Oslo, Norway - August 3, 1959
Code Number : 59 OSL 2
And the way the ilofi spirit works within your being requires no assistance from your thinking mind, heart or will; for their assistance will not make the work of the ilofi spirit in your being easier, but rather will obscure it and slow it down. As Bapak said, spiritual matters aren't intellectual problems to be worked out by the brain, heart and passions. They can only be worked out by a greater soul, which has all the forces in its power.
Bapak will illustrate this with an example. Let's say there's a certain person named A: A has a material soul, the soul of a material object. Since this soul is the content of A'S whole being, it's obvious that all the parts of A'S self will be used and manipulated by that soul. Among them are the brain, heart and feelings. So if A wants to become a good person, this desire that has appeared or arisen within A can only have originated from that low force. Now it's not possible that this low force would be looking for a way to commit suicide, to kill its own self. Of course not. Of course it will turn that desire in a different direction, to ensure that it will continue to be in charge of A's being forever, and will always remain in power. That is why it's not possible for A's soul to be improved without the help of the sublime force that is the guide, the giver of light, the counselor of A and of all human beings.
Olso, Norway - August 7, 1959
Code Number : 59 OSL 3
It is true that to a superficial glance from our ordinary understanding, there seems to be a considerable similarity between the spiritual way of the Subud latihan and those of other ways, such as spiritualism, magnetism, etc, and, for example, the movements occurring in the latihan appear, in the early stages, to be very much like those occurring in the others. This may be compared to the playing of a piano: the resulting sounds are very much the same, whether the person pressing the keys is an accomplished pianist or whether he has been taking lessons for only six months, because at this stage the whole process is still at a rather low level.
Or Bapak may perhaps give another, clearer, comparison: take a child who has just started to learn how to write; it does not matter very much whether his teacher is a university professor or not: the lessons required by the child at this stage, that is the basic beginner's lessons, are very much the same in all cases. Later, when the child reaches the higher stages of study, the lessons given by an ordinary teacher may no longer be felt to be adequate, and a university professor may be needed.
The same happens in the spiritual latihan: you cannot yet know and receive that which could enable you to become aware of the difference between other spiritual exercises and those of Subud. The difference between the knowledge derived from the thinking mind and the understanding given by God if that the latter enables you to discern whether the leader of a spiritual movement is genuine, whether he really receives revelations from God; this can only be seen from the spiritual point of view. But you have not yet reached the stage from which the spiritual level of such teachers can be tested.
Outward, that is ordinary, knowledge and intellectual ability can be seen by a diploma or certificate which shows, for instance, that the person concerned is a university professor; but the spiritual level cannot be known in this way. Only after you have become able to ask God Himself will you be in a position to know the capacity of the spiritual knowledge of a teacher who truly dwells in the realm of the Power of God. This is the difference between the knowledge of the intellectual mind turned towards worldly purposes, and the height or loftiness attained in the spiritual life.
It is thus clear that the level attained by a person in the spiritual life can be determined, decided, and given by God alone and not by anyone else.
Coombe Springs, England - August 17, 1959
Code number of Recording: 59 CSP 7
In the old days people could easily cure them-selves if they became sick. Why was that? Because, as Bapak has now come to realize, their real remedy was to quieten their emotions, their thoughts and their desires. Indeed, that was easy for people in the old days, but it is not easy for people today. You can tell them to quieten their thoughts, but that will make them think even harder, their thoughts running in all directions; and instead of getting better they will get worse, because their heart and mind are filled with doubts and anxiety.
Looking at it from an intellectual point of view, it would seem that illnesses in the human body are simply brought about by the thinking, the heart and the desires. But if you were able to look more deeply into the causes and to see them from the spiritual point of view, you would see that illnesses do not arise from the thinking, the heart and the desires, for these are, by their nature, only tools. These illnesses arise instead from the low forces that are in charge within the human self. The low souls that always influence the human self are the three forces closely connected with human existence, since by their nature they work with the human thinking mind, heart and desires. These are the material, the vegetable and the animal forces. They are the forces that motivate, which means that they can set the human individuality, the human inner feeling, in motion.
When it is the material forces that are in charge and motivating the human inner feeling, these people will have a character - meaning that their thinking, heart and desires will always act this way - that knows no humanity and does not know the measure of its own strength. For example, if there is something they want, they will pursue it no matter what, even risking their own life. These forces care nothing for human beings - for the human self. All that matters to them is fulfilling their own desires. As a result, there is no harmony within the actions of the human self. What this means is that when you look, the measure of your looking should be just so much; when you listen, the measure of your listening should be just so much; similarly, when you walk, the measure of your walking should be just so much. But, when people are overcome by forces that always seek their own satisfaction, they do not feel and cannot know that they are being used only for the purposes and desires of these forces.
Coombe Springs, England - August 26, 1959
Code number of Recording: 59 CSP 15
So you have to go very deep to be able to know the truth in the world of the soul, and this ( is difficult ) without the help of God's power. In the testing Bapak has given you, you sometimes feel as if you have no head, or you feel as if you have a head that is not human. It is not Bapak who wants it that way - that is the reality. Yes. Bapak would like to try it, and test with you all, but as there are some among you who are able to receive and some who are not, the result of the testing might become a big problem. You would ask questions, questions, questions - all from your mind - with the result that it would end up as an intellectual issue instead of an experience of reality.
Coombe Springs, England - August 29, 1959
Recording: 59 CSP 16
Because this Subud Congress has achieved success in a peaceful way, clearly the things we now need to do in order to carry out the content and results of the Congress will also be carried out in a peaceful way, one that is not filled with the passions. The result of this is that, when you return from here, you may be able to do things in a brotherly way, truly as members of a family; thus avoiding disagreements in your various groups. For you have experienced an example while you were here in the Congress: that important questions, which normally would lead to disputes of an intellectual nature, did not do so. So, what was achieved in this Congress came about in a peaceful and happy atmosphere because you have been willing to give way to one another; for, indeed, what we seek is the truth.
Munich, Germany - December 6, 1959
Recording: 59 MUC 1
When the body is clean the process goes deeper and opens the second door, the door of the feeling and understanding. When that is clean there comes another door, the door of consciousness. This corresponds to what you may have heard or read, that the Brahmans, who worship God, firstly do not wear clothes; secondly abstain from eating; and thirdly let go of their wishes and their intellectual understanding. Only in this way do they reach a contact with the greatness of God.
That is how it is. So do not be worried or disappointed if you are not able to think about these things – eventually you will be able to. But God will separate the way in which the brain thinks about life and the way it thinks about money or work, even though it uses the same vessel, the same human brain. In this way you will later be able to separate within yourself what is right and wrong, between what in Dutch they call kwaad [bad] and goed [good].
It is very important for you, for humankind in general but especially for the young ones among you, to be able to distinguish in marriage, in the union between man and woman, the difference between uniting because of God or through the will of God – by which you truly become the deputy of God in bringing to life a new human being with a character of good quality – and uniting because of desire, through the influence of the mind and the influence of the world, creating a child whose quality is not good. Of course, if possible, you would choose a child of the first kind.
Therefore Bapak hopes that you truly practise the latihan with patience and faith in the greatness of God. Ordinarily, people do not have faith in God, because God cannot be seen. But do have faith. You have already received proof in that you are able to move without your willing it. That is a sign. It is a fact that whatever you may study, including intellectual study, it all begins with a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, until it reaches z. You do not enter school and immediately study algebra and that kind of thing. That is not possible; you could not understand it. It would only confuse you because you would not yet know enough to understand it. You would just be onlookers.
So, it is best for now if you just have faith. Even though this advice Bapak is giving may not make sense to you because, you say, ‘Here we are, clever thinkers, and you are telling us just to have faith. How can that be, Bapak? How can we?’ Yes, it is like that. But you have to understand that you are human beings and God is the Creator. So our position in front of God is like earth and sky; like something small and something great; the created and the Creator. We need to be aware of this and that we must, therefore, simply have patience and faith. You have already received indications in the latihan that our being is really enveloped by God’s power.
Vienna, Austria - December 8, 1959
Recording: 59 VIE 1
The fourth is the life force of humanity, which is called the physical human force. When this influences human beings their character is described by the Arabic word mutma’innah, which means being able to behave in a human way; that is, with honesty, helping and loving other living creatures. However, these people still give importance to the excellence and high level of their intellectual powers; so they do not believe in the existence of God. They believe in themselves: that with their intellect they are their own God. In other words, they regard themselves as God. Not that God is within them, but that they are God; and they refuse to believe that God has created them.
Vienna, Austria - December 18, 1959
Recording: 59 VIE 3
The fourth life force is that which properly belongs to man, and is called "djasmaniah". When this force prevails in the inner being of man, he will have the character "mutmainah", as it is called in Arabic, which means that he is able to act as a man should, to be sincere and to be willing to help his fellow living creatures. He feels compassionate towards his fellow men. Only, he still thinks very highly of his particular gift, his intellectual powers and their excellence, so that he does not believe in the existence of God, but only in himself, and in his cleverness, and thus becomes his own God. In other words, he regards himself as God and does not consider that there is a God. He considers himself as God and refuses to believe that he has been created by God.
Brisbane, Australia - March 14, 1963
Code Number : 63 BNE 2
The guidance of God’s power starts in the following way: at first you feel it as a vibration in your body. It gradually gets stronger and stronger and fills your whole body, until finally you feel that there is a power moving you. The movements eventually become activities, like dancing, like worshipping in the usual way, or like somebody walking, running, touching things – yes, every kind of human activity.
This is necessary so that our whole body becomes familiar with God’s power; familiar with the touch of the vibration of life that always envelops our body. If it were only your heart and imagination that got to know this touch, then only your heart and imagination would go to heaven. Is that what you want, that only your heart sits in a ballroom full of special things and full of delicious food? Certainly not. If it is only your heart, if there is no mouth, you cannot eat. Therefore the whole of your inner feeling needs to be touched and awakened, so that your whole inner feeling may go towards the completeness of life; that is, towards God. So it is not only your heart, not only your imagination, not only your intelligence, but everything within you.
That is the reason why it starts like this. That is why you should not feel or think, ‘Why is it necessary to move like this, why is it necessary to sing, to shout, to walk about and move like this or like that?’ Oh, it is very necessary. If you were people who could not do this, who could not walk, who could not talk, what then? In this world you have the ability to speak, to walk, to touch, to eat, to taste butter, cheese, apples and other things. If over there we cannot experience all these things, then what is the use of receiving God’s grace, and what is the use of wishing for the perfect life in the realm of the soul? It has no use whatsoever. That is why intellectual people say: ‘Pak, that is nonsense, that doesn’t matter at all; because once a person dies, it is finished.’ Yes indeed, that is how people think. But in religion it has been explained by those who received; by the prophets, for example. The prophets have told us that after death people still live; that they live in the kingdom of God. It is certainly true. Would the prophets, the messengers of God, mislead us? Certainly not.
Yogyakarta, Indonesia - October 29, 1966
Code Number : 66 JOG-1
Here is something else that happened, when Bapak was in England. There was an intellectual, a doctor of philosophy, who said that he did not believe in God because he could neither see nor touch God. ‘But,’ he said, ‘may I join Subud?’
After he joined Subud Bapak did latihan with him, one night, two nights and all the next week. Whenever he did latihan he would say, ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah.’
Later he asked Bapak, ‘What is Allah?’
‘Allah is Allah.’
‘So what is Allah?’
‘Allah is God.’
‘Why would I say that?’
‘Who told you to say it?’
‘It wasn’t Bapak who told me, it came out by itself.’
‘Yes, that was who told you, not Bapak. What made you say it was the same as your self. If you don’t believe in your self, you are not a human being.’
‘Oh, yes, Bapak, yes. If that is so, it means that I do believe in God.’
‘Well, that is up to you.’
Now he is more active than those who believed in God all along. This too was a proof for Bapak. So, this person was right, experience is a true lesson.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - February 26, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 3
Now, as Bapak told you yesterday, it is impossible for human beings to look for Almighty God. A human being cannot possibly know where God is. And yet it is God’s will that God’s presence, God’s power, can be close to every entity God has created, including human beings. So human beings can face God directly – even though this does not mean being physically in the presence of God. A human being can face the power of God that manifests within their own being, the power that manifests within each one of you.
This is where the difference lies between people who receive the latihan and people who are still searching for the power of God. And this is why you should no longer have a wish, or still make an intellectual effort or have a desire, to look for God and understand the power of God. For you are already being guided; you have been guided from the time you started doing latihan. And, because it is the power of God that is guiding you, it is certain that the power of God will lead you back to God, to God’s power.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - March 2, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 4
As you now know and have experienced yourself, the latihan is training given by the grace of God. It is awakened in you by the power of God that is all around you and is already there inside you. In fact, the latihan is what people in general are looking for. It comes after everything else has been tried. So the truth is that this training of the soul cannot be conducted by human beings – either through an intellectual effort or an effort of will. The latihan can be conducted only by the power of God.
Calcutta, India - March 6, 1967
Code Number : 67 CCU 1
Why, you may ask, have we received this training only now? Why has God given it to humankind only now? The reason is that nowadays humankind’s intellectual progress has gone so far, human intelligence has developed to such an extent, that people can make all sorts of things that they think are miraculous. They even think that they – human beings – are extraordinary creatures.
And as a consequence of human development advancing so far, inevitably people’s hearts are enthralled by the things that they make. It has gone so far that many people think or believe that God does not exist; that there is only humankind’s intelligence, intellect and understanding. That is how far the attitude of human beings has gone in relation to things they make. It has reached the point where people have forgotten that they exist in this world because of God, that humans live in this world because they were created by Almighty God.
However, even though human beings amaze themselves, even though they have become proud, even though they take pride that their intelligence has developed so far, in truth their intelligence is nothing when compared to the power of God.
We can say that humankind has not reached its limit. Human intelligence or thought has not extended beyond the sphere of the sun’s influence, beyond our solar system. Human beings have not even got that far, but they already think that they are like God – those who are clever, that is. So, what would they think of themselves if they got beyond the solar system? But even if they could achieve that, their achievement would be nothing compared to God’s. There is no comparison.
Johannesburg, South Africa - March 15, 1967
Code Number : 67 JNB 3
Given the difficulties that Bapak has just described, many people – particularly people who are educated and who have attained a high level of intellectual development – find that even though it was not their intention they are unable to accept and cannot acknowledge that God and the power of God exist. Why is that? The reason is that neither God nor God’s power can be seen, can be heard, can be smelt, felt or touched. That is why.
People cannot be blamed for thinking that way. Indeed, that is how it is [for them]. This is because from birth, from the moment someone is born … well, Bapak will describe to you the state of a newborn child. A newborn child cannot see the forms of this world, cannot hear the sounds of this world, cannot smell or taste, cannot even tell whether something tastes bitter, sweet or sour. That is why a newborn child has a rough tongue – they can only tell food by touching the food with the roughness of their tongue.
Manchester, England - April 7, 1967
Code Number : 67 MAN 1
From Bapak’s receiving about God’s gift to him, and from the way God gave it to him for humankind, it seems that this is God’s will. Because humankind has made great intellectual progress, the consequence, generally speaking, has been that educated people have forgotten or stopped believing in God and God’s power. That is why God gave this to Bapak and he could receive it, and you can receive it, in a way that does not disrupt or make us put aside the progress humankind has made – that you have made.
Indeed, the nature of God is something that people in the East and the West, in the North and the South, and people of religion – Christians and Muslims – strive hard to understand. But the truth is that God and God’s power cannot be thought about or understood by the human heart and feelings. That is why God’s guidance, leadership and education have arrived in the world via this latihan, whereby those who receive it can witness and prove to themselves that the inner self of human beings is enveloped by the power of God, and is the place where God’s will manifests and guides a person so that they will come to believe in God and the power of God.
New York, NY USA - May 13, 1967
Code Number : 67 NYC 1
Brothers and sisters, God knows that human beings have made great progress using their minds and have created things that have come to haunt humankind. People are so anxious they cannot sleep. They are afraid of what they have created – the atom bomb, nuclear weapons. Human beings fear nuclear weapons, but they made those weapons. Why should human beings be terrified of their own creation? Therein lies the problem. But God knows that in humankind’s present state, resulting from their extensive intellectual development, people today find it impossible to believe in anything unless they get proof. However, with the arrival of the latihan, even though the proof is received inwardly or spiritually, it is a real experience. In consequence people will begin to believe that the will of God really does manifest within them.
As the saying goes, ‘God is with me.’
‘Where is God with me? Behind me? On the right? On the left? In front?’
Wrong!
‘Above me?’
Wrong! God is not a plane. God is not an aircraft.
‘Below me?’
Still wrong!
God encompasses you inwardly and outwardly. It is a real experience, which you feel whenever you are about to do latihan and during your latihan. You feel a vibration inside, a movement of life that causes you to move like this or like that [gestures]. In time, as the days turn to months and the months to years, it will get stronger and clearer, and you will receive more and more in your latihan.
In reality, God has made it simple, God has made it easy; God has given you a way that is easy to follow and easy to do. Without enduring hardship, without suffering, without being isolated from society, without giving up all the pleasures people have in life, we – all of you – can receive the contact from the power of God. In fact, it is so easy to do that some of you go to the opera and afterwards you go straight to the latihan hall and do latihan – you can receive it. After a concert you go straight to the latihan hall and do latihan – you can receive it. Some people come to the latihan hall and do the latihan having just had an argument with their wife, or the wife with their husband – they can still receive it. That is how easy and simple it is.
Singapore - August 3, 1967
Code Number : 67 SIN 1
It is evident today that by using their minds human beings have created something awesome. Due to their intellectual progress human beings have forgotten God; human beings have strayed far from the power of God. But everything they create, everything they have, comes from Almighty God. Was it not God who created human beings with a brain, with a will and with intelligence? Without them, could human beings have created something that people look at in fright and awe?
This is why, now that this spiritual training is here, although it is not from our own will, we have received it and so we have an obligation to thank Almighty God for helping us, so that we will not get lost in the abyss of deprivation, in the abyss of degradation, the abyss that threatens our life and status as a human being, our status as a perfect human being.
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 15, 1969
Code Number : 69 TJK 6
Brothers and sisters, matters of this kind do not arise only in Indonesia. There are not a few members abroad who also have similar experiences. So, clearly, the latihan kejiwaan of Subud works in the same way everywhere, because it really comes from Almighty God and is in accordance with the inner self of those who receive it. So in reality, what is experienced by Subud members of different nationalities, residing almost everywhere in the world, is something like digging up the original inner self. However, if the members here were not so impatient, it might be possible for them to make faster progress than the members abroad. Why is that? Because the ideal condition in the realm of the kejiwaan is patience. It seems however that helpers here apply patience in the wrong direction. What should be pursued with energetic heart and mind is, on the contrary, done with patience, the way a horse cart in Jogjakarta goes along - it does not matter how slowly it goes so long as it gets there eventually!
For this reason, your progress in the sphere of the kejiwaan is in fact not much better than that of members abroad, and your progress in the sphere of intellectual understanding is even far behind theirs. Clearly, brothers and sisters, it can be said that your progress in the sphere of the kejiwaan cannot yet really be felt. Moreover, with regard to the sphere of intellectual understanding - or as it is usually expressed, with regard to worldly matters - you are really far behind. Yet, some among you say: "What is the use of a latihan kejiwaan which only confuses and slows down the development or progress of the mind?" As a matter of fact, people become confused because the kejiwaan cannot be thought about. You can only surrender with patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission to the Power of Almighty God. On the other hand, it is out of place to be patient and resigned in making a living or in worldly matters.
Such is the situation, brothers and sisters. So it is very necessary for you to be able to feel the difference between content and vessel, or between jiwa and body.
Jakarta, Indonesia - August 11, 1971
Code Number : 71 TJK 9
For ordinary congresses are mainly rooted in and based on reasoning, on heart and mind, so that people discuss one subject for a week or two weeks on end, sometimes for a month. If we should let this happen, and let all sorts of questions be asked, the Congress might never end, whereas an entertainment has been arranged for this evening.
New York, NY, USA - May 9, 1972
Code Number : 72 NYC 1
Thus once this Congress is satisfactorily concluded, it will be best in order that it may produce the results for which you hope and for which you really have to work - not to allow any discussion based only on intellectual opinions and reasoning. You can be critical later, if what has been planned does not achieve its aim or is not properly carried out.
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 24, 1973
Code Number : 73 CDK 14
Thus those of you who believe in dewas and the existence of dewas, or in Buddha, will later on be able to receive the reality in the latihan. Also those of you who belong to the Islam religion will be able to receive the true meaning of the hakekat ibadat, which means the hakekat or true meaning of the faith and the fast and the zakat-fitroh ( alms giving ) and the haj.
Also members of the Christian religion will know the truth about the crucifixion, and it will be the same with other religions. Thus it is true that the latihan kejiwaan of Subud is the technique of these various faiths. That is why there should never be any intellectual doubts in Subud as to whether this or that is the way.
There must be none of this, for you who receive the latihan kejiwaan of Subud can prove it and witness it all for yourselves, Bapak has explained, as guidance in this latihan kejiwaan, that the only guide in this latihan is the power of God.
Kendfield, England - May 27, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 6
Members of the council, now that Bapak has heard your reports, from Europe, South America, North America, and also from Africa, One can conclude from these that the reason for the delay, meaning that we have not been able to organize the running of the spiritual brotherhood of Subud in those areas all that quickly, with regard to both the spiritual and the organizational sides, the reason for this is none other than what Bapak was talking about yesterday; the atmosphere and conditions of this present era. Whether they like it or not, these make people and nations become disturbed and confused.
Apart from this, the most important cause of a lack of stability in the organization of this brotherhood is none other than the financial cause. Indeed it is, brothers and sisters, especially for those of you from South America, and also from South Africa.
While in North America itself, famous as a well organized country, able to give support to other people, a country able to send aid to other countries, so that the countries which receive this aid will also become well-organized, America is nevertheless, experiencing a situation which is not what was hoped for.
Thus it is clear, brothers end sisters, as Bapak said just now, that the present era is a time in which it is the will of God to test mankind, because indeed the level or degree of human greed, as well as the level of human intellectual achievement, has indeed reached a peak.
Why is it that the fact that human intelligence has reached this peak is causing confusion in the world? It is because the nature and the results of this intelligence, and the peak to which human beings in this world have now attained, are a form of cleverness obtained through the thinking mind and the heart, and also because of the nafsu. So that whether people will or no, the results of this cleverness are influenced by and accompanied by the influence of the nafsu, while these nafsu that dwell in the human heart and mind are very much made use of by the lower forces; that is, by the material, vegetable, animal and ordinary human forces.
That is why it is therefore not surprising if the results of what human beings have achieved at this present time seem destined only to reduce the peace and tranquility of their fellow beings; that is, they are used for making war and for creating horror in this world. In this way, and to a less or greater extent, it causes confusion and disturbance to the rest of the people, who do not take part in or do these things.
Singapore - June 28, 1976
Code Number: 76 SIN 1
Well, this is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so it is necessary for you to know and understand your origins, and what you really are. If people say that they are creatures of a high order, what proof is there of that? When the cold weather comes, if we are speaking of people in Europe, when it is cold, when it is winter, they do not know when the winter will come. Suddenly it is cold. Whereas the birds know, before it gets cold they have already flown away to the south. Also the people who live on the sides of a volcano, or in places close to volcanoes, do not feel in advance when the volcano is about to erupt, and they are still quite comfortable. But the birds have already left the volcano. All the other animals have gone; the human beings have not. Thus it is clear that human beings are actually the most backward. If human beings are said to be the highest creatures in this world, then why are they behind the other creatures who should be their inferiors? Thus it is clear, brothers and sisters, that human beings, for all the height and breadth of their intellectual knowledge, have lost and done away with their instinctive life; that is, their instinctive actions and automatic functioning. That automatic functioning of life has been put down and left behind; the animals are sharper than the human beings.
What is the reason? If God had decreed that human beings should supersede everything else, the world would not have material objects, the world would not have plants, the world would not have animals, nor would it have the human beings themselves. For if this structure or frame-work did not exist, neither, of course, would human beings exist. It is like a house. A house is called a house because it has its pillars or supporting uprights, because it has its floors and it has its roof. Because it has tiles on its roof. Thus if it had no walls, if it had no roof tiles, if it had no pillars, then where would be the house? It would not exist. Thus it is clear that even though their minds and their hearts are obstacles to the life of human beings, yet it is important for people to use these and to possess them.
God is all-powerful, brothers and sisters, so that besides all that, besides minds and hearts, He has decreed that human beings should be given, not an extra, but a kind of something over and above: that is, the qodar which comes down and which is received by human beings, the all-powerful life force which envelops their selves both inwardly and outwardly, and which is what you receive.
This is how it is, brothers and sisters, and therefore Bapak always says that the outward appearance of this latihan kejiwaan of Subud is a normal and ordinary one, because there are no prohibitions: no this, no that about it. You can do this as you will.
Singapore - September 30, 1979
Code Number : 79 SIN 2
as Bapak said just now, when you were babies you were still closely linked with your jiwa, and your jiwa was still closely linked with the power of God which is present within your inner-selves. But then, as day followed day, week followed week and month followed month, your five senses began to recognize this world and you began to be cut off; the more you knew this world, the more you were cut off from your jiwas, and even more so when you grew up to be adults, so that you always used your minds for thinking about worldly matters, and knew more of this world than of your jiwas.
That is why it is not surprising if people, or many of them, say that God does not exist. It is because they think of God as being like the things that can be seen in this world. Well, this is where there is beginning to be a separation - not very much, but some degree of separation - there is coming to be a separation between your inner-feelings, your hearts and minds, and your jiwas. At the moment, brothers and sisters, you are beginning to be opened again, and you are beginning to recognize your jiwas. That is the reason why, after you have been opened and you are able to receive, the character of your behavior ( in the latihan ) is exactly like that of a baby who cannot yet walk, who cannot do this, cannot do that, and much less can it talk. But you already begin to be able to cry out and scream, just as a baby does. So it goes on, until eventually you are really able to receive. But you are not yet able to think.
This is how it is, brothers and sisters; this is God's love for you. And such is God's love for human beings that they are being reminded that they can in fact receive what is present in their inner-selves, brothers and sisters. At the time when you die and leave this world, you will be able to receive a kind of transference or handing over. That is why the messengers of God, such as Christ, such as the prophets, such as the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, all said that death is the continuation of life. Death is what in Dutch is called the voortzetting van het leven. So it is a continuation. But the intellectuals do not think that. They say that death is an ending, meaning that it is the final stage, the end of life.
That is the reason why it is not surprising, brothers and sisters, if people do not think there is a God, or do not believe in the existence of God, saying that those who do believe in God believe only in what they feel in their hearts rather than in any evidence or proof. This is proved when, for someone who has met with misfortune, it is as if everything is lost. It is also proved when people come to the end of their lives and are about to die; they no longer remember anything they possess. Even though they may possess many millions worth of material possessions, at that moment they will not remember them. Let alone their material possessions, they will no longer remember their wives and children. If they do not remember any of these, then how can they go forward? Of course they do not remember, and so later on their content, their souls, brothers and sisters, wander aimlessly, hither and thither. They are unable to know anything. Even if they have been in a good place and have found a good path to follow, they do not remember at all. They have forgotten.
That is why it is said in religion that it is there that the torments of this world catch up with one; that is, all one's actions and behavior as a human being living in this world, both the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, will really be made manifest at that moment, and will comprise all the temptations which you had not remembered before.
In addition, you are blocked and shut in by all the things you did in this world and about which you do not remember. That is the reason for the commandments of God to mankind which have been received by the prophets and the messengers of God, such as the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace. The prophet Muhammad reminded people that they must remember that it is God Who has caused them to live, and that God will not forsake them if they are truly able to feel that God is always present both inside and outside every creature that He has created.
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo