Eindhoven, Netherlands - October 11, 1957
Code Number : 57 EIN 2
At present, as Bapak has explained, it is not yet time for you to want to understand, interpret and know really what you have received and the reality in the broad outline, or the results of the training ( latihan ), because you have not yet reached that level. Why does Bapak say this? After all, you are not material things, or plants or animals, and you are not people who have had no education, so you can consider and feel the results if you are allowed to think or feel extensively and be aware of everything. Certainly, for ordinary learning, and for ordinary people, it should be like that. It is indeed God's will that in everything you do, and any action you want to take, you should first think, understand and be aware of what the results will be. Also, it is in the nature of human beings to have a mind and intelligence, so they have to use them.
However, don't forget that in the training ( latihan ) we receive we do not face people, as we do in the world; we face the power of God the Almighty. And God the Almighty cannot be preceded, exceeded or surpassed by the mind and intelligence of human beings. Why is this? Because God is the One who created us humans. If God created us, we humans were created by God. But if we humans were the same as God, it would not be possible for God to create us. Clearly, before God we are like material objects are to humans. How are objects to humans? They only surrender their state: they are made like this and like that, they are shaped and given corners and fashioned into plates, and created and destroyed, all by the will of humans. This is analogous to how humans are towards God. God can create us humans and today we exist, tomorrow we don't, tomorrow we exist, the day after we don't. And the earth is like this, but another time it is changed again. God is Almighty. So, in view of the difference that is so inconceivably and inestimably vast, we should be something that is powerless before the One God.
So it's how it should be if we face God's power as when we are in the training ( latihan ): we surrender. We have to surrender ourselves, body and soul, we have to surrender everything to God and believe, submit sincerely and entrust ourselves to God. And, because the One God created us, we are created by God not for a useless existence but for one that is certainly very useful for life in all its greatness.
San Francisco, CA USA - April 19, 1958
Code Number : 58 SFO 3
The prophets of every religion have proclaimed and affirmed in their advice that the grace of God, or the contact between man and God, can only happen if man within himself has been able to still the desires and thoughts and all else that constitutes the will of man. And so in every religion the followers were required only to have faith and to surrender, and to obey its commandments with good behavior and sincerity of heart towards the One God. Why was this stated and recommended to the followers? Because God is All-powerful and the power of God can be neither preceded nor exceeded by the power, intelligence or understanding of man.
Some people tend to consider that anything that lies beyond what the mind and feelings can grasp is in fact not true. But they possibly fail to take into account, or rather they forget, that the Prophet Jesus, as well as other prophets, acquired intelligence and wisdom without having to learn or attend a school. Yet now, those of us who receive a university education, respect, follow and practice the advice given to mankind by these prophets. For this is the way that God the All-powerful bestows ( wisdom and deep understanding, which people usually cannot obtain by studying - Indonesian not on tape; English taken from consecutive interpretation. ) For this reason Bapak advises you not to doubt or be anxious that by abandoning the thinking, desires and feelings you may go in a direction or follow a path that is wrong, and is not in accordance with the will of God. In fact it is exactly the opposite, for if we are able to abandon our thinking and desires in receiving, that is, in the latihan, this will speed God's work within us, and we will obtain something without great difficulty.
New York, NY USA - May 7, 1959
Code Number : 59 NYC 3
Some people tend to consider that anything that lies beyond what the mind and feelings can grasp is in fact not true. But they possibly fail to take into account, or rather they forget, that the Prophet Jesus, as well as other prophets, acquired intelligence and wisdom without having to learn or attend a school. Yet now, those of us who receive a university education, respect, follow and practice the advice given to mankind by these prophets. For this is the way that God the All-powerful bestows ( wisdom and deep understanding, which people usually cannot obtain by studying - Indonesian not on tape; English taken from consecutive interpretation. ) For this reason Bapak advises you not to doubt or be anxious that by abandoning the thinking, desires and feelings you may go in a direction or follow a path that is wrong, and is not in accordance with the will of God. In fact it is exactly the opposite, for if we are able to abandon our thinking and desires in receiving, that is, in the latihan, this will speed God's work within us, and we will obtain something without great difficulty.
If they do receive this and obtain guidance, then they will return to a state of awareness. Besides doing what a person has to do while living in this world, they will also be able to receive how wide the scope of the soul is. Then they will be able to understand the movements of all living things that grow on this earth: which ones need to be guided, which ones need to be nurtured, and which ones need to be put right.
Sometimes the feeling of animals, who are lower than human beings, is sharper than that of humans. Before an event takes place animals sense that it is going to occur. It is often the case that birds living on a volcano know that it is about to erupt, and fly away before it happens. Human beings don't understand. They just watch. 'Why are those birds flying away? Maybe something is going to happen'. Only then do the people follow. Therefore it would be better if people had a sharper feeling, as sharp as animals, for human beings have a higher intelligence and ability to think than animals do.
That's it. That is why you are being cleansed in the latihan. Your human feeling, which has for a long time been covered by the influence of your thinking and heart - which are entirely filled up with worldly matters - is being brought back to life.
London, England - August 17, 1959
Code number of Recording: 59 LON 2
So it's clear that it is the presence, within a person, of a soul that does not correspond to his or her human form that leads them to a state of misery, both with regard to their health and to their actions and behavior. This is because they will pursue only the pleasures of their heart and the impulses of their passions, forgetting the limits of their strength. This causes all sorts of illnesses and all sorts of suffering of the inner feeling and of the body, which become increasingly severe as time goes on.
People try to cure their illnesses and the faults within their being using their intelligence and their thinking, but that just patches up something that is inherently defective or damaged. So, even though it is repaired, it still remains damaged. They are unable to discover the prime cause that lies at the root of all that has gone wrong, since their effort does not go beyond the use of the thinking mind.
The fact is that the most dangerous disease is not the kind that produces physical symptoms, but the kind that lies in the character or inner nature of a person. This is a more dangerous kind of disease than cancer and the like. Bapak will illustrate. Out of a thousand people perhaps only ten are afflicted by physical illness; but if one person has a flawed character that causes him to seek only his own advantage and to strive for the total gratification of his desires and passions, he may drag down thousands of others to misery and death - as happens in war and other calamities.
It is truly a paradox that on the one hand people look after themselves and look after their health very well, yet on the other hand they incite others to fight one another through war. So they are spared from illnesses but succumb instead to the sickness of war, which demands thousands and millions of casualties. As a result of this, in time of war people hardly know the meaning of good will towards other human beings. Such is the effect of forces that are out of place within the self of human beings - they provoke people to destroy each other.
Coombe Springs, England - August 24, 1959
Code number of Recording: 59 CSP 12
Regarding what the use is of testing the difference between Socrates and Jesus: this is not a question of 'use', but is an example about the truth of the difference between a man who is learned in his mind and one whose intelligence or wisdom comes by the grace of God, so that you may appreciate the difference. Since your receiving is still on the level of bodily reactions, based on movement and feeling, when Bapak tested with you and asked where the wisdom of Jesus came from, those of you who were able to receive responded by pointing your hand upwards - without any influence from your desires, thoughts and feelings. That means that his wisdom came from above. We would normally say that what comes from above is certainly from God, or from a Power that is greater than any human power. Anyway, it was from above. Whereas, when testing about Socrates, the heads of those of you who were able to receive bowed down towards the earth, which means that the intelligence of Socrates belonged only to this world.
Indeed, the brain, the heart and everything else pertaining to the physical body is 'new', meaning they are functions that arise in this world. So, the intelligence of Socrates arose in him because of the power of his brain - that is, through a function of his body. With Jesus it was different, he knew all that was required for his life not because of the sharpness of his intellect but because his mind, heart and feelings were pure and holy.
Having experienced this reality, you are able to draw the conclusion that the way in which man is truly raised to his destined level, the way that is truly God's will, is through purity of mind and desires, as shown in the receiving of Jesus. Whereas that which Socrates attained and possessed represents a way leading only to the acquisition of human learning and intelligence, which cannot lead us to God in accordance with His will for human beings.
This is not something that you have to do. Bapak was simply giving you an example of the difference between reality in the spiritual life and the development of human intelligence that comes from this world. Regarding this difference, you may eventually - hopefully not before too long - be able to test and confirm for yourselves what Bapak has been showing you.
Colet Garderns, London, England - September 22, 1959
Recording: 59 LON 7
And all of you, and also Subud, really will be accepted by people in general, because it is not something that stifles the progress of human life on earth; it is something that can further and even open the gates wide for human progress on this earth. However, because that progress is always watched over by God, you will certainly also make use of whatever you have in the way of possessions and intelligence in the best direction, for truly humanitarian ends. In other words, [your actions] will not harm anybody.
So, even if human beings invent something that, say, is more dangerous than the atomic bomb or – what’s it called – nuclear power, it will no longer be a danger for human life, because God’s power will always be there, behind their intelligence. So the people who are able to discover such a tremendous thing will not use it wrongly; that is, they won’t use it in a way that is harmful for the life of humankind. For when God created human beings on this earth it was not God’s will that they should kill each other; the nature of human beings is not like that.
If human beings were created to become murderers, then of course, their nature would be different from what it is. For example, why do tigers always claw at other animals, and always eat animal flesh, when they themselves are also animals? The reason is that God created the tiger with sharp claws and sharp teeth, and it really enjoys eating raw meat. So these attributes indicate how this creature should work. But humans are not like that. Their teeth are not sharp; their nails are not sharp either. And their thoughts should be for seeking the best, how to live a good and happy life. So why do some people still claw each other when their nails are not sharp? And why do they still bite each other when their teeth also are not sharp? That’s wrong.
Wolfsburg, Germany - November 29, 1959
Recording: 59 WOB 2
As a result of the union of this man and this woman, a seed of a human being is created within the body of the wife. She will eventually bring to birth a child whose behaviour is like that of her husband and herself before their union. For the union of husband and wife resembles something like a lens – a focal point, a vessel or a target, which is in accordance with that which created it. For instance if, as Bapak just said, their behaviour is very bad, a lens is created that can only embrace or become a channel for a life force that is low, rather than one that is excellent. That is the reason why there are quite a lot of people who have a character that is really inhuman – meaning extremely bad – who enjoy causing the death of or actually killing people, who enjoy hurting other people, who enjoy harming the order and happiness of the life of others. There are many such people among human beings on this earth, and this is the result of nothing other than mistakes that have been made from not knowing the truth; for example, from the unawareness of parents in their sexual intercourse.
This does not happen just to people at the present time – for example to all of you – but has been handed down from our ancestors. So, it can be said that the longer this has gone on the stronger it has become; it has become worse with time, so that by the time they reach you, these mistakes have taken root so deeply within your being that they will of course seem very burdensome and difficult to repair.
These [mistakes] cannot possibly be repaired by human intelligence – for instance, through the thinking, the heart and the desires – because human intelligence, the brain, heart and desires are only tools, and these tools are already being used and manipulated by the low forces that are in command. So, however much you try with your understanding to find a way of repairing what is wrong within you, you cannot do it, no matter how clever you are, because the thinking, the heart and the desires are nothing but tools of the low forces that have taken control within the self.
Moreover, the human brain and heart, by becoming so clever, are even more useful for the working of the low forces that rule within the self. This is why, among the most intelligent people, among those with truly clever brains, there are those who still behave in ways that are most undesirable for humanity, for other people. This reality has traditionally been compared to an animal in human form, or an ugly object in a beautiful package.
Therefore it is really very difficult if our thinking mind, desires and heart wish to improve our inner content, which may be bad. It is possible only if we receive God’s grace, and God’s power, which works within our being. The evidence of the working of God’s power within us is that we can receive it free from our desires, thinking and heart, and that this power works by itself. You yourselves have witnessed this phenomenon; something working within you that causes movements in you without any intention on your part, free from your thinking, heart and desires. So it is clear that the meaning of the movements you have received is that they are freeing you from the power of the low forces that have held sway within you. Your being will then come under the authority and command of your true human soul.
Nice, France - December 30, 1959
Code Number : 59 NCE 3
Bapak hopes that when you do the latihan you never use your desire, never use your passion. Because the desires, heart and mind are not like a bridge, or a vehicle that can speed up your journey towards the greatness of God; on the contrary, they will slow you down and will bring about endless temptations.
These are the reasons why, in Subud, we have two sections. One is the spiritual part, which serves you only in doing the latihan. And in that there is no chairman, no secretary and no treasurer. Everyone is the same, because the one in charge in the latihan is not a human being but the power of God. So, everything hoped for by you will be decided by God’s power, which you can receive in a way you are accustomed to.
So the rightness or not of anything to do with receiving the latihan is not based on the intelligence of the mind and heart, but on indications and reality that are received. In this way, all of you will be able to experience a common receiving. Like Bapak himself, for example; he would not be able to decide anything if it came just from his thinking. But he always stops the influence of his mind and desires so that he can receive. And that decides what the answer is to whatever Bapak has in mind.
In this way the group responsible for the spiritual side will operate as they would most prefer – meaning there will be no disagreements among them. It will not be based on who is older or younger, or on who is stupid or clever; in the latihan, clever and stupid, old and young, are all the same, because it is God who decides everything for a human being.
The fact is that when a person faces death, whether they are highly educated or stupid, old or young, all they can do is face death. So, when an educated person is going to die, he doesn’t twirl his moustache or act in a haughty way. Everyone is the same. When it comes to facing death human beings are all equally powerless, because they are facing the power of God. And no human being can possibly overcome the power of God.
Calcutta, India - March 28, 1960
Code Number : 60 CCU 1
If we human beings go on and on paying more attention to material objects, plants and animals than to our own selves as human beings, as time goes on we are sure to descend to a lower and lower status. So, from the point of view of our inner feeling, this human body will be of no use at all. And then there will be no use in God creating human beings in this world with a perfect body like this, whose nature is wiser, more capable, and more intelligent than material objects, plants, animals and the physical life force of people themselves.
These are the reasons why the lives of some people in this world become dark, and why they come to a point where they are at a loss as to how to live and be happy in this world. Whereas, in fact, human beings have been created in this world with intelligence and a conscience, which means that we are more able to work things out, and are more able to possess a noble character than other entities; that is to say, material objects, plants and animals.
That is why, in this Subud latihan, it is as if we are made to repeat the lessons we receive from God. We are made to repeat them, guided by the power of God, because we have lost our way. So this makes it clear for us that God really loves human beings and really has compassion for us. God saves us from losing our way, and from losing our ability to worship God in a way that does not negate, put aside or avoid living a complete life here on earth.
Adelaide, Australia - March 5, 1963
Code Number : 63 ADL 2
Another example: suppose you – one of the women – see one of your friends wearing beautiful clothes. When you see your friend’s beautiful clothes, at the very least a feeling will arise in your heart that says, ‘When will I have clothes as beautiful as that?’ Or you may become envious and not like to look at your friend who has such beautiful clothes. That too is a part of the passion that, as Bapak said just now, does not like to feel less than others and wants to be the best; in the case of a woman, well – to be the prettiest, or for her dress to be the most beautiful. Such indeed is the nature of that passion within the heart and mind of human beings.
Clearly then, these passions reside in the human heart and mind; yet the heart and mind are actually the most important instruments in human life. If the heart and mind were taken away, human beings – each of you – would become creatures of God who are powerless, because the human heart and mind are to you like claws and teeth are to a tiger. The tiger with its claws and teeth feels stronger and more powerful than other animals, because its teeth and claws are special instruments it can use for providing for its life on this earth.
Actually, it is because of this that people say the tiger is a ferocious animal, but the truth is that human beings, with their thinking mind, are more ferocious than the tiger. [Bapak chuckles.] For while the tiger can, at most, only pounce on one or two small antelopes or deer in one day, humans, with their intelligence, heart and thinking, can kill or eliminate thousands of their enemies in a short time. That is because, as you hear for yourselves these days, atom and hydrogen bombs exist that can be used to wipe out thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people. Such is the progress of the passions that exist in the human heart and mind. So if you really think about it, human beings are the ones who are ferocious, more ferocious than the tiger. That is why many people at the present time, wherever they are, continually feel unquiet and insecure because of the existence of instruments that humans themselves have made with their intelligence, heart and thinking.
The passions that reside in the human heart and mind are constantly being manipulated. Indeed, the low forces get into the human inner feeling through the mediation of the passions. These are the low forces that are called the material force, the force of plants, the force of animals and the physical human force.
Wellington, New Zealand - March 27, 1963
Code Number : 63 WLG 3
Wellington, New Zealand - March 25, 1963
Code Number : 63 WLG 1
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.
Wellington, New Zealand - March 26, 1963
Code Number : 63 WLG 2
Why it feels very easy for you to receive this contact is because it is indeed God’s will. If human beings at this time do not receive something that can master the progress and development of the intelligence, of the thinking mind, they will certainly not be able to worship in the right way, the way people did in times long ago, for whom it was easy to worship God and to remove or put aside the influence of the desires, heart and mind.
Indeed, brothers and sisters, what you receive is something that is very easy. And because of its easiness you feel it is something that you can find just like that; whereas in general, for people other than yourselves, it is very difficult to find the contact with God’s greatness, even if they practise surrendering every day, every night, with real belief in the greatness of God.
As it is so easy, do not make use of your thinking mind any longer, because if you do, this something that is easy will, on the contrary, become very difficult to obtain. So in fact what makes it difficult, and what obscures your inner feeling, is simply your own intelligence and thinking.
That is the reason why Bapak always says that you do not need to think about these spiritual things, or seek them with your thinking mind by collecting theories to show you the way to God or to find the secret of God. All of that will be utterly useless; in fact it will confuse and disturb your mind.
Mexico City, Mexico - April 2, 1963
Number : 63 MEX 1
Bapak understands that the reason why you have a heart, mind and intelligence is so that you can understand and choose between what is good and what is not. But do not forget that in the latihan you are in the presence of your Creator; that is, you are facing the Almighty. And the Almighty is within everything that is inside and outside of everything that is outside, goes before everything that is first and comes after everything that is last. So, no matter what, God knows more about and better understands your strength and your capacity to receive what God gives you. God will not force your capacity to receive, but will always enable you to receive what God gives you in a way that does not harm you or restrict your receiving.
Santiago de Chile - May 18, 1963
Code Number : 63 SCL 4
In fact, brothers and sisters, you should not be at a loss for making a living, because we human beings are on a higher level of life than plants and animals. Yet, although plants and animals are in a lower position than human beings, it is easy for them to make a living. Why? It is because, indeed, God has placed animals in habitats where they can live, where they can find food for their life.
Take snakes for example: snakes live under leaves. It is the same with other animals; they are created to live in places where they can live. Human beings, however, created to live anywhere in this world, sometimes have difficulty making a living. Why is that? It is their own fault: they are unable to know or to grasp what is within their individuality, what is written within their chest. If human beings were really able to know the path that has been laid down for their life by God, they would know how to live and what they should do to provide adequately for their life while they are in this world.
Another example of the wisdom of animals is that of the birds and other animals that live on volcanoes. Before a volcano erupts, the animals are able to sense it. Even though it is within their instinct, they are able to comprehend it. So before the volcano erupts, the animals and birds leave. But the people who live on or around the volcano do not sense it. They do, however, regard it as a sign of coming danger when they see the animals running away from the mountain. In this way, people emulate the behaviour of the animals. This shows that they have truly neglected and lost their insight as human beings and instead follow the insight of animals, which are in fact lower than they are.
In fact, human beings possess sharper instincts than animals. But they make the mistake of wanting only to imitate and copy others. For example, they copy the clothes they see others wearing: ‘Oh, that’s beautiful. I’ll copy it.’ They also copy others in the way they wear their clothes. They copy other people in all their behaviour.
Animals do not do that. An animal’s coat grows by itself. Their comb or horns grow by themselves. This shows that animals are still true to their origins and still follow God’s will. Human beings, however, are not. And yet, actually, God has given human beings intelligence and receiving: two kinds of understanding. One under-standing is called destiny, and one understanding is called human will. The first understanding – destiny – only God understands and gives, and human beings have only to receive it, as with the latihan. The second – human will – is the understanding people can look for, work for and understand by studying with their mind and heart.
However, after receiving these two ways of living their lives, the majority of human beings gave precedence to doing things by way of their thinking: using their intelligence and sharpening their mind. So, gradually, the path of human will became wider and bigger, while the path of destiny, which was to be the guide and leader in their individuality, was completely neglected or closed.
In this way, human beings really lost touch with the guide and teacher within their inner self. Having been cut off from the guide within their inner self owing to their negligence, they can feel that their hearts and minds are in darkness. So they try to find it again, but they look for it with their hearts and minds. Naturally they cannot find it. Because although these two ways are a gift from God to human beings, the first kind, which Bapak calls destiny, can only be known and obtained by human beings when they are really close to God. But to get close to God and God’s power they need to be able to stop the working of their thinking mind and heart at any given moment, because while the heart and mind are still working they close off the gift of God called destiny and make it hard to receive.
That is the reason why it is essential, when you are about to do the latihan, that you do not go on using your thinking mind and heart in order to understand, but just follow what happens within you. For while you still use your heart and mind you will not be able to know the destiny God gives you.
Rio De Janeiro - June 6, 1963
Code Number : 63 RIO 2
Bapak doesn’t want to say that it has to be so – that the way we worship God, and the way we find out how to worship God so that it does not go against God’s will, should be in accordance with the progress of the times and with what we see around us today. For today people in general, and all of you in particular, will not believe in anything for which there is no proof. That proof could be in the form of something you can see, or it could be something that you receive in your feelings, which you can really feel and verify.
Therefore it is not surprising that these days there are many educated people who say they do not want to worship God, because God cannot be seen or heard and God’s existence cannot be clearly proved. So they have more faith in material things and in the intelligence of their own minds, which have created things that are very useful for their life, such as aeroplanes, trains, cars and so on. Really one cannot blame them, and it is not surprising, for the influence of the world has penetrated the human inner feeling so much that it has covered up and blocked the pure feeling that human beings originally possessed, which could connect directly with their soul, which in turn connects directly with God’s power.
The reality is, that these days it is as if there are two groups of human beings. One still holds fast to their belief that God exists; the other does not believe in God, because of lack of evidence – they believe in material things that can be seen and can be used. And other people or other nations who half believe and half disbelieve are being influenced to join the group who do not believe. So this group, who do not believe in God, have more faith in material things and in the necessities that are really useful for their life.
But in fact the spiritual reality – as you have also received – is that every human being possesses something within them that, whether they want to or not or whether they understand it or not, enables them to worship God. They receive from God’s power, and so can be convinced and verify that something that is Almighty envelops their life; and that they also possess something else, called intelligence, which resides in their thinking mind, and which they can use to fulfil the needs of their life in this world.
So human beings can become aware that while they live in this world, besides developing their thinking minds, even as far as the sky, they can still worship God; because, as Bapak said, they possess something that can become a means for the true worship of God. Of course for you this does not seem strange, because you have been able to receive this vibration of life, which manifests when you are able to receive the stopping of the influence of your mind and heart that has been working continuously until now.
New York, NY USA - July 4, 1963
Code Number : 63 NYC 5
This is also a way that leads you forward. Because what people would like to have in this world is a good reputation; they would like to have a good name. Intelligence can be secondary, for you may be intelligent, but if you do not have a good reputation nobody will want your intelligence. But if you are only somewhat intelligent yet have a good name in society, you will always be wanted and trusted. The same will happen if you know how to dress well from within: others will see you and feel satisfied, relieved and refreshed. Consequently, when your friends or other people look at you they will have a feeling of affection and love.
Paris, France - July 17, 1964
Code Number : 64 PAR 6
You do not need to ask how long the necessary purification will take. That too is impossible to answer, because you cannot yet know how deep, how great and how thick the mistakes and the dirt are that are present within you.
Bapak is not trying to stop you asking questions, nor is he preventing you from using your mind and your heart, but the realm of the soul is different from this world. As Bapak has explained earlier – that is, not tonight but before – only God can work in the realm of the soul, whereas dealing with this world is the right and the responsibility of us human beings.
So, it is clear that in our lives and in our selves there are two different areas: in the one we follow only the will and the work of God, which is usually called godsdienst [Du.] or religion; that is why religions follow only the words of God received by the messengers. And the other relates to the needs and demands of the world; for example … well, you already know them for yourselves. That is the area where we can use our intelligence and our heart. Indeed our heart and our intelligence are tools that are especially for this world; whereas our soul is our base or our foundation, so that with it we can live after we have been separated from this physical body.
Eindhoven, Holland - August 27, 1964
Code Number : 64 EIN 1
Therefore you have two tasks in your life: one task is to receive whatever God gives you, because you need that for your life that is without limits. The second is your duty to use your heart and brain or thinking to fulfil and serve your life in this world.
That is how it is, brothers and sisters; so do not keep thinking about your soul with your intellect. For what is called psychology is actually not the study of the psyche. It is the study of the intelligence, the brain or the thinking mind, not the soul. Your soul is the content of your life, the content of your inner feeling. How can you study that? Who could study it? Only the soul can study the soul. A person cannot. What is coarse cannot. No.
That is the reason why there is no science of the human soul that can change the soul: make one that is not good better; make one that is small bigger; make one that is narrow wider, so that you can have a great soul, like the prophets and the messengers. Only God can do that, for God is the Master of the soul. A human being can teach only about human intelligence, the heart, the thinking and feeling. And then they call that psychology. It is not. It is thought-ology. It is the study of the thinking, the brain; the study of the physical body, the physical.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - February 23, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 1
Let’s consider another of God’s creatures from the animal realm – cattle. Cattle don’t live in forests; they live in fields, because there is plenty of grass there. Such an animal cannot possibly look for food by pouncing and biting, instead it chews with teeth that are broad and flat, not pointed. What’s more, cattle don’t pounce, because there’s no need to pounce on grass.
Now let’s turn to human beings. God gave human beings teeth that are not much good for biting, and humans are no good at pouncing. Human beings are creatures of a higher order than animals, but you would expect human beings to lose, to end up on the lowest level. A cat can beat a human; a human can be beaten by a dog. That’s a human being.
But don’t forget, human beings have intelligence; they have reason. That’s the difference. What God made special about human beings was their intelligence. So, you must use your resourcefulness to find out how to lead your life. Don’t behave like an animal, whose only way to find food is to go out and attack someone. So, it is wrong, it is a sin, if you do not apply your reason and intelligence.
This is why it is not easy to be a human being. If you cannot find work, don’t just moan, give up and commit suicide. That’s wrong! That is how an animal would behave. That is not the way. You must use your intelligence to find a way to live as a human being.
That is why, in the latihan, every part of you is brought to life, every part of you will receive. Even though your legs know how to walk, they are made to walk again. This is so that every single part of your body can know and feel how it should work and what feels good for it.
That is why, in the latihan, every part of you is brought to life, every part of you will receive. Even though your legs know how to walk, they are made to walk again. This is so that every single part of your body can know and feel how it should work and what feels good for it.
This also applies to, or is symbolised by, the social structure of human society, in that there are four or five classes, grades or castes. There are labourers, who do physical work, who are told what to do, to make this or that. Then there are farmers. There is the middle class, people who work in offices and so on. Then there are the ruling classes, people who confer and run the affairs of state, and then there is the king or the president. That’s the structure.
Now, this same structure is found within a human being – a human being has this same structure inside them. Why? Well, if a country has no labour it cannot function. If a country or society has no farmers, it cannot survive, it will fail. A society without office workers cannot function either, the society cannot function. And neither can it function without the ruling classes who run the country and deal with the affairs of state, along with the king or president. The same applies to human beings.
But do not just want to be the king or the ruler. You have to have all four or five classes within you. You have to become skilled and adept at being told what to do by your own self.
What does it mean to be told what to do by your own self?
Well, suppose you have a feeling, ‘Come on, you have to work. You must go there to get money!’
‘Oh, I‘ve no need for money!’ That means you don’t want to be a labourer.
Or you get a feeling, ‘Plant! Grow something!’
‘Why should I? It’s much nicer doing nothing!’
You mustn’t do that! You live in this world as a member of a bustling society, as part of a state. The same goes for when you do the latihan, ‘What do I have to move for?’
You need to move so that you will be healthy. By doing the latihan not only is your soul restored to health, your body is as well – body and soul.
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 14, 1967
Code Number : 67 JNB 1
There was a story told by someone who received the grace of God, who was blessed by God, that before anything existed – before the world existed, before you existed – there was only the power of God. Then, or so it was told by the person who spoke of this, God willed and created something to test God’s intelligence, glory and power. There came into existence seven spheres – what the Dutch call the heavens – seven of them. God created seven heavens in seven days.
Eventually people would come to understand, and say that the formation of those heavens began on a Saturday. That is why people who lived in Greece in ancient times declared that Saturday was a special day, a day that was holier than the other days.
The story Bapak just told you has a correlation with how the latihan arrived.
After God created the seven heavens … do not misunderstand the term ‘heavens’, they are not planets. No. A heaven is not a planet, a planet is a world like the world we live on. After God had created the seven heavens, God doubted Himself. God needed a witness. For that reason, God created something that could be sent out, something that was called an angel.
God created as many angels as would be needed for everything else that God was going to create. And the angels were made out of light. Light in this sense is not light from a lamp, but light meaning the power or the intelligence, or the ability or the nobility, of Almighty God. So, God made the angels out of light. And when God had created them He said, ‘Angels, go and see the heavens that I have made.’ After getting their orders from God, the angels went and visited all the heavens that God had created. And the journey took fifty years [each way]; there and back took one hundred years.
When God heard from the angels that the trip from God to visit all the heavens took fifty years, or one hundred years there and back, God immediately felt – or so the story goes – ‘If that is the case, then none of the things that I am going to create, and that will inhabit each of the heavens, will ever know me; they will never understand me and my power.’
Given that, God created once more: He created God’s will. The will of God, in certain terminology, in Islam, is called the essence of God, or dhat Allah. It was created and sent to everything that God had created and that inhabits the environments in each of those heavens.
Included among God’s creations, which Bapak just said inhabit each of the heavens, is humankind. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we can conclude that the power of Almighty God, God who is All-powerful, is present in all of you. Its purpose is to enable humankind – all of you – to know and understand God and God’s power faster than an angel can.
But why are you unable to do that? The reason is that you give more importance to your own ability, your own intelligence and your own cleverness. Some of you may even think that God can be seen, that God can be heard, that God can be portrayed like other things human beings can see.
Johannesburg, South Africa - March 20, 1967
Code Number : 67 JNB 5
Such is God’s wisdom, nobility, knowledge and understanding, that God places every creature in an environment which fits its nature and which provides that creature with what it needs to live on.
It is no different for a human being. The only difference is the equipment that a person gets. A tiger catches its food by using its claws and teeth. A cow gets its food by using its horns and teeth, and because a cow does not know how to pounce, it eats in the way that cows do. But human beings have been given reason and intelligence. And reason and intelligence are far more dangerous, far more effective, than the tools God has given to animals and creatures below the human level.
And in fact human beings have used their reason, their intellect, their intelligence, to discover extraordinary things – things that other human beings say are wonderful or amazing. But actually that is not because of human ability; all those discoveries are gifts from God. However, in general, because they do not understand the source and because they do not know how God works, human beings think that all [those discoveries] come from their minds.
Indeed, brothers and sisters, such discoveries do come from the mind, from the intellect. But what you need to know is that the mind is something that was added, it is just a tool. Without someone to use it, without someone to hold it, a tool is useless. It is the same with human reason and thought: without life – the life that comes from the power of God – a person cannot do anything; a human being cannot use their heart or mind. The proof is that once a person dies, even though their heart remains, even though their brain is still there, even though all the organs are there, they cannot function.
Consider another example: of someone who is still alive, who has hands – who has hands and feet. Suppose that a person has both hands, but the feeling in the hands, the feeling of life, has gone. If the feeling of life has returned to its origin, that person cannot use their hands any more, and organs as complex as hands are no good for touching, writing, and so on. That is another example.
So, the latihan you receive is for uniting the feeling in every part of you, so that every part of you will be connected to your soul. As a result, when you die your soul will still feel, it will still understand and be conscious of your state. Even in the realm of death it will still remember and know what it was like when you lived in this world. And while you live here, you need the latihan so that you will understand how to use each part of you in accordance with its true purpose. Then you will act and behave in ways that do not disobey the will of God.
London, England - March 27, 1967
Code Number : 67 LON 2
There are those of you who say that after they received the latihan their intelligence entirely left them, that they became confused and stupid. They are not yet aware that when God trains, leads and educates you, purification comes first. You are cleansed of those things that are of no use for your life. Those people do not understand that those things are removed because they are of no use. The knowledge they possessed, which is cleaned out when they receive the latihan, would in fact have led them astray to an abyss of mediocrity, and would have diverted them from progressing towards completeness in their life. But they misunderstand what is happening, because their desires and their heart are always obscuring the truth.
London, England - April 6, 1967
Recording: 67 LON 9
Once you reach higher and higher levels, this latihan that is now in your legs will also follow your thoughts when you are thinking about something. Then you will not have thoughts like: ‘I hope that man falls in the well.’ Instead you will think: ‘Ah, may that man walk safely.’ That is because everything that is overshadowed and followed by God’s power is certain to go well. For example, if you are a big businessman you will not take an excessive profit. You will adhere to the principle: ‘I live and you must live’. You will not exploit people excessively. It is otherwise if God’s power does not accompany your thoughts. Then you will not care if another person dies, as long as you can make an extraordinary profit. Here is the heart of the matter: a person who is always accompanied by God, inwardly as well as outwardly, will act in a truly humane way, which is called Susila Budhi Dharma.
This is not just empty talk; you have experienced it and confirmed it. What Bapak is saying is not just nonsense, not just words but reality. Even though your experience is not yet on a high level – it may still be low – it is a confirmation of what he has been telling you. And according to what you have experienced and what Bapak too has experienced, it is advisable and necessary for you, especially those of you who are still young, to make an effort to study something that is useful for your life in this world. The more skilful your intellect and your heart, the better; for if you are intelligent and have a heart that is open wide, that is like a space where you can receive something from God. What that means is that if your intellect is very intelligent and your heart is very open, when you encounter a problem that you cannot solve or figure out, or you cannot find clarity in what you are thinking about or paying attention to, you can get the answer from God. That is why the more intelligent you are, the better. But use your intelligence for this world; do not use it to look for God, because that is not its problem, not its field and not the way it works.
If someone wants spiritual knowledge or wants to know how to live rightly and attain heaven after they die, you should not say that they need to practise a training that involves quietening them-selves and meditating, and that therefore the latihan you receive may not be the right way. That kind of opinion is truly mistaken and out of place. You have already become alive; your heart has already become wider and your thinking has become more intelligent, so you cannot now go back again to being stupid. Nor can you make your heart, which has started to become wider, narrow again. When you have reached the age of fifty you cannot go back to being one day old. Go forward from being fifty to fifty-five, sixty, sixty-five, seventy. The same applies to your thinking and your heart. Go ahead and think about things. Why? Because God is Almighty, brothers and sisters. You are always facing all the things that are in front of you, whereas it is said that God comes after whatever is last and comes before whatever is first. Therefore no matter how clever you are, God’s power is bound to be superior to you. The proof is that when you get to a point where your thinking is stuck and you cannot solve something by yourself, or you are unable to analyse it, God’s power is there.
So it is clear that if they are led and guided by Almighty God, the cleverness of the human intellect and the breadth of the human imagination will not be an obstacle for the development of the soul. For God comes after what is last and comes before what is first. So, do not go backwards, keep going forwards. In order to die, you do not go back. You do not become a baby again before you die; you go forwards, you become old and then you die.
Therefore do not consider that if a person thinks a lot they will not be able to worship God, or that it is impossible for an intelligent person to worship God. No, it is different. What we experience in the latihan shows that we are not oppressed or influenced by the intelligence or cleverness of the human brain. God always prevails.It is different for other people or other groups who say that intelligence, the human heart and thinking, are obstacles because intelligence makes use of the heart and thinking. So once they have really gone deeply into their practice, their heart and thinking come to a dead end and they no longer want to live in the world as normal people. They want only to be still, whether they are in a temple or wherever. They are still, and will not even eat unless someone brings them food. That lowers the level of a human being still further.
Planegg, Germany - April 26, 1967
Code Number : 67 PLG 1
Certainly that is what people need today. That is why the latihan neither forbids nor can be disturbed by the development of the intellect, of your brain and your heart. You may study to the limits of your brain’s capacity and your heart’s intelligence; in fact, it is better if you do. The more you understand the better, for then you will get clarification from God if your intellect encounters a problem.
Therefore today is no longer the time for stories, but the time for doing and acting. The reality is that God can overcome everything, because everything happens by the will of God; it is God who is making it happen.
Brothers and sisters, Bapak hopes that you will regard the latihan as an obligation, for it does not benefit anybody else but you, and it makes you happy. It creates a clear atmosphere and brings happiness to your life, both in this world and after your heart and thinking have ceased to work.
This means that you have two obligations in your life. The first is your obligation to worship God, where you need to empty yourself of everything so that you are free of good and bad and are beyond human thought. Your other obligation is to use your intelligence, your thinking and your heart, to look after and preserve your life and that of your family while you live in this world and make it happy. Therefore the latihan cannot be said to relate only to your inner life but also to your outer life. In reality it is training for our life as human beings.
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 31, 1968
Code Number : 68 TJK 4
The heart and mind should indeed be used as extensively as possible. But what usually happens is that, whenever man's heart and mind become clever and intelligent, man easily forgets his Creator, the One and Only God, and feels that the cleverness and intelligence of the heart and mind are due to man himself, whereas he is always enveloped and permeated by the Power of Almighty God inside and outside his heart and mind, which means that everything comes from Almighty God.
So if man constantly relies on the cleverness and intelligence of his heart and mind and refuses to believe that it is Almighty God Who has created life, he remains unable to feel the Power of Almighty God which is always close to him. For this reason, Almighty God gives His Grace to a man who has the capacity to receive it and the ability to channel it to his fellow men, which means, of course, to all of you who are willing to receive it with complete faith in the Majesty and Greatness of Almighty God. Such is the Greatness of God, which truly shows that God loves a man who is willing, with his whole self to have faith in Him.
Cilandak, Indonesia - December 16, 1968
Code Number : 68 TJK 6
Bapak has often said that the latihan kejiwaan of Subud is a latihan of the jiwa. Thus, what is exercised is the jiwa - that means the inner content of your entire self. So, clearly, everything in you is just an instrument of the jiwa. Supposing your is of a low kind, and small and narrow, then the intelligence of your mind will automatically be directed towards an objective that harms the well-being of your life and results in misfortune. So, not a few people who have a wide-ranging and high level education enjoy doing something that causes misery to others. For that reason, our or your aim is the improvement of the . This is necessary so that the cleverness of your mind can be used for the well-being and happiness of your lives.
The improvement of the jiwa, to make your lives happy and good, cannot possibly be achieved through the intelligence of your mind, because your mind has too long been the tool of a that is not yet good. Therefore the only way to improve the is for you to surrender your and your physical body to Almighty God, because only He can change what cannot possibly be changed. And in order to make this possible, you must have the feeling of patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission to His Will. Do not rely solely on the existence of a strong desire, thinking you will be able to achieve your pure and noble aim by means of that strong desire. In fact, this is even dangerous, because you are not yet able to recognize whether the governing your heart is good or not, and the resoluteness of your heart can easily divert your aim in a direction you do not wish-that is to say, it can lead you astray so that you become a person whom others fear. Then you become like a bogeyman in your life on earth, and even more so when you are dead.
Edinburgh, Scotland - May 26, 1972
Code Number : 72 EDI 1
But what did God say to Adam? God said, "Adam, you must not be afraid, for I will prepare for you everything that you will need on earth, and you will lack for nothing". So God decreed that Adam's nature should comprise intelligence; that is, a heart and mind. It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, that heart, mind and intelligence need to be put to work. You must not, because you are following the latihan kejiwaan, then wish to be like the prophets, be like Christ, and think that you will be able to get money just by talking. You should not do that, because there are innumerable ways for human beings to work in this world. There are comedians, entertainers; there are these and there are those kinds of work. When you are really able to do amal, you will be able to receive what is your task in life at which to work so as to earn a living. What is the meaning of amal, brothers and sisters? It means anything you do which is not influenced by the nafsu.
Edinburgh, Scotland - May 27, 1972
Code Number : 72 EDI 2
When we follow the latihan kejiwaan, we are filled by the power of God in everything we do, and we are enveloped by the power of God, so that we are in the midst of it; to the right and to the left, above us and below, inside and outside, there is the power of God, so that we are like something that can change when it changes us and moves us.
Wendhausen, Germany - June 18, 1972
Code Number : 72 WEN 1
Now, if we are successful, if we can put into effect what is God's Will for us, if we can express God's guidance for us in this world, then it is sure that the world will eventually arrive at a situation where there is true peace and harmony on this earth. In this connection, we should remember that now the scientific progress of man has gone beyond the bounds of what was considered possible before. The scientific achievements of mankind now are truly surprising and amazing. Man has been able to create all sorts of weapons whose power is earthshaking.
If we look at it, we call it intelligence. From God's point of view, it is an inner power. And this inner power is something which we have been given and which approaches, or can be compared with, God's power. Because through this power, through this intelligence, we can think of something and make it be; we can create it and bring it about, which is, in truth, the nature of God.
However, we should not think that what we can do is close to God, or is close to what God can do. But there is a similarity. So, therefore, what we have done in this world is truly permitted by God and is willed by God, that in this world we should use our intelligence to perform things which we consider necessary for our welfare.
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 24, 1973
Code Number : 73 CDK 15
We are creatures with feeling, creatures with intelligence, creatures who can perceive the refined as well as the coarse. We are different from animals. Animals can be glad, they can. Animals can feel pleased, they can. But show their pleasure and joy they cannot. Where is there the animal that can laugh? If there was an animal that could laugh, it would be worth, not a rupiah or two, but maybe millions. It would be put into a zoo. If you are looking for an animal that can laugh, it is man.
So we must not just remain apathetic, we must not be like things. We should feel.
This is how it is, brothers and sisters, so we must not be unintelligent or lacking in insight in either spiritual or worldly matters, nor must we fail to make use of our intelligence and our wisdom and to make use of our feelings and emotions. We must not. We must use them all. And in your case you can already receive the difference between the two states: the state in which your feelings, your intelligence and your awareness of your inner self are being used by the nafsu and the state in which they are being used by the jiwa. This you have already been able to receive, so there is no doubt that you follow the one which is using them. If the nafsu is using them, you are almost entirely immersed in a worldly ambience. But if you are not within that ambience you cannot be used by the nafsu.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 3, 1974
Code Number : 74 CDK 2
The mind is thus very important for human beings, sisters, so that they can develop what they need in life so long as they are living in this world. For without intelligence and mind people would not be human, and it is through their intelligence and minds that people possess the right to choose.
It is different for the animal. Animals also have brains and they also have hearts, but in animals the intelligence is not strong enough. Animals have not the right to choose. This is something they lack. For instance if an animal is put down in jungle A, it will not feel that it can choose to and live in jungle B. It does not have this feeling, but it has instinct; an instinct for which places are agreeable and comfortable and which places are not, so that it can find food to live on. It has this instinct. But man does not possess instinct only; besides instinct, man also has mind, intelligence. That is human.
Animals have instinct, but no power of choice, yet they are superior to plants, and on a higher level. Plants have no instinct, but they have a strong life force. It is not instinct, but the habit according to which they live. That means they put their roots down where there is water, so that the plant can grow properly.
Although plants are only on that level, it is still superior to the level of material objects, the satanic level· Things on the material level, however costly and beautiful they may be, have no value unless this value is given to them by human beings. Nor are they able to move to another place unless human beings move them. Nor can they do anything unless used by human beings.
Melbourne, Australia - April 15, 1976
Code Number : 76 MEB 3
Now what Bapak is talking about just now is bringing this into our life in society. Bringing this into our life, into our everyday life. This is what Bapak said yesterday, the makrefat, it is bringing this experience, the inner proof, into our everyday life in society. And then we will begin to be able to influence society in a direction where the power of thought, the progress of thought, is not at the mercy of the nafsu, and the greed and the anger of man, but is under the control of the power of God. Actually, the intelligence of man is not limited to what we have discovered so far, to nuclear, to atom bombs, and so on. The intelligence of man can go beyond this. But when we discover something new, if our intelligence, which is graced by Almighty God, which is already enveloped with the power of God, makes a discovery of something that can maybe damage or harm the whole world, then we will certainly not use it to further our own power, to make our own group, or our own party strong. We will destroy anything which we discover which will harm other people, but what can benefit other people we will share equally to all mankind. Because our progress is already motivated by the power of Almighty God.
Tokyo, Japan - April 21, 1976
Code Number : 76 TYO 4
So it is clear that man's intelligence is something that is very powerful and something that man cannot live without in this world, even though it is for him a temptation and an obstacle in his wish to achieve peace and quietness and complete worship of God Almighty.
And it is because of this fact that God Almighty, in His wisdom, has given man another tool as well, in addition to his intelligence. God has given him something in addition to his intelligence which resides in the heart and mind. God has given him something else which exists within the heart and mind which is like a life, a life which exists there and which comes from the power of God Almighty. So it is clear that we in Subud are very fortunate, because in addition to our belief in Almighty God which we do with our heart and mind, we have been given something from the power of God which exists within our heart and mind. It is a life which exists in our heart and mind, and on the outside of our heart and mind, which we call the latihan kejiwaan.
So it is clear that we must use both the gifts that God has given us, both our heart and mind, that is our intelligence, and this life which we have received, which we feel in the latihan kejiwaan, which exists both within our being and outside our being.
San Francisco, California USA - 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.
San Francisco, California USA - April 28, 1976
Code Number : 76 SFO 4
So it is clear that for us in the latihan kejiwaan there is nothing to be done except to receive the latihan with surrender to God's power. And having received this great gift, which means that we have had a burden taken away from us, where God looks after our life in the kejiwaan, there is something that we have to do. And that is, we have to work; we have to use what God has given us, in the direction which is permissible, which man is capable of following. And that is, man has been given an intelligence, an intelligence which we call the heart and mind. And this intelligence man has been given to be able to work in this world, to be able to fulfill his needs in this world. And it is this intelligence which we must use while we are here in this world.
And in order to use this, in order to put it into practice in accordance with God's will, that, Bapak advises us, always advises you, to start enterprises, even though Bapak knows that you have already started. But Bapak nevertheless doesn't hesitate to repeat it again, that you should set up enterprises. And in order to train yourself in the ability to work in harmony, that is, to be able to work together harmoniously with a feeling of mutual love, of mutual respect, of helping, of give and take, Bapak hopes that wherever possible you will start enterprises which you do together cooperatively with a number of members working together. So it becomes a training in our hope, in our ideal of achieving harmony in this world with our brothers and sisters which will eventually be expressed in the setting up of charitable enterprises, of charitable undertakings such as have always been advised in the teachings of the messengers of God.
Kendfield, England - May 26, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 5
Brothers and sisters, from the reports that Bapak has heard, that we all have heard from the various zones from Central Europe down to Africa and America, it is very evident that the reason why Subud has not progressed, or is still slow in progressing, both in terms of the organization and the kejiwaan, is largely due to the conditions prevailing in world at the moment.
These are as Bapak described earlier today, that it is really true that at this moment the situation in the world is one where God is testing man.
It is a time of test for man in that everywhere men are forced to undergo a situation which is chaotic, so that men are forced to live, no matter where men live in the world today, they are forced to live and undergo situations that are in the nature of chaos. And the reason for this is that the greed of man in the world at the moment has reached a kind of peak, as man's intelligence or cleverness has also reached a kind of peak.
Why is it that the result of man's intelligence reaching a peak is chaos? The reason is that this cleverness, or this intelligence that Bapak is referring to, is a cleverness which is entirely motivated by the nafsu, by heart and mind and by the lower forces. In other words, being of a cleverness that comes only from the heart and mind, it is something that is influenced by the nafsu, by the lower forces which have their abode in the heart and mind, so that everything that man does with his cleverness which he has developed has always the result of ruining something for other people. No matter what man obtains, what result man obtains from his labors, nowadays it is used immediately to make chaos in someone else’s place, in a place other than where the person is who is doing it, whether it is in the form of provoking or trying to wage war, or making trouble in some other way. And this is one of the reasons why Subud cannot, in fact, progress at present in the way that we would hope, because indeed this is the situation throughout the world, and it is by the will of God that man, at this moment is forced to undergo a state of general chaos.
Another reason is clearly the situation of money or the economy, which is certainly on the way down and this is very evident. Of course it is most evident if you hear reports from South Africa and South America and the northern part of Africa, but it is also the case in countries like the United States. For example, in the past, the United States thought of itself as a place where they had a surplus whereby they could help other people in other countries, and they could even export things or export ways of doing things to other countries, so that people who received these things would be able to organize themselves better than before, now, it is just the opposite, that people in the United States are finding all sorts of things happening to them which are not at all what they had anticipated or hoped for.
So it is clear that all these things are happening in the world and there is a general instability, and this instability is, of course, felt also in the Subud organization and in the progress of our Subud organization. In other words, we do not experience stability.
Kendfield, England - May 27, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 6
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.
London, England - May 29, 1976
Code Number : 76 LON 3
And what man has been guided to produce and to invent up to now is not yet the peak, the final result of man's achievement; it is still only part of the way and there is still quite a lot further that man can go, in what he can achieve in this world. But the trouble is that man still likes to forget the power and the guidance of God Almighty within him, so that in the end his inventions and his own intelligence and his own ability and the things he has been given by Almighty God finally turn around and become a threat to his own existence.
Edinburgh, Scotland - July 1, 1977
Code Number : 77 EDI 1
Now in the case of man it is different, because man has not been given claws, or a special kind of teeth, or something like that. Man has been given a brain, the ability to think and an intelligence, and it is God's will that man should use these powers, these instruments, these tools, in order to protect himself in this world from all dangers that might befall him; and also to find his livelihood and to arrange anything that needs to be arranged in this world in order to organize society to his needs. This is indeed the purpose and the decree of God for man and, therefore, it is completely right if man uses these tools, for example, to build a beautiful house and to surround it with a beautiful fence - that is something completely right. For a man to make very nice and comfortable and good-looking clothes - that is completely right because that is what he has been given his intelligence for. People who say that that is wrong, or people who mould their lives in a different way - for example, people who only wear the same kind of clothes all their life - or people who are unable to build houses and therefore live in caves . . . these people are actually completely wrong because they do not use what God has given them in order to protect themselves and to find their livelihood in this world.
Totnes, England - July 1, 1977
Code Number : 77 TNS 1
Rotterdam, Holland - July 15, 1977
Code Number : 77 RTM 2
In addition to the heart and the mind, or the intelligence, that God has given to man, God has given him something else as well - and that is something that God has implanted in man to protect him from the influence of his own actions, or by being influenced by the things he himself has made. For example, it is God's will that man should make a house to live in, which is as good as possible. In other words, a place to protect him from the sun, from the rain, from the sleet, from the cold like you have it up here in Scotland, and all the dangers which might befall him from being attacked by wild animals and so on. But not for that house, that beautiful house he had made, to then become a way of keeping other people out. Or, similarly, it is completely right that man should use his intelligence to make beautiful clothes - those which look good, which feel comfortable, which sparkle or anything like that - but not that those clothes should then become a means whereby he can feel superior and make others, who are not able to have clothes as good, feel ashamed.
It is clear that man can be influenced by the things he makes in a way that is not God's will.
Oslo, Norway - July 25, 1977
Code Number : 77 OSL 4
Brothers and Sisters, it is really not easy; in fact, it is very difficult to explain really or to get to the bottom of what is the real essence or the real meaning of the Latihan Kejiwaan. Because of this difficulty there are not a few people who take the step, or who have the feeling that they can help, or they can assist their ability to find out what is really the right way to worship God - and also the right way for them to find their true fate in this life, as well as in the next, by using their very strong will in pursuing this aim. People who use their will in this direction generally end up by forcing themselves to give up everything that has to do with civilization, and they tend to try to return in some way to the manner in which men lived in olden days, to the extent that there are even those who live in a distant place, in an isolated place, and who even give up wearing clothes because they try to go back to the origin, to the way men used to live long ago - so they think. But all this bears no fruit or does not get them anywhere. Indeed, it is true that man's mind, man's achievement is getting more and more advanced, and the civilization of man is getting more and more advanced, or let us say, the intelligence of man is getting more and more advanced. With this advancement more and more of man's intelligence, it is also true that man's suffering is increasing all the time. The reason for this is that greed, the greed of man, does not bring man to a state of peace but, on the contrary, it brings man to a state of confusion and makes an atmosphere that is dark and confused. But, actually, this situation is not something that we ought to worry about, or to get very concerned about, because the fact is that it is God's will that man should make progress with his mind and with his ability to achieve things. What we see now in the world is really the way it has to go - the world is following the way that has been set for it and, in fact, the extent of man's ability, or man's intelligence, that man has reached now is not only not yet 100 per cent, but it's not even 50 per cent of what God has reserved for man, let us say.
So, it is clear that there is nothing that we can do about this situation, for the fact is that it is Almighty God, and only Almighty God Who can correct something that is wrong, or can show men the way to find their true path of life. And the guidance of Almighty God to man, among others, in this Latihan Kejiwaan. Therefore, having now received the Latihan Kejiwaan we should really have faith and train ourselves to have a very firm and steadfast attitude. That is, to realize that it is only God Almighty Who can cure something that is wrong or Who can guide man in the direction he ought to go.
New York, NY USA - September 11, 1977
Code Number : 77 NYC 3
Brothers and Sisters, without receiving the grace of God Almighty, without the guidance of the power of God Almighty, it is impossible indeed for man to find the right way in his life. It is impossible for man to be guided correctly and find his way in this life without God's guidance. But to feel God's guidance, or to understand and get to know God's guidance, is indeed very difficult - or not so much difficult as completely impossible to be thought about. The reason for that is that the will of man - that is, the heart and the intelligence of man - normally only has faith or believes in something that he can do, something that can be seen, something that can be heard with the ears, something that can be smelt with the nose, something that can be tasted with the mouth, and something that can be thought about. Therefore, we cannot actually blame people who say 'God doesn't exist', because God cannot be seen with the eyes, God cannot be heard with the ears, God cannot be smelt with the nose or tasted with the tongue, nor can His form be grasped with the hands. So to get to know God with our ordinary instruments is completely impossible.
Woodstock, VT USA - September 12, 1977
Code Number : 77 WOS 1
Brothers and sisters, the One Almighty God has decreed that in human life, or in the human self, there should be the mind and the heart, and besides these there is also the budhi or inner force. What is the relationship between the budhi and the mind or intelligence? Budhi, the word budhi, means force or energy; it is strength. The heart and mind or intelligence is thinking and feeling.
In the human race there are many who would like to know and to receive the stirring of their own inner-selves - that is, the budhi - free from thought and from feeling. But because people are influenced by the lower forces, they are forced, whether they like it or not, to go away from the budhi and its actions and to enter into the realms of thinking and feeling. And thinking and feeling have become the prime movers in studying questions of life and living; that is, these have become the mainstay of their worship of the One Almighty God. In this way people continue to fall flat on their faces when they remain in the realms of thought and feeling. So human beings consider everything from the mind, not from the budhi, not, as happens in the Latihan Kejiwaan, from the actions and the life of the jiwa.
Toronto, Canada - September 26, 1977
Code Number : 77 YYZ 3
God has given men a heart and mind; that is, two faculties which man can use, which happen to be in contact with the material forces.
Mexico City, Mexico - November 22, 1977
Code Number : 77 MEX 3
Brothers and Sisters, in fact it is correct that men, that human beings, have what is called fundamental human rights: that is, they can do anything that their hearts desire. But as far as Bapak is concerned, as the pioneer of this Latihan Kejiwaan that we have all received, and as the cause of this Latihan Kejiwaan having been able to spread to all the comers of the world, Bapak can only express the hope that you will not separate yourselves from your brothers and sisters. Actually, if you decide to do this, you are in fact only giving in to and following the will of the material forces, or the satanic forces, and also the animal forces. In other words, you are submitting yourself to the influence of your own nafsu. This is something that Bapak tells you in case you want to know Bapak's advice. This latihan which Bapak has brought to you, and to all the members of Subud all over the world, has come by God's decree, and therefore Bapak feels responsible for all of you. Through this that Bapak has received, which Bapak has passed on to you, Bapak has brought you all to an open door through which you can find your way back to the world of human beings, which is known as the world of Insan Kamil.
Brothers and Sisters, this is Bapak's hope and Bapak's wish, but for those of you who decide that you prefer to find another way which you feel may be better, of course Bapak can only leave it to your own decision. Actually, Bapak cannot blame you for this because there is a story of this in the history of humanity. It is told, that after Adam was created, he had many sons. In fact, it is said he had a thousand sons - that is how the story goes - or a thousand children, while he lived in this world. But in this story two are particularly mentioned, whose names were Said Anwar and Said Anwas.
Now Said Anwar followed completely in the footsteps of his father; in other words, in the way of life and the attitude of his father which meant that in his life he surrendered himself completely to the will of God and patiently followed and received whatever God willed for him. So that the way that was followed by Adam, and also by Said Anwar, is actually the same as that which we have .received in this Latihan Kejiwaan. This is also the way that was received by all the Prophets and the Messengers of God. For example, by Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad. And it is said that all the Prophets and the Messengers of God were actually descended from Said Anwar.
But Said Anwas was different because he did not agree with the way that was followed by his father and 'by his brother. Maybe he felt that this way did not require enough work, or that it was too easy, or that it didn't make sufficient use of man's intelligence, or maybe he felt that the way that they followed was too slow. So he set to work by way of meditation, by way of samadi, by way of emptying and negating the self through practicing asceticism, through reducing his food and his sleep, through giving up all the pleasures of life, and by isolating himself far from society and other people. God is all-loving, God is all-giving to his creatures, so whatever man desires, whatever man hopes for, God will give him in the measure of his strength. And indeed the strength of Said Anwas was very great, so that when he practiced asceticism, when he refrained from sleep and from food, he did not do it for one or two days, or one or two weeks - he did it for years. So that finally God gave to Said Anwas that which he wished - Said Anwas became a being whose life could not be measured. In other words, maybe now he is still alive. He indeed became a very, very powerful being and from him descended all the dewas. When he received this he changed his name from Said Anwas to Sang Hyang Sis. Later he changed his name again to Sang Hyang Nut Chakior. He was the first, and from him descended all the dewas, or what are called the gods; in other words, all those beings who developed by self-torture, or samadi, or anything of their own self.
Brothers and Sisters, with this background it's not surprising that in the world today people still follow this way. Of course, they do not do it with the strength or the power that was possessed by Said Anwas, but still they try to follow the same way. That is why Bapak leaves it to you, if you wish to choose that way, if you wish to follow that way ( section of blank tape ) . . . then this latihan is not the way of Said Anwas, but is the way of Said Anwar.
Brothers and Sisters, there is one big problem that you face if you make that choice - and that problem is that for you all, as you are now, the way of Said Anwas is impossible. Because Bapak knows very well and Bapak can see that, as you are now, if you miss your breakfast one morning you feel down in the mouth, you feel lousy. Or if you don't sleep for one night, you feel terrible the next day. But for Said Anwas, or those who follow Said Anwas, they have to fast, they have to reduce their sleep, and they have to wear nothing for years and years and years. For example, people who follow that way are often buried under the ground, not for a few days, but months, and sometimes years. Indeed, such was the way of Said Anwas, and such was the strength of Said Anwas. So that through this way Said Anwas really became a being who did not live for a thousand or two thousand years, but lives for millions of years. He truly was like a god and, in fact, claimed himself to be God. From his position of authority as the king of the gods, or as the maha dewa or the chief of the gods, he then appointed other gods. For example, he appointed the god of the sun, the god of the sea, the god of good fortune, the god of this and that. All this story of the life of Said Anwas is told in stories that are very, very ancient and go back hundreds of thousands of years. And this is the tradition which gave rise to the religions that still exist today where people, for example, worship various types of manifestations of gods in temples, and so on.
This is the way of Said Anwas. But the way of Said Anwar is completely different - the way of the Prophets or the Messengers of God -because the requirement there is only one thing. In order to be able to receive the gift of grace of God Almighty, the only requirement is that one should have an excellent character which is full of love for one's fellow human beings; a character which is quick to forgive the errors of others, because it is always aware that we ourselves are also making mistakes, just the same as other people; a character which protects other people, which gives to other people and helps other people.
Marin County, CA USA - December 4, 1977
Code Number : 77 SFO 3
Christchurch, New Zealand - January 18, 1978
Code Number : 78 CHC 4
To continue about the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud, brothers and sisters. Bapak says, or we say, or we are willed by God to say, that this is a Latihan Kejiwaan It is a latihan, a training, of the jiwa, a latihan for your jiwa, your soul, for your inner content, brothers and sisters, which does not live only because you eat rice, because you eat bread, because you eat butter. No. What lives because you eat butter is the intelligence, the mind, the heart and all this coarse physical body. All that is nafsu.
Thus if you wish your jiwa to be perfect, that is not like the pleasure of eating bread or eating beefsteak in Paris. No. Bapak has tried that. Beefsteak in Paris is very nice, indeed it is, but it is pleasure for the tongue, which will disappear; it is not pleasure for the jiwa. No; the jiwa takes no pleasure in beefsteak. No.
So if you are trying to find perfection for your jiwa, what is it that you want to happen? For if your jiwa were to become perfect, and were no longer to be influenced by this world, you would die and leave this world behind. Why is that? Bapak explained the day before yesterday that your life is higher than your physical selves. In human beings this is the life which is called the life of the rohaniah, which is no longer affected by worldly matters. It is no longer necessary for it to gather the harvest or to taste the fruits of this world, for heaven is something more than this world, This is the difference.
That is why all of you have two obligations. One is the obligation to worship God, which is an obligation for the jiwa and from the jiwa, and one is to provide for your lives in this world so long as you are alive, which is an obligation for the mind and the heart, assisted by the lower forces. Thus if you wish to live in happiness and peace, and to enjoy your food as much as if you were eating beefsteak in Paris, you must put your mind to work; your human mind, your healthy mind. Do not let it got into your worship of God, because the road to God is not to be followed by the mind and the heart but by your jiwa, as Bapak told you the day before yesterday in his story about Adam.
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 28, 1978
Code Number : 78 CDK 17
( Testing )
Stand up; those who are on the floor stand up again. Your latihan can be said to have made a lot of progress already. Thus it is clear that the latihan is the awakening of the jiwa. Before you received the latihan, you thought, you imagined things, and you felt in the way your own thoughts and nafsu were going. After receiving the latihan, things are now, not the reverse, but changed by your hearts allowing themselves to be awakened by your jiwas.
In fact, the jiwa is actually stronger than the heart. That is why the heart and mind are symbolized as servants, but the jiwa is their master, their boss. This boss or master can then convey understanding and knowledge to the mind. But someone who has not yet arrived at that point - or those of you who have not yet got there - will not believe that the jiwa can sharpen the mind and teach it intelligence, but will, on the contrary, think that it is the jiwa which can be developed and can learn from the heart and mind. An example of this is to be seen in Christ and in Muhammad - where did they acquire their intelligence? They did not study. They were what is called illiterate, ignorant, but they were intelligent. That is what is called wisdom.
Thus it is clear, brothers and sisters, that when you receive the latihan what is being trained by the One Almighty God is the jiwa, so that your jiwa becomes the master of your self. For it is the jiwa that will live on after you have left this world, when your mind has become impotent and your nafsu can no longer work. Thus it is the jiwa which can be said to exist before you come into existence and to continue to exist after you no longer exist. That is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so you need not worry your hearts about it, and your minds will follow it.
Cilandak, Indonesia March 17, 1979
Code Number : 79 CDK 8
But of course the gift of God Almighty is adapted to what we are. So if we are intelligent, then God will guide us in our intelligence. If we are not intelligent, then God's guidance will be adjusted to our state. This is how mankind has been guided by God Almighty. Everything mankind has produced - his intelligence and his ability to do things - is from God Almighty.
Singapore - September 30, 1979
Code Number : 79 SIN 2
It is said, brothers and sisters, that God is huwal awal and God is huwal akhir; God precedes all beginnings and God follows all endings. He is huwal batin, huwal lohir; God is within the innermost and beyond the outermost. There is nothing else, nothing more. Thus you must truly and sincerely believe in the One Almighty God, Who is the foundation of what you have received in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. And in your religion also, that is the basis of mankind's worship of the One Almighty God. This is how it is. This is why there is nothing else to say to people or to all of you, except to tell them to surrender to the One Almighty God with patience, trust and sincerity, and to be in harmony with their fellow creatures. We should all help one another, love one another, respect one another. Proof of this exists in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, in which, amongst those who practice and receive it, there are generals, privates, doctors, nurses, lawyers, lay people; high and low, rich and poor, kings and commoners - all are the same in the power of God. That means that in the power of God they are all equal. Of course one should have a sense of one's worth, brothers and sisters, but if one feels like that, it is dangerous to become conceited or arrogant, and one must not do that. The religion of Islam does not expressly forbid it, but it does not allow or recommend people to be conceited. No. For if you see one of your companions who is rich and clever, you are supposed to say 'Thanks be to God; may your life go well and may you always be safe and happy.' If you say that, then it comes back to you in return. It is like when you plant something; if you plant an apple-tree, you will harvest apples, and if you plant a mango-tree you will harvest mangoes. If you pray for the well-being and happiness of other people, then other people will pray for you in return. This is the consequence. Thus everything is the same in return. That is why it is now clear, brothers and sisters, that if human beings fail, it is because of their own actions. They will be punished by their own actions. What is wrong produces wrong; what is right produces right. What is bad produces bad. This is obvious nowadays. Is there anyone today who is not afraid of the things which human beings themselves have made? Bapak has been all over the world. Fortunately God has granted His grace and mercy to Bapak, and Bapak can explain the world. Almost everyone in America feels that at present one cannot feel quiet and peaceful, because of all the rumors about the possibility of a third great world war breaking out. Then what will happen? It can now be said that if you once explode a bomb, it will destroy the world, or at any rate a much larger area than was previously possible will be destroyed. So this means that nowadays human beings are afraid of what they themselves have made. Why do they make these things? This is how it is. This is the progress of the mind, the progress of human intelligence. Can one approve of that? One cannot approve, brothers and sisters; it cannot be approved, but one cannot disapprove either, for indeed, how can people make such things? Does not God forbid this? God is not like human beings, who forbid what is wrong and approve what is right. No. All these things are given to mankind.
God has given all that to human beings, like chickens who are cared for by the mother hen. Now you are adults, and you have to live your own lives. But you know that a great responsibility has been laid upon you. It is like it was when Adam was sent down to earth and God said to him: 'Adam, I have given you all that you need, and it is for you to perfect it. I have not done it all for you. What I have given to you is enough.' Amongst all that Adam forgot, there was something that reminded him; that is, the roh rohani ( the true human life-force ), the roh that is called the roh ilofi, the roh which is guidance and direction, the roh which is the star that steers human beings at those times when they forget and become influenced by the nafsu. And the nafsu seethe and boil and work with the material life-force, with the lower life-forces which are necessary to human beings. What is it that is called the roh ilofi? It is the Roh Suci, which in Christianity is called the Holy Spirit. In Islam it is called the Roh Suci, the Roh Hofi, whose nature is that of a messenger to mankind from the One Almighty God. Who are the messengers of the One Almighty God? They are human beings. Human beings may wish to find a messenger who resembles a genderwo ( ghost ), which is invisible, but which says, 'Hey, man, I bring you knowledge,' but in fact they would be frightened if they did. God creates His messengers to convey His commandments to their fellow creatures, which means to their fellow men. But human beings are sometimes very strange. 'Oh, that is just a human being. How can I believe in anyone who is not God?' How can you? If God told you something, you would not understand, for there would be a disembodied voice, saying: 'Hey, man; I am God'. You would actually be afraid. That is why it is not God's will to do this. God conveys knowledge and understanding to mankind through His messengers, so that mankind will believe because it is clear for them. The person who is telling them, who is like a messenger, also partakes of the same nature as they do. Of course it is like that, brothers and sisters. A patient would not believe in the doctor or the nurse unless the doctor himself partook of the same experience as the patient. That is how it is for human beings.
Cilandak, Indonesia - July 30, 1980
Tape Reference : 80 JKT 5
The latihan kejiwaan is founded on the reality of God's guidance in our being, which we simply follow and which we cannot study with our own intelligence or strength.
What then can we study with our own intelligence and strength?
It is only the satanic which we can study or pursue with our own ability, But if we do study the satanic and pursue it and achieve it, then we will merely achieve a life in the satanic realm, what is called life in the astral plane.
This astral world is a world which is in this world, this earth. What we achieve then by devoting ourselves to the satanic is a life confined to the world. Bapak doesn't know how long such a life will continue: maybe millions of years. But the location of that life is still this world.
This is in contrast to the experience of Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is now, is alive now. Jesus Christ is aware now of everything that he went through in his life. You ask how Bapak knows this. Because Bapak has experienced it himself. Bapak has met Jesus Christ.
It is true, then, what Christ said when he was here in this world: "What is the use or purpose for me to be King in this world? I am not a king here but I am a king over there. What is the use of being a king here? This world is as nothing compared with the next world."
And it is true, Bapak says: Once you have experience other worlds beyond this one, then this world is as nothing and there seems to be no reason to live here. Here, if you don't search for food, you don't eat. There, your very thought or wish is fulfilled instantaneously. Which is why Bapak says to you that Bapak is not interested in becoming somebody who is supposed to be important in this world. Does Bapak wish to be President or a government Minister? God-willing, it will not happen. Bapak only follows what Bapak feels is the good way of life; That is enough. And besides, to put it in a blunt sort of way, suppose later God asked Bapak, "How come, after all you experienced, you still wanted to be a Minister?" No, Bapak is satisfied.
Bapak has experienced, as Bapak has described, such things as knowing that Christ is alive now. But this is no imaginary life. It is the real life. Christ truly is alive now, Christ It is like when Bapak himself traveled away from this world.
Jakarta, Indonesia - January 21, 1981
Code Number : 81 XJK 3
You can't do an enterprise peacefully and comfortably, you have to make an effort and then you get the result. You can't bypass the effort, you can't just be relaxed and at peace and comfortable and then just get it. It has to be done with an effort. And this is way Bapak said it is like in America. Bapak remembers a big enterprise that a Subud member started and it failed. It is because they were always testing things, but they were not actually doing anything they were not working, and worse, they were not experts in the field that they were working in. The proof is here, Bapak has built this building. Bapak didn't do the building, Bapak brought the experts who knew how to do it. And then it was done with hard work. So this is something people should realize that actually once we know what we have to do then we have to use our heart and mind, or rather our intelligence - that is what God has given us, our intelligence which is for solving our problems once we know the direction we have to go, then we have to work.
London, England - March 28, 1981
Code Number : 81 LON 3
So this is why in accordance with what Bapak has received, this latihan kejiwaan actually can not be studied or learned, because it has no dogma, and no teaching, and is not based on any kind of learning, or any kind of intention or effort of the person who is receiving it.
All we can do is simply to receive from the power of Almighty God. So, in other words, we only surrender; that is, the only thing we do in our latihan kejiwaan is to surrender to the power of Almighty God. But this word surrender is something that strikes people as rather strange, because people say, "O.K., if all we have to do is surrender to Almighty God, then why has God given. us an intelligence? Why is it that human beings have been equipped with a thinking mind - with the ability to question, with the ability to reason, if all they have to do is surrender to the power of Almighty God?"
And actually there is a rightness in this question, or, this question is actually a reasonable one, but the explanation, or, the answer to the question is like this: that the Power of Almighty God is Almighty, that God is truly Almighty and All-Knowing and All Encompassing and that God's knowledge and God's Power has no bounds because He created and He envelops the whole universe, whereas the intelligence of man is entirely limited to this world, so that actually man's mind, or man's ability to reason, is bounded by the reality that exists in this world.
And this is something that man himself has found out. Men nowadays, as you know, leave the earth and fly to other worlds in rockets and capsules of various kinds and so on … And when they leave the sphere of this world, they already understand that out there they are dependent on a kind of mask, or a kind of special suit or special protection in order to survive out there, because actually they .have gone beyond the boundary of the world in which man's ability or man's nature can survive, so that actually they already .have the proof that man's capability or man's reason is bounded by the world in which he lives, in other words, this earth.
So, brothers and sisters, this is actually the real nature of the heart and mind, or, the ability of man is bounded by the needs or the content of this world, and actually, everything that man receives or man can do in this world is also, in fact, given to .him by the Power of Almighty God, but man often does not realize and is not willing to accept the bounded nature of his intelligence. Man imagines that his ability to think and to understand is his own power, or something that he possesses absolutely as a result of his own nature. And therefore, man gets the impression that actually this intelligence is boundless, and can encompass the whole universe, or everything that exists, and he does not realize that actually the ability he has been given is only a gift from the Power of Almighty God.
Sao Paulo, Brazil - May 31, 1981
Code Number : 81 SAO 3
A monkey can eat fruit by climbing up the tree and picking it. Because for that he has been given two hands and two feet which are also like hands. So he is very good at climbing. Why is it that human beings who are not so good at climbing also sat fruit? It is because man has been given his intelligence. And man can do everything that animals can do, not with fingers and claws and so on, but with intelligence.
Vancouver, Canada - July 17, 1981
Code Number : 81 YVR 3
So it is as if, through the latihan, we are able to receive the beginning of the development of our life. So Bapak will use an example. Supposing our right work, or our talent, is to be a singer. Then through the practice of our latihan, eventually, little by little, we will be able to receive a form of singing, a way of singing, a voice, a quality of voice that is completely different from anything that we have learned, from anything that we have been able to do with our own effort. And apart from that fact we ourselves will hear this voice with a feeling of surprise, with a feeling of astonishment that we am able to produce this voice which we have not experienced before. Eventually we will also be able to understand the meaning of what it is that we are singing, the content of what that song is.
So from this kind of experience you will be able to understand and be able to convince yourself that it is through the latihan kejiwaan that you will be able to receive what you need for your life. Then, ultimately, you will become people who are really useful to the human race, in other words, useful to society.
Now that is the fruit of the latihan. As for the other matter of what level your jiwa is on, or what is your spiritual position in the realm of the framework of life in the world - that is something we don't need to talk about. It is something that we don't need to express in this world or to use in this world. Because actually that has no use in this world. It is only something that has a significance in the next world. As Jesus himself said to his disciples: Here in this world I am only an ordinary human being. It is only in the next world, in the hereafter, that I sit on a throne and have a duty and a responsibility which cannot be described with the words we have in this world.
Now that was if you are a singer. Supposing you are a writer, again you will be able to have an understanding of life that you can express in your writing, that actually comes from beyond your understanding of your life that you normally have. In other words, it will be possible for you to receive more than what you really understand. You will be able to receive an understanding that goes beyond your own intelligence. Actually, it is as though you will be protected from your own knowledge and your own intelligence and given something that is more than that. An example of this is the holy books that have come down to us from the past.
So it is clear that it is from your worship of Almighty God that it is possible for all of us to truly, gradually become people who are useful in this world. And then it will be through that experience, through that experience of your life in this world, through the experience of receiving something that is really useful that you will then become convinced that God is truly real, that He really exists and that He is Almighty.
Los Angeles, CA USA - July 22, 1981
Code Number : 81 LAX 1
Bapak had a letter recently from a Subud member in Australia who asked, "What shall I do with my life, Bapak? I feel I know all sorts of things that other people don't know. I know where to find oil, gold, I know where to find diamonds." Bapak said, "Well, carry it out. Put it into practice!"
But so far the knowledge is only theoretical. You have to put everything into practice. You have to - as Bapak said in the testing - it's not enough just to listen to what Bapak says. You have to experience this reality for yourselves!
In Subud we have to check everything: Is it real or not? Is it true or not? Many of us have already experienced things like that. We are able to know things not normally known through channels other than our normal senses.
How much more is this true of the messengers of God? Being a messenger of God, who is someone very spiritual, does not mean that you are unable to use the material forces, or that you have no intelligence in this world. You have much morel Much more understanding, much more intelligence than other people.
It is not wrong to be intelligent, nor wrong to earn money.
What is important is to be able to order these things, to organize these things from a position of strength which is not influenced by them, but is able to order and to give instructions to them.
Brothers and sisters, Bapak often says to all of you: you must put into practice what you receive in the latihan kejiwaan. You must use your latihan in your everyday life.
Bapak is often asked why it is that people who have not received the latihan and do not worship God can do many things well. There are not a few people who do their jobs skillfully and successfully, who know how to do this and that. Yet you, who have received the latihan can't do it. You do not find your way in life.
It is like this because you are not yet capable of distinguishing between two things in your life: the duty to worship God according to His guidance, and the duty to care for your life in this world by using your nafsu, heart and mind, by using your will and your intelligence and all that God has given you.
While these two things are still mixed up inside you, you will always fail in everything you do. If not using the nafsu, and using the nafsu are still mixed up within you, you can't do either of the duties clearly and properly.
Auckland, New Zealand - May 22, 1982
Code Number : 82 AKL 3
God, besides sending us the latihan kejiwaan, has endowed us with a mind and intelligence and all our sense organs, which, from the worldly point of view, are not something of lesser importance but are very necessary for our life. You must make full use of these. Bapak was talking about the spiritual side earlier, but is now speaking of the material or worldly side. It is important that we should use our minds and intelligence for our well-being in the world, as long as we do not disturb the liberty, peace or rest of others. We should manage to live in harmony with each other in the same way as you should live at peace in your own homes with your wives, children and servants, so that your household is in a state of peace and well-being.
Toyko, Japan - June 6, 1982
Code Number : 82 TYO 4
Brothers and Sisters, if we now turn to thinking about ourselves, we can live in this world because we eat; were we not to eat, we should be unable to survive. When we eat, we need to prepare everything that is in line with our conditions in this world and has so been since the time when Adam was first sent down into this world from Heaven by God. He was not happy when he first came down to earth, brothers and sisters, because he did not understand the conditions necessary for life on earth. When God revealed to him what he needed to know, however, he said: "By your leave, oh Lord, I surrender to you". When God sent him down to earth He decreed the conditions for his future capacities. He thus conferred on him desire, thought and intelligence.
Toyko, Japan - June 8, 1982
Code Number : 82 TYO 5
God created man with brains and intelligence. We should therefore make use of these instruments, exercising our minds and intelligence, not just praying to God for help, without experiencing the extent of His Love towards mankind. This does not mean that we are, as the Europeans say, "building castles in the air". We have to be this way in order to experience the extent of Divine Love towards mankind. Man is able to create nuclear and atomic weapons and objects that can fly through the universe, to the moon, all of which only happens through God's love of man, enabling him to expand and perfect technological advances. As far as we ourselves are concerned, Bapak says that the latihan kejiwaan Subud is the source of all knowledge. Bapak has experienced this himself, brothers and sisters. As a result, Bapak has had experiences that defy logic, where things have happened which seemed out of the question, yet they did take place and there are witnesses. Some of these, such as Luqman and Sharif, are right here now. If other people were to hear of these matters, they would think we were not quite right in the head, crazy in fact, because these would seem to be ideas quite impossible to put into practice. You shouldn't think along those lines though, brothers and sisters. A century ago, there was no such thing as an airplane, nor were there any nuclear weapons and atomic bombs, or talk of people going to the moon. Yet as a result of God's love for mankind, people were able to implement the knowledge they received. Nowadays too, brothers and sisters, times are still changing and we should not say things are impossible - they are in fact possible if people really carry them out properly. That is why it is most important that you should broaden your horizons, brothers and sisters. As in the case of Ichiki-San, who should also travel around and find out the way to get various things done. Certainly a way will be found eventually. God will show the way, but not if you are going to lose heart and despair, to say everything is impossible and that you cannot carry it out. If you think like that, then you never will accomplish anything.
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 22, 1982
Code Number : 82 CDK 3
It is written in the books, brothers and sisters, that jer basuki mowo beo; there is no happiness which is not preceded by some bitter experience, some grief or suffering, some hard and difficult path. This is something we need to get hold of; we need to understand it and to feel it.
Thus you must not be afraid of difficulties and hardship, for it is through these that the path of happiness passes. No one suddenly and immediately becomes an adult. No; everyone starts as a baby, unable to do anything, and without guidance and care that baby would die. It still has no active mind, it cannot feel about things or use its intelligence. It already possesses all these, but they are still in limbo.
We must not be afraid of the setans, the devils, but they ought to be afraid of us, for we are fourth in the hierarchy of the rohs, the life-forces. It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, we need the material life-force, and so long as we can make the right use of it, it should not frighten us. Even though a rifle or a pistol may be lying on the table it is of no significance unless some human being picks it up. What is dangerous is not the pistol but the person who holds it. This is what we need to understand and to feel, brothers and sisters. Thus we can feel how it would be if at least one quarter or one third of the people in the world had the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. Then nothing would occur in this world which would make people tremble with fear as they do at present. For then no human hand would do anything wrong, because the hand itself would fear the One Almighty God, for then the One Almighty God alone would have power over its life.
Jakarta, Indonesia - December 15, 1982
Code Number : 82 JKT 5
'Why does man make all his problems for himself?.' Indeed man invents his own problems. But once you can admit that you make your own problems for yourself, then you can also correct them for yourself - why couldn't you?
Now mankind is in turmoil and here is the reason. These days, those who are intelligent are confused by their own intelligence, while those who are rich are perplexed by their own wealth. Truly. Nowadays it is not that those who are strong help those who are weak. No, the strong oppress the weak, while those who are clever today lead others astray. Truly. And yet in religion it is already made clear - that's why we have zakat and fitroh.
Why are there still poor people? Because the rich have become 'dumb' - dumb, meaning they are like stone.
Cilandak, Indonesia -- April 8, 1984
Code Number : 84 CDK 1
Although man claims to have attained an extraordinary intelligence, being able nowadays to make things which previously were unimaginable, which people living in earlier clays would have considered beyond the bounds of possibility, yet we must not perceive this development and progress of man's thinking as an intelligence which we have created ourselves. It is dear, brothers and sisters, that it is a proof of God's profound and great love for mankind and for all His creatures.
Brothers and sisters, man's intelligence - which today you yourselves have been able to confirm both from what you read and the news you hear - this intelligence of man is not a development that is wrong or offensive to Almighty God, just the opposite. It is like a teacher and his pupils. Does a teacher feel depressed if his pupil turns out to be clever? No. If his pupil is clever, does the teacher hate him? No. On the contrary, if the pupil is brilliant, his teacher will be elated, like someone who has bought a lottery ticket and won the first prize. That's how it feels. This is just to get the right perspective; not that Bapak compares God to a school teacher. It is thus that we can prove for ourselves how small or how great is God's love for human beings. This development has not yet gone beyond the point where we are today, but man can already reach the moon and much further than the moon. He can orbit the planet.., what is it called?
Sharif : Venus?
The big one.
Sharif : Jupiter?
Yes, Jupiter. Sometimes Bapak forgets. Jupiter is many times bigger than this world so that if you were transported there, if it were possible for you to move there, you would not be able to live there with this body you have now. Here on earth the longest duration of one breath is a minute, but on Jupiter one breath takes at least ten years. How could you breathe there once every ten years? Because the place does not fit you and is not at all your place.
Nowadays man is able to contemplate his situation. If it is like that, and if all of this is created by Almighty God, how great, how powerful must He be - Almighty God? Therefore do not too quickly compare yourself with God. Therefore it is not possible for you to search for God, unless it is God Who comes to you. This explanation, although it is beyond the mind, can nevertheless be grasped by man as a result of his purity.
There are things that may seem trivial but which you nevertheless truly need to understand, and you cannot understand these things if you do not work m work, meaning that you use the whole of your being. You cannot do it by meditation or samadhi for that, one can say, still corresponds to a low level.
Wisma Subud, - Cilandak, Indonesia - June 24, 1984
Code Number : 84 CDK 5
Bapak remembers opening hundreds and thousands of people wherever he went. Bapak cannot remember the exact numbers but Bapak is pretty sure that in Latin America, for example, he opened, perhaps ten thousand people: in Brazil, Argentina, and in all the other countries there. And quite honestly, brothers and sisters, Bapak can tell you that if Subud members who had been opened by Bapak had really diligently pursued both the latihan kejiwaan and the needs of their life in this world, then, by now, the original thousands would have grown to perhaps fifty million Subud members worldwide.
The reality is very different. The reality we all are aware of is that if ten people are opened, ten people leave. If a hundred people are opened, maybe ninety leave. Or if a thousand people are opened maybe nine hundred leave: so at most, we are left with a hundred. This situation is the effect of the lack of material wherewithal or the unsatisfied material needs of the members concerned. It is the disturbance or the pressure of these needs which causes people who have received the latihan to fall away. Whereas, if they only realized it, in this latihan kejiwaan, every human activity, every human need, every aspect of human life, is included in its development. Whether it is culture or work; whether it relates to physical movements, like dancing here in Indonesia; or whether it relates to the thinking, to the intelligence, to understanding this and that: all this is included in the latihan.
Truly, man cannot fulfill the needs of his life in this world, man cannot find his way in this world if he is not guided, if he is not able to receive the culture or understanding of life that comes from within which is given by the power of Almighty God.
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 21, 1986
Code Number : 86 CDK 9
In short, to spread or develop Subud in this world is not difficult. What it requires is that we do not discriminate between people, between religions, between nationalities, between races, or between things of that kind. But instead, we truly have an attitude of universality.
Put another way, what is needed for us in order to develop and spread Subud is a feeling of patience and acceptance towards the power of Almighty God, and a feeling that is truly open and loving towards our fellow human beings.
Brothers and sisters, feelings of being superior, of being better or cleverer than other people, never come from the jiwa. They always originate in the heart and mind. And it is this which has to go on being purified in the latihan kejiwaan, until we are really able to put aside our own cleverness and intelligence, and to feel one with people around us.
That is the nature of what is called a leader. A leader is not someone who is cleverer than everyone else. On the contrary, to be a leader, you do not have to be clever. What you need to be able to do to be a leader is to unite your feelings with everybody around you, with those people who you are leading, and to serve them, and to really know their needs, and to help them with what they need.
That is the nature of a leader: someone who can put aside his own intelligence, his own cleverness, his own understanding, his own needs, his own feelings, and unite with the feelings and the needs of the people around him.
That is the nature of a leader; and it is, too, the nature of a saint, or a wall. It is in that direction in which we are being purified by the power of Almighty God, in the latihan kejiwaan we follow.
If you think about it, it does seem impossible to bridge the gap from where we are now, which is the normal state of human beings, and that state in which we can really give up our own intelligence and our own self-interest. It seems impossible because, in general, we are still just people. If we are men, we need to be thought handsome, we need people to say we are clever, capable, good at doing this and that. If we are women we need people to say, 'Oh, you are pretty', or 'Oh, you are this or that'. These are big needs that we have; but they are only the needs of the heart and mind. The jiwa does not have that kind of need.
The process of bridging the gap between where we are normally with these needs and the state of universality Bapak described, cannot be accomplished with our own efforts. The gap can be bridged only by surrendering to Almighty God. That is the only way that we can move from here to there.
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo