order to make it possible for man, under these conditions, to worship God.
This was because there began to be more people in the world than there had been in the time of Adam. Now we come, as we go through the times of the prophets, Bapak only mentions the main prophets, those who as it were, had been the major actors in the drama of mankind, we come to the time of Moses, a time when in addition to the faith in Almighty God, men were required, in addition to a way of worship, to have the articles of law given to them, because at that time the science of government was beginning to develop. That is, men already needed government to administer their wants and needs which before had not been necessary. And for this reason the articles of law were added to the worship of God. Then we come to the period of Jesus Christ, a time when man again was given, in addition to his faith in God, his belief in God, man was given a method of worship; in addition to which there was more emphasis on a man's actions that are beneficial towards his fellow men or a feeling of helping each other was added to man's worship of God. And finally we come to the time of the prophet Muhammad, when again all the aspects of man's needs in this world were developed; along with a basis for worship there also developed the science of government and the ordering of human society.
New York, NY U.S.A. - May 5, 1976
Code Number : 76 NYC 1
So, such is the beauty of what we have received in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. And this receiving has come to Bapak first, and Bapak does not know, does not understand why God has chosen Bapak to be the first one to receive this grace and this latihan kejiwaan. But this is what has happened. And about this Bapak wants to say something to you, which Bapak hopes that one day you will be able to witness for yourself, or to know the truth of it. So for the moment, although naturally Bapak hopes you will believe it, Bapak does not want you to believe it too much, because it is better if you wait until later on when you can experience its reality for yourself.
The fact is that when Bapak received this gift from God Almighty, it was not witnessed by Bapak alone, but it was witnessed by all the prophets who have been God's messengers in this world. That is by Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Prophet Muhammad, and all the other prophets who have been on this earth. And indeed, brothers and sisters, if it were not so, if it was not for the fact that they have all approved of Bapak's mission to spread this latihan of Subud to all mankind, it would be impossible for this to be accomplished. For you should know that it is like the competitor or the enemy of a brigand is a brigand. The enemy of a doctor is other doctors. Within each profession each one is a competitor to the others. So it can be said for a messenger of God, the enemies or the competition, is other messengers of God.
So if it were not that this latihan kejiwaan has been approved, has been witnessed and approved by all the prophets, obstacles for it spreading throughout the world would be enormous, and it would be impossible for it to spread. This is illustrated slightly, or to some extent by an experience that Bapak once had. When Bapak went to India where you know there are many spiritual teachers and many spiritual ways, that although it was not something that affected Bapak, but at that time it was able to affect, or it affected those who were with Bapak, one or two of Bapak's party became seriously ill as a result of some resistance to the spread of Subud; luckily at that time, it was easy to overcome this obstacle and the person involved got well very quickly. So brothers and sisters, this is a very, very short or condensed explanation of what is the latihan kejiwaan and how it has come into the world, and what is the purpose of its coming into the world.
Toronto, Canada - May 12, 1976
Code Number : 76 YYZ 2
Experience has shown, brothers and sisters, that it has happened many times that people who have only recently been opened, and who have only been doing the latihan for about six months, are well able to receive; because of the grace and mercy of the One Almighty God and also because of their own heredity and natural endowment, these people who have only been opened for six months, and who have done the latihan diligently, are able to receive. They receive in the latihan in really quite a remarkable way. Because they know things that have not yet happened and things that are still hidden in other people's hearts, many of the Subud members believe that these are people to who the One Almighty God has granted ilham, divine inspiration.
Kendfield, England - May 27, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 6
It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, that this explanation of Bapak's this Subud, this is already filled by the power of God. It is no longer at the stage, in this era, of discussion. Thus at this present time the people who worship God no longer need to talk about it. And yet at this time people are still talking about God whenever they gather together, and they are still talking about the best way to look for God. All that already belongs to the past, and what now remains is the proof, the reality.
Because of that people nowadays no longer have faith in religion. Everywhere I hear it said that people really no longer believe in God, because there is no visible evidence of His existence. People may say that God is there in His power, but unless the human mind is given a little evidence, it will not believe. And clearly the mind and the heart need to believe. Where are they to find this belief? Yes, of course it is within the human beings themselves.
And it is possibly because this is the time for it that God has willed Subud to be sent down. The wahyu ( revelation ), the Anugraha ( grace ) of this latihan kejiwaan of Subud are given so that human beings can receive a contact with the power of God, so that they can feel it. It is something like that.
It is said that long ago, in the old days, human beings were in a hard and difficult situation, everywhere at the mercy of enemies. Enemies pursued them everywhere, and people killed human beings in the same way that they killed animals, or in the same way that animals kill other animals. That is how things used to be. Nowadays it is not like that; nowadays people have some protection. They are protected by law; by the laws made by human beings themselves. Obviously things are now better ordered than they used to be, but the way they go in this era still remains much the same as in the days of slavery. In the past what was called the slave trade was a trade in buying servants. It used to be like that in the past, but it is still going on even now. Where? People who work for others are slaves. People who work for others are like the people who were bought, because after they have worked for a certain number of years they are made to stop work, and then they are unable to make any money for themselves. They cannot do this and for what reason? It is because they have been used to receiving orders and instructions from an employer, a boss, and are used to doing a daily work that does not arise out of their own inner-selves. This is how it is.
At this present time, brothers and sisters, and with the birth of Subud, the birth of this latihan kejiwaan of Subud, God wills us and commands us to change, if that is possible, if we can do it. For it is left up to you as to whether you are strong enough to do it or not. God is now testing us testing us to see whether we can change the times or not, change the situation or not. Thus we who are here ought to be able to live by our own strength. But then we must not go on in the old ways and go on strike. No; the way to go by is the way of work, and this applies in every field.
Are the people who work in what Bapak calls enterprises, working as lawyers, as legal experts, are they working independently, on their own and with their own strength? No. They are employees. Whose employees? They are the employees of the people who pay them to fight an action so that they will win. Thus because they are these people's employees, they do everything possible to enable people who are in the wrong to win their actions.
Well, that is not honest. That is a dishonest thing to do. Something like that is not the will of God. According to the will of God we have to act in an honest way, even though we may be lawyers. What is wrong still remains wrong; what is right still remains right. This means that we have to do enterprises sincerely, and we need to do them together.
Thus if several lawyers work together, this contributes to the strength of Subud and helps to build Subud up. Twenty five per cent of their profits are for Subud. The rest is for yourselves, it will not run into trouble or loss. That is also an enterprise.
Singapore - June 28, 1976
Code Number: 76 SIN 1
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 15, 1976
Code Number: 76 CDK 7
Cilandak, Indonesia - December 11, 1976
Code Number: 76 CDK 17
From the nature of the movements and actions in the latihan, which you have all experienced and witnessed for yourselves, one can deduce that from this latihan there will come a change in your respective inner selves; that is, an inner self that used to be not very good, not perfect, will become perfect and excellent. That is why it is therefore clear that as time goes on the latihan kejiwaan of Subud will develop to a higher level of development. The meaning of development is the building, the creation or the production of a perfected inner self.
Perhaps these things are the will of the One Almighty God. They also correspond with the development of the people in this world up to the present time, when things are no longer as they used to be in the past. In those days people simply believed, but it is necessary also to obtain evidence for one's belief, even though this evidence is in the spiritual field. But it is still evidence.
So it is clear that nowadays human beings and the environment of human life in this world demand evidence, both inwardly and outwardly, both spiritually and materially. It is no longer necessary to believe in matters where it is enough only to believe. That is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so we are all truly fortunate and truly blessed to have been able to receive proof of what we have learnt in our various religions, for instance, those who are Christians, who are Buddhists, who are Muslims, or who belong to whatever religion it may be. In this way it is no longer necessary always to discuss esoteric or spiritual matters, but it is necessary to put them into practice and to verify them.
London, England - June 24, 1977
Code Number : 77 LON 2
Totnes, England - July 1, 1977
Code Number : 77 TNS 1
Brothers and Sisters, the thing that is most important for all of you, in order that you should not feel confused or worried when facing the Latihan Kejiwaan, is to understand very clearly that Subud is not a religion or a teaching, but is a receiving from God Almighty. This receiving is a proof or an evidence that God, in this time now, in this age, wills that man should be guided directly by Him. In other words, no longer at arm's length through a faith, or a belief, or something like that. This Latihan Kejiwaan is our proof that Almighty God wills now to teach man Himself and to guide man, so that He can direct man's will in the direction of man's true home - that is, man's own world. Because of this nature of the latihan, we are aware that in the latihan and in Subud we are left completely free - free to continue with the practice of our own religion, of our own belief, and of our own way of worship, whatever it might be. On the contrary, not only are we not disturbed in our worship of what is normal in our religions, but through the Latihan Kejiwaan we become more convinced and have a deeper understanding of the reality behind the religion of each one of us.
Edinburgh, Scotland - July 1, 1977
Code Number : 77 EDI 1
Nowadays men do not believe something that is not logical. Nowadays men cannot accept any more just on belief - men need to know something that can really be known, can really be sensed, can really be felt. And that is why we are extremely lucky, because we have received the reality, we have received this reality within us. But the other people still grope for it with their minds. The whole of mankind is looking for this, they want to know: how can we sense the reality of the power of God? Because the heart and mind is impatient, they decide: 'Let us try to feel it by putting away all other influences.' So they go away from society and away from all the disturbances which we encounter every day - all the noise and all the bustle and so on. And they go maybe to the top of a mountain or a cave or the seaside where it's very, very lonely, and they don't wear a complete suit of clothes - on the contrary, they probably wear something that is quite unsuitable for clothing a human being. They do all this to try thereby to receive, or to sense, the power of God; that is, the qadar ilham. This is, actually, a complete waste of energy or a waste of time because this qadar ilham is something that we can only receive if it is God's will, if it is God's gift to us. That is why Bapak says that we are extremely fortunate because we have, at this time, been able to receive this power: and it is something that is really suitable and is really in parallel, or in accordance, with the conditions of mankind in this world now.
Blonay, Switzerland - August 15, 1977
Code Number : 77 BLN 1
So this latihan of the hakekat is something that is completely different from what is normally knows as the shariat, or religious observance, because normally in religion you are told it is enough to believe, it is enough to believe in God and then do whatever is laid down in your respective religions. In other words, do your prayers, go to church, or whatever - in whatever religion you are talking about. But it doesn't matter why you go to church - it doesn't matter whether you understand the purpose 'behind it or not, as long as you do what is laid down in the Holy Books. In other words, if you ask a person who is observing this religious observance: 'Why do you do this - do you understand the direction of your worship?' And he says: 'Yes, I do ,this because this is what is laid down in the Holy Books, and it is said that if we do this, if we do this all our lives, then we will go to heaven. That's why I do it.' So this is belief - and the difference between this and the hakekat is that with us it is not belief, but conviction. In other words, we start by believing. We believe in God. But then God gives us something, so we are convinced; 'Yes, it is true.' Whereas in the shariat we don't know. We only know it is like that because it is said in the Holy Books and we follow what is said there. So that it's much easier, it's very, very easy, the shariat. In fact, to become a member of the shariat you don't even talk about members' religion, because anybody who wants can do it, it's completely general -whoever feels like it can follow a religion. That is why it can happen that a religion has millions, hundreds of millions. For example, in Islam let's say there are a hundred or two hundred million Muslims in the world. Because it's very simple. You only do what is laid down in the Holy Books, and you believe.
Now the next stage is what is called in Islam the karekat. That is where people go beyond just belief and try to find out 'How far is my belief, how complete is my belief, how far have I been able to substantiate my belief with facts.' They try to study the meaning of the belief that they have, they try to make their belief as complete as possible, so that their belief becomes really 100 per cent. This study is already very difficult. It is said in Islam, for example, that out of a thousand people who follow the shariat maybe there is one who understands the karekat - that is, who makes the effort to study the basis and the reasons for the belief so that their belief becomes more and more complete. And this is, for example, in Islam the Keeyayi or the elders - in Christianity, the priests - the priests who go deeper, who know more about the basis of the belief or the direction of the worship that they do.
Now we say this is whatever can be grasped by the human mind, because it is an effort based on the intelligence and the understanding. So the boundary of the karekat is the boundary of the human understanding. Whatever is contained in the karekat must still be able to be grasped by the human understanding. Now it is said that when you take the karekat to its maximum - that is, you study, you study, you study and you get to what is, one can say, the top of the karekat, the limit of what is possible to be grasped by the human mind, the point where there is no longer any more meaning; in other words, you reach a point of zero where your understanding is faced with nothing, when at that moment you receive the help of God Almighty - that is the hakekat, that moment when the zero is filled with the guidance of the power of God. And Bapak says that this latihan that we have received is the latihan of the hakekat, because when Bapak first received it Bapak was at that point of zero. Bapak had no will whatsoever. Bapak had no wish, no direction, no aim whatsoever at that point. Bapak was at zero. At that moment Bapak received this latihan which we have all witnessed. So when Bapak received this latihan it was when Bapak was at the point of zero, and this was witnessed, or this was confirmed, by God to Bapak when God Almighty took Bapak out of the world of men, out of this world at that time.
Barcelona, Spain - August 27, 1977
Code Number : 77 BCN 2
New York, NY U.S.A. - September 11, 1977
Code Number : 77 NYC 3
Montreal, Canada - September 19, 1977
Code Number : 77 YUL 3
Brothers and Sisters, everything that Bapak has told you about the Latihan Kejiwaan, and everything that Bapak is going to tell you, Bapak has experienced for himself, and that is why Bapak is completely confident in saying that the Latihan Kejiwaan is something that is automatic. In other words, it moves by itself, it works by itself, because it is truly the Guidance and the influence of the Power of God within our lives. That is, the Latihan Kejiwaan is really a Gift, a Gift of Grace from God's Power given to mankind today whereby those who receive it are really enabled - their way is opened to be able to worship God, truly to worship God; that is, according to the reality. This is something that is really very difficult for man to do. So this Gift is not something trivial because, actually, the worship of man of God is beset by all sorts of obstacles, great obstacles, because of all the things that are within man which constantly obstruct and tempt and disturb him away from the worship of God Almighty. Of course, it's different if you are satisfied with worshipping according to belief. If you only want to worship outwardly, that is according to some belief, then it's a different matter - that is easy. But if you want to find some proof or some reality of the content of what the real relationship is between God and man, then that is not easy at all.
It is true that many people used to worship according to belief, according to faith in some idea and to follow just what is laid down. But nowadays it is no longer that easy because of man's great progress, of man's intellect, and man's understanding. Those who are called the intellectuals, those whose minds have really developed, find it very difficult to believe in God because God is something that cannot be proved, that cannot be sensed in the ordinary way, so that on the whole it is then very, very difficult to accept that it is truly a Decree laid down by God that man should worship Him. That is why it seems that now it is God's Will that man should have a way whereby he can find the proof, the experience, the reality of the worship of God which can show man his way. That is, it is necessary for man to worship God in order to find his way, both in this life and in the next.
Chicago, Ill U.S.A. - October 1, 1977
Code Number : 77 CHI 2
So, if the helpers really do their work, if they really carry out their responsibility to give explanations to members, then Subud can progress in the way that religions have progressed. In a religion, actually, people are given explanations that are just ordinary. In other words, everything is based on belief. They are told: 'You must do this, you must do that, you must pray like this, you must move like that, and so on. Even though they only follow this on belief, on trust, they are not aware of any reality or any proof that this is how it is. Yet religions can spread to maybe three million, maybe four million, maybe 53 million members - and this is based only on trust.
Whereas, here in Subud, we have received the reality, we have received the proof within ourselves of the life force of the power of God. Because life as we experience it - our everyday life - that is the way we walk, the way we sit, the way we talk and so on - this is just local, this is just here and now; but the life force that we receive, the vibration of life that is within our life, that is the same everywhere. As Bapak has tested with you - you can test: 'How do you walk if you are an American? How do you walk if you are an Englishman? How do you walk if you are an Indonesian?' The life force within you is universal. It embraces everything - the whole universe. So this something universal and all embracing.
Santa Monica, CA U.S.A. - November 29, 1977
Code Number : 77 LAX 3
Brothers and Sisters, Bapak has frequently heard reports from Subud members all over the world where there are Subud members who still practice their religion. So, let us say, they still go to the mosque regularly to do their prayers, or they still go to church and they do their prayers. And they report to Bapak strange experiences like this. For example, a brother who has gone to the mosque to say his prayers, and at the moment when the others started to do the movements of the prayers, to say the normal prayer - in other words, according to the shariat - suddenly they burst out crying in a way that they could not control. And they then came to Bapak and said:
'Bapak, why is it that when I was at the mosque and I heard the sermon from the Imam, or we were just about to pray, and I suddenly started crying and crying and couldn't control myself?'
Then Bapak explains.
'Yes, this is because you have already received the hakekat. The hakekat means the reality, the truth of our worship of Almighty God - while what they are doing is still based on belief, is simply based on belief and following; in other words, just because someone says so or someone does it like that. Whereas we have received the hakekat - that is, we receive directly the reality of our worship of God, so that it is something that arises from within our own selves. But for the other people, the people who still follow the shariat, it is only imitation. They do it because other people do it. At that moment when you were with them, when you were in the middle of the religious service, or whatever it is, you burst out crying because deep inside you felt despair at why they act like that, why they worship God in that way. 'Yet', Bapak said, 'it is not right for you to blame them, because we human beings must not blame each other or criticize each other, because maybe one day they will find out and become aware by themselves of their mistakes.'
Another thing that the helpers often complain to Bapak about - they often report:
'Why is it, Bapak, that in this Subud it seems that things are going backwards? The numbers are getting smaller, that less and less people come to latihan.'
Or sometimes they report:
'Bapak, in our group we open ten people, but while we are opening ten people, 15 people who used to come before don't come any more.' Or - 'We open 20 people, and then we find that 20 people who used to come before don't show up any more. So that our number is always the same, we are always 100 people, even though we open people all the time.'
This exists everywhere. Even in Indonesia, for example, where Bapak estimates that maybe 20,000 to 25,000 people have been opened over the years. Yet the people who are active are maybe only 5,000. And Bapak wouldn't be surprised now, while Bapak is abroad, if maybe there are only 2,500 who go to the latihan ( laughter ). But all this is not surprising. For Bapak, none of this is surprising, because what we have received is the hakekat. It is the reality, and this is something that is not always easy for people to understand or to grasp. For example, here in Los Angeles, you maybe also complain: 'Why is it that we have been doing Subud now for so many years, and yet our numbers are always the same? And-there are even people who used to do the latihan long ago who don't come any more, but luckily, when Bapak comes, they show up again ( laughter ).
Brothers and Sisters, this is not something to be depressed about, because this is indeed the nature of the heart of man. If Bapak looks back at the history of religion, Abraham first received the guidance from God Almighty which enabled him to guide many people to have faith in God Almighty. But those who followed him, those who had faith in him and followed his advice - they all believed, it was just belief, that they were willing to follow what he said. It was simply based on their belief. So that after Prophet Abraham died, those who believed became less and less and less and less and less.
Similarly with Moses. When Moses came he was able to teach the people, he was able to give them an example and they believed in what he said. But it was still the age of belief. So that after Moses, those who believed and followed what he said, became less and less and less and less and less.
And the same with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was able to demonstrate the proof that within man is the power of God Almighty. And yet, after that, the same thing happened because it was still only belief. So that again the numbers got less and less - those who really followed what Jesus Christ said.
And the same with Prophet Muhammad.
So it is clear that for most people what rules is the heart. And the heart is something that can very easily doubt - and usually what happens in religion is that it is the intelligent people, the thinkers, the intellectuals, who begin to drop away. They no longer believe what was taught by the Messengers of God, and they cease to believe in God and to believe in what the Messengers taught.
And now we come to this time - this time which is the time of reality, the time of proof; that is, of Subud. What we receive in this latihan is the proof, the reality - it's the truth. And still it is not easy for people to understand. It still happens that people begin to doubt and fall away. Frankly, Brothers and Sisters, this is the heart. The effect of man's heart is like that, that it can never stay constant, it can never follow something for longer than a certain time. In the time of the Prophets, La the age of belief, it is true that some people through their sincerity and their real genuineness, because of their devotion, they were able to receive the hakekat. But even that, after a time, just turned to belief. Even though in Subud we feel the reality, there are still not many people who can really feel it and who can really be sure of it. And the enemy is always the heart which cannot keep constant. That is why Bapak advises you to do enterprises, because when you do enterprises you give the heart work to do, you keep the heart busy with the things of this world, and that is the field where the heart can work. It is in the things of this world that the heart and mind are in their own, and that is the field of the heart and mind. Through that, the heart and mind can become channeled to their right direction.
Then, it is important for you not to connect your worship of God with the situation of your everyday life. In other words, not to depend for your determination to worship God and to follow God's guidance on what happens to be the situation around you, because the nature of life in this world, the nature of this world, is that it is always changing. It is never steady. You experience good and bad, high and low, times of plenty and times of trouble; there are rich and poor, good and bad - everything always has its complementary. So in this world we cannot always be in a good situation. With the exception of someone who is already completely pure - somebody from whom all that junk that Bapak talked about, all the things we have accumulated from our ancestors, has been removed. Apart from that, we must always experience good and bad and ups and downs. So we must train ourselves not to forget. So when we happen to be up, when we happen to be happy and well off and everything is fine, we must not forget at that moment our worship of God Almighty because we are too happy. Also when we are down, we must also not forget. So that whatever happens we are steady, we always follow the guidance and we always remember the power of God Almighty. Then it will happen that in our life, even though we fall down, we will not fall fiat on our face, but we will fall standing, or in a sitting position. We will not fall completely because we are always in the hands that protect us; there is always the power that protects us, even when we fall.
Seattle, WA U.S.A. - December 8, 1977
Code Number : 77 SEA 1
That is clearly like what you now feel in the latihan kejiwaan, brothers and sisters, when you move without your own intention. You walk, for instance, you move your hands, you shout or cry or laugh, You do not do those things intentionally, but they come out from inside you. If you really examine these things, brothers and sisters, and if you think about them properly, think about them seriously, it is as if you have received a recapitulation. It is as if you arc able to recapitulate your life as it was before you were influenced by the nafsu and before you were influenced by the heart and mind. Such things are of the same kind and the same nature as Adam’s life in heaven, or the life of a baby who still does not yet know life and the way of life in this world. To continue, after the baby has lived in this world for a while, it gradually begins to be able to look at the shape of what it sees, to listen to what it hears and so on, so that it begins to be more familiar with this world than with its jiwa. This increases still more as the child learns more and grows older- up to the age of six or seven. And then still more as it grows up, so that the baby or the child believes more in this world than it does in the way things were before it was born into this world or knew this world. That is why it is not surprising if there are some people who say that they do not believe in the existence of the One Almighty God and do not believe in any sort of mystery. A mystery means something that people cannot usually know or understand with their minds. Ever since childhood up to the time they become adult human beings have been educated by their worldly environment and have experienced it more clearly and vividly than they experience the environment in which they lived before they were born into this world.
This is how it is, brothers and sisters, so that what Bapak calls the recapitulation which you receive in the latihan kejiwaan, so that although you can walk you are made to walk, you can move, but you are made to move, you can shout, but you are made to shout, and so on, this recapitulation is not so as to begin to reduce your belief in this world but so that you begin to be able to grasp that your life in this world is something superficial, floating on the surface of your true life as perfect human beings which will make it possible for you to return to the world of your origin, the world of your inner self which is on a far greater scale, incomparably greater and more real than this world. In Javanese this world is called the dunyo samanya, which means the lonely place. Thus this world which seems to be so crowded and busy, with its Paris, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, all so crowded arid busy, this world is said by the experts in the spiritual life, who have received revelation from the One Almighty God, it is said by the prophets, and Christ himself also said this, they all say that this world is an empty and lonely place. Thus what seems to be so crowded and so busy is only a shadow world.
Seattle, WA U.S.A. - December 11, 1977
Code Number : 77 SEA 2
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 4, 1978
Code Number : 78 CDK 10
Brothers end sisters, that is what Bapak has to say concerning the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. That is why Subud is not a religion. if Subud were a religion, people of other religions could not join it. That is certain, that is definite, that is obvious. For a religion, although it is called a belief, a faith, is yet a specific teaching; specific to the religion of those who practice it. That is why people of all the races of this world, to whatsoever religion they belong, can join Subud and do the latihan.
Cilandak, Indonesia - May 6, 1979
Code Number : 79 CDK 13
Reigate, England - September 8, 1979
Code Number : 79 REI 1
Brothers and sisters, supposing that someone should ask you whether you already have a religion, and point out that the religions also state that religious people can be said to receive, meaning by that people who are always mindful of the One Almighty God - supposing that someone should ask you this, it is because as a rule people always construct something or other with their minds, so that they confuse themselves. For when people already have a belief in the existence of God and of the messengers of God, there will also be others who form some other group or shade of opinion which claims that the beliefs held by that group are deeper and stronger than those held in others. Of course, brothers and sisters, such a situation, whether here or in Indonesia itself, really constitutes a very great and far-reaching reason why the appearance of Subud is taken to be some new invention which goes against religion. Of course the reality is not like that, brothers and sisters.
Toyko, Japan - January 2, 1980
Code Number : 80 TYO 2
Wisma Subud, Jakarta, Indonesia - January 20, 1981
Code Number : 81 JKT 3
It has been the accepted teaching or belief in India, Bangla desh and Pakistan that when a person begins to take his worship of God seriously, that he has to leave aside his efforts to find his living in the world. Either people feel that they should stop making a living completely, or, at very least, reduce their efforts or neglect them.
Bapak says this is completely wrong.
Man is not allowed to neglect his human nature, which is to live in this world.
This is something Bapak has received in Subud. This is why Bapak encourages everyone, in addition to doing their latihan or worshipping God, to do enterprises. This is absolutely essential.
We have to realize the fact: we are human beings; we are not God.
We have to understand the difference between God and human beings. God is God. He doesn't need clothes, food and so on. But we live in this world. We have been given our heart and mind, all our faculties and drives, in order to fulfill our needs.
We have to be able to do both things: we have to worship and we have to work.
We must understand this. We must understand and recognize our relationship with our fellow-man.
We have to realize that, yes, we have our relationship with God Almighty, but we are not allowed, then, to deny our relationship with our fellow-man. We have to have both.
If we say, "I have only a relationship with God, I don't have a relationship with my fellowman," then it is right that we should, in turn, be neglected by our fellow-man. If we neglect our fellow-man we ( will ) be neglected by him, and we will end up like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where everything is backward, everything has been left behind ( by the world ).
Who is your fellow-man? Your wife and children, first of all. You have to provide for them sufficiently, so you can live at peace in the world. Next, the people around you: so you should serve your community and do something good.
That is the duty of man, and it is this which we must think about and work on. Because the worship of God you cannot do anything about. It is God Who does the worship of God.
Thus you see the boundary you need to grasp: the two duties of man: to worship God and to work.
Sri Lanka - March 13, 1981
Code Number : 81sri-lanka-1
Brothers and sisters, the latihan kejiwaan is something Bapak received without any wish on his own part: Bapak is aware that he is the first human being who received this. At the time Bapak received it, Bapak was a Muslim. What Bapak received in the latihan kejiwaan was very much in accordance with the teaching of Islam, and what had been experienced in Islam in the past. For this reason, Bapak was able to have a very strong and a very deep faith in Almighty God and in what he received from Al mighty God.
Now Bapak is not saying by this that Bapak is a prophet or a messenger of God, or something like that. Bapak is simply saying that God's Power is such that He has the power and the authority to bring understanding and illumination, to give His Grace to whatever creature of His that He wishes - not only to a human being, but even a stone or an animal. If God wills, that creature of God can receive an understanding of the whole of life as it exists in the universe.
Everything depends on the power of God. Everything happens according to God's Will. Which is why the latihan kejiwaan is universal and can be received by people of every race, every culture, every religion. As you know, Subud can receive every kind of Christian: Protestants, Catholics, all sorts of sects and beliefs. Subud can receive them all. Similarly, in Islam, there are many schools, many sects and many different beliefs. Subud can receive all of them. Also, Hindus, Buddhists and people without any religion can also receive the latihan.
You yourself have proved this in your own experience, because Bapak knows that among you are Christians, there are Muslims, there are Buddhists and Hindus. Why is it that you are able to do latihan together, and you do not quarrel among yourselves when you are doing the latihan? It is because what you have received and are following is simply the Grace of Almighty God who is One for everybody, for the whole universe. Clearly, Subud is truly universal and can accept everybody - of any faith, creed, or belief in God - because it actually originates from the power of God who is One.
Through this latihan kejiwaan, through the reality of God's Power and God's Grace which you have received, if you follow it, you can arrive at the point where you no longer need to quarrel. You no longer need to fight between one type of belief and another, one group and another. Because you know the reality for each individual, according to what he receives in his own latihan kejiwaan.
We are taught by the latihan kejiwaan to be harmonious and to get along with each other. Through the latihan we are taught that mankind is all one.
All of us together worship the One Almighty God. Because of this, it is possible for us to receive, each of us according to our own needs and our own nature. When we do latihan, one person will move like this, and another person will move like that. Each receives according to his own nature and his own need from the One Almighty God. Who else is capable of guiding each person according to his own nature if it is not the One Almighty God? There is no one man in this world who can guide every human being and every nation and every type of person according to his own needs, except the One Almighty God.
Now, if we are taught by God in the latihan like this to be one and not to quarrel, fight or have disagreements; if we are taught that we are one humanity facing the One Almighty God, why is it then that there are still quarrels among us? Why is it then that in groups all over the world, there are still quarrels and disagreements among us? The reason is be cause we are still influenced by the nafsu, the nafsu which has its nest or home in the heart and mind.
What is the nafsu? There are many, many kinds of nafsu. It is the nafsu that always wants to be the one who understands. We always want to be the one who knows, the one who is right, the one who comes out on top. We always want to be the most clever, the most famous, the most intelligent, the most wealthy, the most popular and so on. As long as we allow ourselves to be influenced by this nafsu, to be influenced by this longing that exists within the heart and mind to be the one who wins, we will always have problems between ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, why is it that you still allow yourselves to be in fluenced and to be misled by this nafsu which exists within your heart and mind when you have already experienced for yourselves the guidance which exists in the latihan kejiwaan? If you really can feel the reality of the guidance which is in the latihan kejiwaan, you must understand by now that it is the Will of God that we should be united, harmonious, and able to get on with each other and be as brothers and sisters among our selves.
Once you have experienced this reality in this latihan kejiwaan, then why don't you believe in it?
This reality has come from your own being. The reason why Bapak believes absolutely what he receives in the latihan kejiwaan is because Bapak has experienced it for himself, within his own being. This is true for each of us. Each of us has experienced the state we receive in the latihan for ourselves, in the same way that we see with our eyes and we touch with our hands and so on.
Bapak sees this place before him here. Why should Bapak not have faith in it? Bapak sees it with his own eyes. Bapak feels this chair. Why should Bapak not believe it is there when he feels it with his own hands? Bapak has not borrowed the eyes of someone else; Bapak is not listening to the story of someone else. Bapak experiences it for himself, so why should not Bapak believe his own eyes and his own sense of touch? Similarly, why should you not have faith in what you receive in your latihan kejiwaan? Each one receives for himself according to his own nature. God is able to guide each one according to his own nature.
The reason that we can all receive for ourselves in the latihan, and not have to follow a teacher or follow a norm or something like that, is because the One Who guides us is Almighty God. Almighty God is capable of guiding each one according to his nature and origin. No matter where we come from, God can give us what we need for our own nature.
For example, even with the animals: The crow crows. God knows how to guide that crow because God has created that crow. So when that crow makes that noise, that noise is guided by Almighty God. Similarly, another kind of bird may go, "Queek, queek, queek, queek," and that noise is also guided by Almighty God. This is the case for all creatures, because God has created everything. God guides each one according to its own nature.
This is possible because all that God has created is in fact like one, in the sense that all mankind is like one. Real spiritual teaching is simply what comes from Almighty God. The name of the only spiritual teacher is Allahu Akbar. What comes from God is the thing that unites, the thing that is true for all of his creation.
Brothers and sisters, don't misunderstand: It is not that Bapak himself comes here in order to unite you all, or in order to bring harmony to you. Certainly Bapak thanks God if it has that effect. But what unites you, what brings you together and makes you harmonious is your own receiving, what you learn in the latihan from the One Almighty God.
Baden Vienna, Austria - May 11, 1981
Code Number : 81 VIE 4
Sao Paulo, Brazil - June 1, 1981
Code Number : 81 SAO 4
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 30, 1981
Code Number : 81 CDK 6
This present era, brothers and sisters, is said to be an era of enlightenment or an era of progress. Thus everything calls for proof. We must no longer go on as if we were still living in the age of fairy-tales and imagination. You must not be like that, brothers and sisters; you only confuse your own minds. The legend of Joko Tarut tells how he was able to find a bidadari ( a heavenly maiden ) and make her his wife. Those who do not see very far and who have a limited view of life still believe that sort of thing, so that many people go walking in the jungle at night hoping to meet a bidadari. You must not go on living in the world of imagination. Nowadays we must live in the real world.
In the same way, brothers and sisters, you should hope and pray to God that after you die you will find, not the way of imagination, but the way of reality and truth. This is the way which has been described and exemplified by the prophets. None of the prophets practiced asceticism; no, they surrendered to God. When people surrender to God it is worth more than many hundreds of years spent in practicing austerities. It was like that for Christ. He could live on after death, not die, so that he ascended into heaven. That is the truth, brothers and sisters; a true story, not a false one. So it is clear that the prophets were talking about a real situation, not a fake one. The ascension of the prophet was real; it really took place, and he really did experience the whole length and breadth and depth and height of the world, of the universe, until he reached up to the bosom of the One Almighty God. All this is clearly stated, but formerly people could only go by what they were told about it.
Well, let us hope that nowadays it is no longer like that. We should go by what has happened, but by what has happened in reality. Thus it is clear that if there is proof in its af'al, its results, it is real, it is the power of God which is present in your selves. Dzat, sifat, asma, af'al; that is what Bapak is now talking about, for the present era is already the time for that. You must not cling on to the era of imagination. You must not believe things too easily, believing blindly in things which you yourselves have not actually experienced. That means you are deceiving your own selves. To put it briefly, brothers and sisters, Bapak needs to make it clear to you that you must not go on doing the same things over and over again just because you feel that is what you ought to do. No, brothers and sisters, that is why Bapak tells you that, if you are asked about it, you should say that the important thing for our spiritual brotherhood of Subud is that there are no theories in it, and no teaching, and that the reason you are able to do the latihan kejiwaan is because of the One Almighty God. It is because of the power of God, which extends throughout the universe. This is expressed each time that people say Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. La ilaha ilallah wa lillahil hamd: "Oh God the Almighty, the All-powerful, the All-compassionate, Thee alone I worship. Grant me the understanding to be able to know the truth of what is right both in this world and the next".
Bogor, Indonesia - February 27, 1982
Code Number : 82 BGZ 1
Truly it is an immeasurably great blessing that Almighty God has given His Grace to mankind, first of all to the people of Java, Indonesia. What you practice, what you receive is what is been prayed for or sought by mankind from the beginning until now. This is the content of the worship by man of Almighty God, which is called in Javanese “puji tan kenaning pedot” or the “Salat da’im” ( the continuous prayer ) which is at one with our breath, our heart beat, our pulse. This is what is sought for.
Now to get close to this people use a tasbih or Rosary. This tasbih is a means of counting which we do in time with our heart beat. But with the latihan kejiwaan it is much more than this. We can worship Almighty God Who cannot be counted, so that our worship becomes one with our seeing, one with our hearing, with our sense of smell, with our feelings. It even becomes one with our thinking. Where's the counting in this? There is none. Therefore if this can be practiced by you, my children, even 10 percent of it, this is an incredible gift which is been given to mankind. So you can be called people who believe, and who are devout and opened.
We become accustomed to show ourselves, so don't have a feeling of shyness, eweh-pakewuh in Javanese. In the latihan kejiwaan we are taught to become people who have courage. This latihan kejiwaan is like facing death. But this death is not difficult at all. The one who sees someone dead is the one who feels sad. For the one was going it doesn't matter. He passes on. Dead men seldom comeback. Even though a few comeback is no use.
Bapak is willed by the One Who Created him, by the Almighty, not to say anything which is not true. It must be what really is. Bapak has a simple nature. So Bapak can say frankly that he did not get his knowledge by studying, not all. If Bapak advances from studying Bapak would not dare to broadcast anything. The nature of studying with a guru carries a vow. Yes a vow. And this vow is very dangerous. For if you reveal your knowledge, if you talk about it, you'll encounter danger, not only danger of death, it will cause problems for your descendants. Therefore if someone who has studied with a guru is asking something. "Oh, I cannot say. This is what is called a clinical secret". Subud is not “clinical”. If you need to say something just say it. We have no secrets. There no secrets in the power of the Almighty.
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 22, 1982
Code Number : 82 CDK 3
In the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, brothers and sisters, we are guided, educated and led in such a way that we know things and know about things which otherwise we should never know. This is because there is no guide other than the One Almighty God who can lead us where we wish to go. This is why we have to make no declaration in our latihan kejiwaan of Subud except to declare our faith, both inwardly and outwardly, in the glory and majesty of the One Almighty God, our belief that there is nothing which can surpass the One Almighty God, but that, on the contrary, God rules over everything needed by human life and every other form of life.
Why is it that people do not believe? Why have they no faith in God? It is because they are taught by their minds according to the dictates of their nafsu which are present in the heart and the mind. It is all right to wear clothes worth thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars. It is God' s will for human beings to live and to live well, to live in peace, comfort and happiness, beginning in this world and continuing in the hereafter. Why is that? It is because God is present in this world as well as in the next. Do not imagine that God is not present in this world.
This is the way it is, brothers and sisters. From the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, little by little - and it may not be just little by little but quite quickly - we become able to get rid of our credulity, our Mugon tuhon. Gugon tuhon means believing in things which we have not yet experienced for ourselves.
Cilandak, Indonesia - January 9, 1983
Code Number : 83 CDK 2
It is obvious, brothers and sisters, that at this moment, in this present era, God gives us proof. He gives evidence and proof to all of you when you surrender yourselves body and soul to the One Almighty God, and at that moment you truly believe that only God can guide all His creatures; at that moment you can receive. Your surrender and receiving are witnessed by those who are usually called the helpers, or by Bapak himself, but in fact they need to be close to you for this to happen. The reason why this is necessary is because formerly you had always been influenced by the nafsu, so that you were not yet able to feel how your life is ruled by God and that God is behind you, before you, above you, to the right and to the left of you. You could not yet feel it, and that is why when the helpers - or Bapak - stood near you at that time, and you declared your belief in God and in His messengers, in so doing your self began to vibrate. It was made to vibrate by something which is beyond your mind and beyond your nafsu, which means it is also beyond your red blood.
Thus there is God and there are His creatures; there are His creatures and there is God. Thus you do not have to believe, but you should believe. Well, we Subud People do not derive our evidence from here and there; no, we derive it from the latihan, brothers and sisters, for the latihan kejiwaan of Subud is truly something real - what in another language is called realistic, as clear and as true a reality as can be. If that is the truth, and if you acknowledge it to be the truth, then why are You still in any doubt? It is not just Bapak saying this, not Bapak forcing you, no, but you are still in doubt about whether you will lose your material possessions if you try to carry out the commandments of God. That is why Subud has not made much progress; it is because the Subud members still attach more importance to their material possessions. In short, money still weighs more heavily with them than God. Yet if you have been able to receive true guidance, then - because God is behind you - it will be very easy for you to earn money; it really will be easy. The reason why it is difficult is because you let the nafsu get ahead of you. Even before you have received what you ask for, you have already made plans about how you will spend it. "If I win first prize in the lottery, which is worth a hundred and twenty million rupiah, I shall buy one house here and another over there, and I shall buy a very good car - a B.M.W. or a Mercedes." All this before you have got anything. Then you have already got the answer to your hopes - but all only in your imagination.
That is why you should persevere in the latihan, so that you will not give free rein to your imagination every day, letting it run on as it pleases. Supposing God were to grant you the things you imagine about, then the things you had and did would also be just what you liked, just pleasant things. That is what develops from ways of behavior which are influenced by nafsu. This, brothers and sisters, is why Bapak always advises you to be diligent in doing the latihan, even if the nature of the latihan seems to be only so-so. But if it is, that is ;your own fault. Why do you let it be just so-so, when, if they do not arise from the red blood, from the Danawa - God will grant your prayers? Like the Satrias ( knight, a person of chivalrous spirit ), the Denawas ( giants ) never cease praying for favors, but these favors are not granted to them, and why is that? Because they have already enjoyed them in their own imaginations. Thus you must not inflate and strengthen your imaginings about things which are not so. In Dutch this is called "iuchtkasteelen bouwen" ( building castles in the air ). You must not do that; it is of no use.
Cilandak, Indonesia - March 20, 1983
Code Number : 83 CDK 5
Well, for these reasons Bapak therefore agrees in principle with your suggestion about making the members more aware through conducting testing with them, but it does not seem as if you can really do it yet, and in many cases it may have the contrary effect, brothers and sisters. It may actually cause conflict and lack of harmony between the members and the helpers. This frequently occurs, brothers and sisters. Helpers claim to be already purified, already in a good state, and that what they do is already right, better than the ordinary members, so that these feelings tend to divide them. In such a situation, conflict and lack of harmony' will eventually arise between the members and the helpers. So we have to go carefully and not be in too much of a hurry. It is therefore better not to try to use testing to give understanding to the members, but at present to use the method of giving explanations on the lines of what Bapak has said about the latihan. So that the members can do it for themselves.
It is thus clear that in our association, in Subud, things cannot be done in the way they are usually done in the kind of association where the members have to follow the lead given to them and to put their faith in those who guides them. We are not like that, brothers and sisters, not like the members of an ordinary association, and the members do not have to believe in the helpers. They are all equal. Sometimes the helpers themselves receive less than the members do. So, for the present, it is better just to explain things, like Bapak explained yesterday - this is like this, like this, like this. Then you will all be on a basis of equality in verifying the truth of what you receive, and that will be better for both the helpers and the members.
London, England - August 11, 1983
Code Number : 83 LON 14
Hamburg, Germany - September 17, 1983
Code Number : 83 ham1
Bandung, Indonesia - April 24, 1984
Code Number : 84 BDO 1
Jakarta, Indonesia - June 24, 1985
Code Number : 85 JKT 4
Cilandak, Indonesia - May 31, 1986
Code Number : 86 CDK 3
Brothers and sisters, what is usually wanted or sought by someone who teaches or someone who explains is that those who listen to him should believe what he says. But what he doesn't realize is that what he says, which he hopes everyone will believe and follow, is actually the fruit of his own heart and mind. So that those who believe in him, those who follow his teaching are actually following something that is not in accordance with what they need, with what their being requires.
How can they find that thing, that thing which they need, which is truly in line with their own being? There is only one way, by choosing God as their teacher, by studying under God himself. Just take the example of all of you. How could Bapak individually teach each one of you what you need to know, what you need to do? It's impossible for Bapak to do that. But for God it's very easy, for God it's very, very simple to teach you, one by one, each of you that which you need.
So, brothers and sisters, if you follow a teacher, if you follow a human teacher, your own nature will disappear. In other words you are no longer yourself. Supposing your name is whatever it is, you will no longer have that name because you have been following someone else. So your nature will be like someone else, you will lose your own nature. But if you follow the teaching of Almighty God, the power of Almighty God, what is called the zat Allah, that is something where you are in touch, you are really following that which is within you, your own nature. It is only Almighty God who can be in touch with everything, all the natures and all the creatures that He has created. So brothers and sisters it is only God who can unite everything that exists in this world.
The strange thing is that we can reach Him, we can make contact with Him, just using the words 'Allahu akbar' or 'God is most great.' Those words reach their goal. Now this is surprising, because it is so simple, and this is the thing that Bapak received, and as you know, Bapak was the first person to receive this. Because before Bapak received this, it didn't exist yet. You can look in the history books to find a record of this latihan kejiwaan before Bapak received it - you will not find it. It started with Bapak when Bapak first received it.
So, brothers and sisters it is described nevertheless, in the scriptures, that the only true prayer, the only true worship is worship which is alive. In that worship, who is it that we worship? It is the zat Allah, the power of Almighty God. And who is it who worships? It is the mahmun, the one who is called nur Mohammed. And nur Mohammed symbolizes all the natures and all the creatures that are created by Almighty God.
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo