New York, NY USA - May 3, 1959
Code Number : 59 NYC 1
The meaning of the name Adam is 'beginning' or 'the very first of the first'. At that time, before Adam had been sent down to earth, God made this promise to him: 'Don't be afraid. Don't be sad because you are separated from Me. I will work within you, so that later, when you are in the world, you will receive something that will bring your heart delight and peace. But later, when you unite with this creature who will be created after you, don't forget your worship of God. Don't forget it as you're doing this and that, as you're doing anything at all; for by not neglecting your worship of God, you will become aware of the benefit to you of having a wife. And God will create a human being of the same kind as yourself but different from you - a woman - who will come out of your own individuality. Thus, you are the symbol of the place where the seed descends, or exists, and the woman the place where the seed grows.'
So once he had that, Adam was shown that he should eat the single fruit growing on that tree. As soon as he'd eaten it Adam became aware for the first time that he and his one life companion were not the same. From then on, Adam and Eve became conscious of the benefit of men and women marrying and they eventually had children. But Adam didn't forget his worship of the One God during the union between man and woman.
Because at that time they were still close and there were not many human beings yet on this earth, Adam's children were vessels or bodies filled with noble and high human souls. As a result, his descendants, known as the prophets, were still able to worship God truly and to know the true way to live on this earth.
But eventually, as generation followed generation up to the present day, and as a result of the changes occurring from one age or era to another, human beings grew tired and strayed from the true worship of God, and grew closer and closer to the influence of the world, which is always at work on the self. Human beings drifted further and further from their souls and from their worship of God, until today it can be said that in general the inner feeling or inner self of human beings has grown blind to the spiritual reality that makes it possible to truly worship God.
So now this ( latihan ) has been willed by God because He knows what difficulties human beings are facing. As time goes by it gets more difficult. As time goes by we get further away. The result is the growth in this world, of not just one thing but of a general friction in daily life, which affects family life as well as life outside the family. Because of this there are a lot of married couples today who will get like this ( gesture ) over something quite trivial.
Therefore, to prevent such things happening, God is now giving human beings something that will enable them to return to the way of life at the time of Prophet Adam - whom Bapak just told you about - enabling them to become one in the marriage of man and woman, woman and man, creating a true living union that can become a way for them to worship God who created them.
Colet Garderns, London, England
Code number of Recording: 59 LON 7
With the birth of Subud, through the spiritual way all of you have received and are practising, ladies and gentlemen, you will receive real evidence that God exists. The signs of God’s power are there within each one of you: they are what arises and moves when your thinking mind, heart and desires are not working. This is the evidence for you that matters of the soul are God’s domain, and do not require the intervention of the human mind, desires and heart.
This way, your heart, desires and mind become healthy and work only for things they are able to achieve. And your mind, heart and desires will not be carried away into a dream world, a world where there is no reality.
And in that state you will become someone who is able to worship God because it is willed by God, because you obtain guidance from God and are also able to do whatever is within your capacity to look after your life in this world. You will be able to work in a normal way, in an office for example; to do business, farm, to raise livestock, build houses or other things, or to be a school teacher. So it will no longer be possible for other people to say that this spiritual training of ours is an activity which stifles the progress of human life on earth.
And you will really and truly be able to fulfill the promises made between God and human beings: namely, that they do not neglect their duty as human beings who have been created complete with all their tools for living on this earth, and they will be looked after and guided and watched over from behind by the power of God, who is always with them.
Wellington, New Zealand - March 25, 1963
Code Number : 63 WLG 1
Sometimes people think that they have received an indication, have received the words of God; in fact, however, it is a reflection of their imagination, a reflection of their thinking, like an answer to what they have been thinking about.
There it is. So it is very necessary for you to experience the movements that are in your inner feeling; and do not say, ‘What’s the point of moving? It’s enough to be quiet, isn’t it? What we need is the subtle part.’
Brothers and sisters, Bapak needs to tell you that if you only get the subtle part you will really miss out and be unhappy. Of course the satisfying thing is to go: let’s say, go to a restaurant. It’s not enough just to know about it. You want to eat the food if you can. Also, if you can, you would like to own [the restaurant]. It is not enough just to think about it and then to claim that you have it, or claim that you have already eaten there.
So, if you have only the subtle part, without making movements and all of that, you will be able to know – or in other words, you will be able to go to – heaven, enter heaven; but only with your thoughts, not yet for real. Is that what you want, to go to heaven in your dreams but not in reality?
In fact, the prophets and the messengers have said – and so did Jesus – that life after death is truly more real and more blissful than life in this world. They also said that death, life after death, is the continuation of human life through which human beings can rise to a grade or level higher than where they were before.
New York, NY USA - June 18, 1963
Code Number : 63 NYC 1
Bapak does not want you to do latihan all the time. No. When he says ‘do your latihan diligently’ it does not mean do latihan morning, noon, afternoon and night. Your wanting to do that – meaning, doing latihan every day – actually is not good for you. You are forcing yourself; it is coming from your desires. Do not do the latihan with your desires. Bapak can tell you that doing latihan once a week in a state of quietness and peace is more beneficial than doing it a hundred times a day. Truly, brothers and sisters.
So, doing latihan diligently means following what has been arranged; that is, two or three times a week for half an hour. That is enough. Because stopping the heart and thinking for half an hour twice a week is already of great benefit for a person. Think about it; generally, people who have not received the latihan cannot even quieten their heart and thinking for two minutes. They really cannot. Not only when they are awake – even when they are asleep they are still thinking. That is why they dream of so many things. They dream that they are quarrelling, they dream of this and of that. Every morning they tell you about their dreams: ‘Last night I had a dream!’
‘What did you dream?’
‘This, this, this …’
The next night they will dream again – they become a dreamer.
That is a fact. So Bapak hopes you will be diligent in doing latihan, but not every day; it is enough to do it every two or three days as long as you are calm and peaceful and truly surrender to God.
Briarcliff NY USA - July 8, 1963
Second Subud World Congress
Code Number : 63 BCL 1
For you, it is indeed wrong to think about it; you cannot think about something like that. Because to understand is wrong, and not to understand is also wrong; to seek is wrong and not to seek is wrong; to know is wrong, and not to know is wrong. So what can you do? Brothers and sisters, we who have experienced the Subud latihan are aware that it is not necessary to search for God or to know God. What is important for us is to surrender to God. As for the nature of God, we leave that to God, because God is All-knowing and All-wise. If we truly surrender to God, then, because God is All-knowing, we shall feel that which has been prepared within us.
This is how it is. So, when we have experienced the latihan we know, we understand, we are conscious that through our surrender we will feel the vibration of life within us. Clearly, human beings can receive guidance and direction from God, and can know and understand the working of God’s power, but only when God wills it and when it is given by God. And we have received this gift because God wills it. Perhaps it is time for humanity to be given this, so that they do not go on too long living in dreams and in constant inner suffering.
So it is clear that it is not just a matter of emptying oneself; for Bapak has heard many people say, ‘I have made myself empty, I have faith in God, I worship God, not only three or four times, but constantly; when I wake I remember God, when I wish to sleep I remember God. Why then do I not receive? Why am I not able to receive that which is called the contact with the greatness of God?’
To make it clearer: a person can receive the contact with God’s greatness only if he or she has been given God’s grace. If God has not yet given someone this grace, then no matter if they worship God a thousand times in every hour, they will not be able to receive. For God knows when this emptying and submission of the heart is no more than a tool; in other words, when a person’s heart and mind are trying to make use of God and God’s power within human beings. That is why those who have been able to receive God’s power, and to whom the secrets of life have been revealed – such as the prophets and Jesus – have been those who were truly clean and who would not make use of God’s power in this world in order to influence others, nor to prevail on people to have faith in them.
Oslo, Norway - September 10, 1964
Code Number : 64 OSL 2
If you are still young and you are studying, then it is best that you just study. Do not mix it with the needs of your soul; for your soul is something that is separate from your thinking, from your brain and your heart.
The everyday expression to describe someone who is insane is to say that their soul is sick. No, it is not; it is their thinking that is sick. It is their brain that is not working right. So it is clear that the soul of a human being is separate from the brain and the heart. Therefore, your normal work – or, for those who are studying, the course work that you need to pay attention to and think about – needs to be done by using your thinking, your heart and your brain. Do not use those faculties to study the needs of your soul. For if you mix up your soul with the work of your heart and brain you will encounter difficulties; your intellect and your heart will become disturbed and your life will not be that of a normal person. It will be rather like living in a shadow world, a world of dreams.
Take religion: Christianity and Islam, for example. Why do they just leave them be – their followers, their flock, all the people who belong to those religions? Why do they not show them and teach them techniques like meditation and other things? They just leave them alone, provided that they observe the religious practice, believe in God and truly put into practice what is taught in their religion. Why do they not show them the way to God?
The reason for that is not that Prophet Muhammad and Christ were unable or unwilling to do so, but because indeed that is the way. In short, the path to God, or the way for human beings to receive God’s grace and God’s help, is simply to be patient, to surrender, accept, and be willing to let go. That is the only way. Searching for God and thinking about the nature of God only drive us further away from God.
Cilandak, Indonesia - January 22, 1967
Code Number : 67 TJK 1
When we are doing latihan it is as if we do not remember our needs, or anything else we may need later. At that moment we receive what God’s will is, within us. It is important for us to be able to receive all that in a state of quietness, with a feeling that is clean, that does not dart hither and thither, and does not imagine this or that, just: ‘This is my receiving from Almighty God.’
Once that has manifested in your individuality, meaning throughout your body, in your every action and movement, day and night, and outwardly as well as inwardly, you are already close to the will or the power of God, which can be described in spiritual terms in Subud as kuwasa, karsa and rasa [Jav.]. Kuwasa means the One who has power. Karsa is will, the will that comes from God. What is willed by the power of God for a person is received by the person with their rasa body, their body of feeling.
The body of feeling is called badan in Islam; it is our body that contains the physical body, all the senses and all its parts. Once you are in that state completely, that is called rasul. The meaning of rasul is messenger. Why is that state called ‘messenger’? Because in that state I can do nothing, neither outwardly nor inwardly, unless I am moved to do it.
This is symbolised or represented by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Even when he was sleeping soundly he was always close to God. For that reason, if he dreamt while he was asleep it would be a true dream, not a dream from the thinking, like … is Rachmat here? I was talking about dreams the other day, and now whenever he meets me he tells me his dreams.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 18, 1967
Code Number : 67 TJK 2
Such is the direction and guidance of God; it brings close things that are not usually close. Bapak can tell you that this applies to all sorts of things. To the young men, those who are looking for work, for example; if you are looking for work and you are going somewhere to apply for a job, remember God so that you get guidance. If you are able to receive the guidance, when you meet the person who is offering the job you may not even need to ask. Instead, they will ask you. ‘You are looking for a job aren’t you?’
Yes.’
‘Do you want to work here?’
‘I’d like to.’
This is something Bapak has already experienced to some extent. So it is not that he blames you, but he does not feel it is right that someone becomes perturbed when looking for a job or in trying to make their life more comfortable, when they rush about, here and there. What is the cause of that? It is their unwillingness to accept the pain in their heart, their lack of surrender.
Yes, indeed, surrendering is difficult. Why is it difficult? Because surrendering means letting go of whatever you like, of whatever you want and of whatever is in your mind, and it is very difficult to let those things go. Here is an example. Well, if it concerns something material, maybe you can do it, if it concerns an ordinary material thing, but suppose that one day you received very clearly – whether it was in your dreams while you were asleep, or in your latihan – that your child was going to die very soon. If that happened you would ask God, ‘God, please grant that my child will not die.’ Yes. That is no longer surrender. If you were surrendered to God you would say, ‘I leave it to You.’
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 22, 1967
Code Number : 67 TJK 7
There are many stories in which the truth is hidden in allegories, the secret of which has still to be uncovered. Therefore, in order to be aware of and to discover these secrets, there is no other way for you who have received the latihan kedjiwaan of Subud but to follow it faithfully and diligently, because it is, in fact, guidance from the Power of Almighty God.
Concerning dreams, maybe there are some among you who think about the dreams you have had while asleep, because Bapak receives many letters from brothers and sisters from abroad asking about the meaning of their dreams. So Bapak would like to explain here that a dream is actually a projection of the ideas and imagination of the person concerned, and is seen with the eyes of the feeling during sleep. For instance, someone who is experiencing difficulties and ill-fortune in life usually has very strange and terrifying dreams when he is asleep. Sometimes, too, people have a dream which in its nature is an ilafat or an indication of what is going to happen. It then turns out that what they have received in their dream really comes true. But such kinds of dreams are rarely received by people whose hearts and minds are still full of thoughts and emotions. It is better, therefore, not to pay too much attention to dreams; it is better if you just let them pass by, for if you always pay attention to dreams - and you certainly do dream whenever you are asleep, even if you do not remember it - your faith, submission and sincerity towards Almighty God will lessen, so that doubt and anxiety will arise in your inner feeling. Especially if you have dreams which, according to the interpretation of others, mean that you will face difficulties or death - this will be even more alarming to you, whereas it is not certain that it really will happen to you.
In short, it is better for you not to take too much notice of dreams. It will be better if you obey and follow faithfully the way of the latihan kedjiwaan which is, in truth, guidance from the Power of Almighty God. For with the guidance of Almighty God, your inner feeling will be filled with strong faith and submission, with trust and sincerity towards His Power, so that you will not be afraid to face death when this is indeed willed by Almighty God.
Yes, who is not afraid to die, for death ends the life of man on earth. It is even more frightening for people who during their life have never lacked anything. If it were possible, they would wish to have their life prolonged many hundreds of years.
Leicester, England - July 8, 1970
Code Number : 70 LTC 1
So the important thing for you is just to be patient and no longer succumb so easily to the disease of being quick to anger and quick to worry, nor to the disease of being jealous of other members. If someone else is receiving more rapidly than yourself; just let it be. Don't say he is faking when he does that, no. False or not false, you do not know. If you say he is being false, that is just talk so long as you yourself do not know. Supposing you know and are asked, 'If you know that I am behaving falsely, what is the proof?' 'It is just supposition.' Ah, just supposition, not fact; that is all it is.
That is just a joking example, brothers and sisters, but it demonstrates that the latihan kejiwaan fills the whole of the self, moving not only the visible hands and feet but the whole of you. So in doing the latihan you will feel and receive in such a way that eventually you will be able to understand and be aware of the extent of the kejiwaan in Subud.
This is why Bapak hopes you will remain harmonious; quarrelling is of no use. Nor will quarrels and disagreements among you add to your progress in receiving the latihan kejiwaan; they are just what blocks and hinders the development of your jiwa and the progress and purification of your inner feeling as it is cleansed by the Power of God manifesting within your self.
That is all, brothers and sisters. It is precisely twelve o'clock, and Bapak brings this meeting to an end. He will say no more except to wish you good night. And he hopes you will sleep well and not have too many dreams.
Cilandak, Indonesia - November 27, 1971
Code Number : 71 TJK 23
So the chance of being able to receive the Qodar lies in fasting in the right way. If while fasting you imagine how nice it would be to eat something, that annuls the fast.
In short, it is not a fast just for the stomach, the heart and mind also have to fast.
This is why the Qodar is still remote from you. If, while fasting, you sometimes look at a bottled drink and fancy buying it for later when you break the fast, or if you fancy other things like that, it would be altogether better not to fast. It is difficult to fast, that is to say, to hold out when you feel hungry, yet not to have any fancies about food. How is it with you?
To prove this point, let Bapak ask you what you received after fasting for twenty days. You say 'I felt nothing. I just slept.' Did you experience anything at all? 'Yes, I had a dream.' That's it, you only had a dream.
Thus, brothers and sisters, as you cannot prevent all this, it is best to face it. So when you fast, get used to being near food and drink, but don't pay much attention to them. That's fasting, that's what it means. If there is a syrup drink, you don't fancy drinking it. If there are cigarettes, you don't fancy smoking them. That is genuine fasting. There are some people who can't bear not to drink, so they just smell the drink. That nullifies the fast. However, it is all right if you just do it as training. Sometimes a person who is not strong enough to bear his thirst refreshes himself by cooling himself outwardly with ice. All kinds of things are being done. But they are permissible just as training yes, permissible on a small scale.
Carmel Valley, CA USA - April 16, 1972
Code Number : 72 CAV 1
Well, now what about your hearts and brains, which are used to working all the time? Especially while you are awake; although, as dreams prove, they do still work in your sleep, they work even more while you are awake. Thus it is clear that hearts and brains keep on working, whereas in connection with the latihan kejiwaan which you receive they are hardly allowed to work at all, for if they do, they just cause delay in your receiving and also bring distress to your feelings. It is therefore very necessary to give the heart and brain some work to do. What is the work for the heart and brain, for the feelings and thoughts? It is the kind of work that heart and brain, feelings and the thoughts can do and can carry through to completion, work done not by the jiwa but by the heart and mind. That is why Bapak proposes to all the members that their hearts and minds should be given work to do, and the work they are given is carrying on enterprises, as Bapak has always said.
Washington, DC USA - May 5, 1972
Code Number : 72 WAS 1
Bapak will tell you a little about what he himself has experienced. On one occasion, at nine o'clock in the evening, Bapak felt very sleepy, as if he wanted to go to sleep and could not help going to sleep. Bapak felt very strange; his breathing began to get thinner and thinner and thinner. Bapak wondered why he was so sleepy, why did he want to sleep, why was his breathing becoming thin ? Was this the moment appointed for Bapak to die end to leave this world ? As he sat there, Bapak thought about all this. But then Bapak remembered that at the age of fifteen he had a had a kind of dream in which he was told that at the age of thirty-two he would be summoned by the One Almighty God. When Bapak remembered that he thought no more and no further, except surrender to God, thinking "Oh, this is the time for Bapak to die. So Bapak surrendered sincerely to the One Almighty God. Bapak went to his bed and there he prepared for death. But with Bapak’s sincere submission he did not die. No. Bapak felt as if his body were cut in two. The lower part was drawn towards the south; the upper part was drawn towards the north. Then Bapak felt that his southern extremity was very cold and he also felt his northern extremity very cold.
big>Cilandak, Indonesia - June 22, 1973
Code Number : 73 CDK 1
Bapak gets letters from members. If they were merely to be read out they would soon be finished, but things are clearer if Bapak explains with his own tongue.
The things we experience, the experiences that come to us, are not the results of theories, not the result of planning, not the result of dreams, they come of their own accord.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 3, 1974
Code Number : 74 CDK 2
( Testing )
Thus it is clear that for someone whose husband had died less than a thousand days ago, it is as if he were still reflected in the world of thought. Sometimes she also dreams of him as if he were still in this world. Is that so or not? It is so for a woman whose husband has died. Yes or no? This is just so far as the world of sleep.
( Testing )
You will always receive things like that. I hope your inner self is not such that it forgets and neglects its right to choose, to choose this, as if it had only the rights of an animal inner self; only at peace, only feeling happy and accepting and content to be in its usual conditions. If you are human, that means having plenty of money and plenty of this and plenty of that. So don't behave like an animal; it is very necessary for people living in this world to possess these things; to have a house for instance, and to have material possessions is not wrong.
But at the same time you must not forget that above the human level there is something, Bapak only says something, that knows and understands about life. It neither uses nor possesses organs or a body like a human, not like the body you possess while you live in this world. But in spite of that, sisters, you must not neglect the needs of this world or the needs of life.
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 3, 1975
Code Number : 75 CDK 7
There is no God but Allah and to Him be the praise. Thus it is the One Almighty God Who gives us inspiration and knowledge. Believe in Him. All the more so should Subud members believe; you who have received the Latihan and who have to some extent received proof. This is why Bapak hopes that the older ones amongst you in particular, those who have been a long time in Subud, will not frighten newer and younger ones in any way. You must not frighten them by saying that there is a ghost around. You must not do that. The older ones must give a sense of security; they must reinforce their faith in Almighty God. They must not frighten people.
Bapak will tell you a story. Before Bapak bought Citalahap, it was a home of devils, according to the people who live there. The people who live there said that Citalahap was the home of devils. Then the people of Citalahap dreamed that Citalahap was about to be bought by someone who, according to the people there, was said by the devils to be Guru Jagad ( the World Teacher ). Well, I am not sure who said that. Bapak himself does not proclaim that he is Guru Jagad. No; Bapak Subuh is just Bapak Subuh. There is his signature on his kartu penduduk ( identity card ). Bapak Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo, not Guru Jagad. It was only the devils who were saying that. Then the deal was concluded and Bapak bought the land. Then the devils came again in the people's dreams, saying, 'Come on, let us all go'; all the grandchildren, all the leading devils, their bupati ( regents ). There were a great many bupati there, the regents of the Southern Ocean. They were the subordinates of Nyai Loro Kidul the Queen of the South Seas ( a very famous She devil ), so the story goes. 'Come on', they said, 'let us move out, because now this place belongs to the Guru Jagad'.
The people there were indeed quite convinced of all of this. They said that if anyone cut wood there or felled a tree he would become seriously ill or die, until no one dared to cut any wood or to fell a tree. But when Bapak eventually bought the land, the people were brave enough to cut them all down. This was actually to Bapak's disadvantage. He actually lost by it, for because they saw there was nothing to guard the place, people grew bold. So these devils did nothing to Bapak, because Bapak did them no harm. If there were any devils there, they were actually good ones; good in that they brought money. Yes, so Bapak was not short of money. Yes; that is how it was. So if you do not hate the devils, money will follow you. Devils are the same as money, just the same. If you are frightened of devils, money will be frightened of you. Well, if money is frightened of you, you will be in trouble. Yes, if you have no money, you will get into a panic.
Well, brothers and sisters, believe that God is All-powerful. God has no enemies. If he had enemies, any enemy would soon be done for, because God is Almighty. God envelops everything. As the saying goes, brothers and sisters, huwal awalu, huwal akhiru; God is in the beginning and God is in the ending. Thus both what is uppermost and what is undermost is God; what you carry on your head and what you tread under your feet is God. Go carefully, brothers and sisters. All of this can be felt, but felt by those who are able to receive, brothers and sisters. That is why success in the Kejiwaan can only be verified and can only be received by someone who has already had this experience.
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 13, 1976
Code Number: 76 CDK 16
What I have received, the decree of the One Almighty God, is that all mankind has one origin; all mankind is one. Because of that they are intended to live in harmony. How can they be in harmony if they are still divided, which means that they are still not in agreement?
As proof of this, brothers and sisters, there has never yet been any congregation or association for the worship of God which included within it all the various religions, the various races. This has never happened yet. Well, perhaps Bapak has not read all the books, not yet read extensively enough, but so far as Bapak has heard, this has never yet happened until just now.
And why only just now? Why not before? That is God's decision; that is the will of God. Human beings can do nothing but accept and receive. It is like when you dream. Can you change the course of your dreams? If you dream that you are being eaten by a tiger, can you change it into being swallowed up by the sun, or something like that? You cannot.
Yes; this is the divine decree, the decree of Allah. Thus the latihan kejiwaan of Subud can also be said to be a latihan decreed by God, decreed by Allah. Or in other words, to borrow an expression, it is hak wajibul wujud ( actual reality ). It is the truth.
That, brothers and sisters, is the reason why it is difficult to talk about it or to explain it to anyone who has not yet received the latihan kejiwaan. For this is of the nature of a technique; the evidence and proof of it is in the latihan. How can I explain something that takes this form when you have not yet experienced it for yourself? For all your five senses show the evidence and show the way. Once you have seen a material object, you believe in its form. But if you have not yet seen it, you cannot believe in it. It is a different matter if one, asked "Who made this?" Then, because someone made it, one can answer "Oh, it was made by so and so". That is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so what I ask of you, of the helpers and committee members, is that if at any time you are asked to explain about Subud, you will explain what you have experienced.
Supposing that the person to whom you explain does not believe you, that is up to him or her. "What I have seen is like this." It is like when one dreams. "What I dream is like this." You may or may not believe it; you have to do your own dreaming, and see whether it is the same or not. For myself, if I dream and then go back and dream again, I cannot continue my own dream, much less anybody else's dream.
What I hope you will do when you are asked for such an explanation, is that to the best of your ability you only should and only may explain what you have experienced. But you should not involve other people's experiences, which you yourself have never had. Nor should you involve religion or the knowledge of other people, such as any of the kebatinans. Yes; especially if anyone asks you if you have ever heard an inner voice, and what did it say. "If I am in the latihan, the voice is in the latihan, and when the latihan is over the voice disappears."
Montreal, Canada - September 17, 1977
Code Number : 77 YUL 2
Therefore, the principal thing in Subud is the Kejiwaan, and the committee is only, as it were, the servant of the Kejiwaan, or the secretariat of the Kejiwaan. So the one that holds the key, or holds the authority, in Subud is the Kejiwaan. In the committee, that is the secretariat, the one who takes care of the outer needs, this is done in the ordinary way. In other words, it is decided by people how to do it, how best to do it, who should do it and so on. But in the Kejiwaan there are no regulations because you cannot regulate. It is the same as trying to regulate what a person dreams in the night. It is something that is beyond regulations. It is whatever he or she receives, or whatever happens within him or her. The Kejiwaan, therefore, is something where we can only receive from God Almighty and there is no regulation whatsoever.
Cilandak, Indonesia - May 7, 1978
Code Number : 78 CDK 6
It is dangerous to give something to someone if you do not know what he will do with it or what will happen next. It is like giving a sharp knife to a small child, who does not yet know about such things. You love the child and you give it this sharp knife, but you do not know what the outcome will be. Of course sharp things are for doing something that needs to be done, like cutting something out with scissors or slicing bread with a knife, but not for cutting off your nose. No. Well, the child does not understand about this, but just wants to use the knife, Thus it is clear that both the one who gives and the one who receives should be really responsible for the consequences, and that is perfection, for something to be able, to be beneficial and really useful for both parties. This is it.
Bapak will explain a little, so that you will not be asking questions. Werkudoro met the Dewa Puci in the depths of the ocean, in the wide ocean. Before he went down into the ocean and before he met the Dewa Ruci, the story says that Werkudoro first had a fight with a giant. That means with the nafsu. Thus he had to do that first, so as to be able to plunge into a purified inner feeling, as wide as the wide ocean. That is why water is used as a symbol for the feelings, for rasa. Rasa is the same as rakso ( Javanese ), the inner feelings, which of course had first to fight with the nafsu. Werkudoro defeated the giant, the nafsu, but then, even after defeating the giant, he was still confronted by a snake.
It was like a story I read in the newspaper yesterday, about a man who was swallowed by a big snake. Was he under a spell or something? For because the snake put a spell upon him, charmed him, he just kept still while the snake wound itself round him and then swallowed him. Why did he do nothing to save himself, and not even call for help? How was it? Perhaps he thought this snake was his brother giving him a massage, so that he just let it swallow him. And the snake was so fat and heavy that it could only crawl slowly, because it had swallowed this man. It wanted to move but it must have found it difficult, so that a lot of people saw what had happened and they killed it. And after killing it, as you may have read for yourselves, they cut it open and got the man out, still wearing his trousers even though he had been eaten.
After reading that story, that night Bapak had a dream, and dreamed that he was being swallowed by a snake, but it was a small one, and so it could not manage to swallow Bapak. It is a funny thing, but whenever Bapak reads something, he dreams about it that night. That was only a dream; not about a big snake that swallows people, but just a small snake.
So this is Bapak’s explanation, brothers and sisters. Werkudoro defeated the snake. How did he do that? Because the snake was not as strong as he was, nor was it the kind that swallows people, not like the one in the newspaper story. No; it was the kind that bites the thighs. Well, if I explain that, brothers and sisters, it is the secret part of you. Yes, that is what it was.
Having defeated the snake, he then met with the Dewa Ruci. The Dewa Ruci was deep within the innermost. Well,. the Dewa Ruci is a symbol; not symbolic of any person, but of the power of God. Yes; one could say that means God, but if one said that it meant God, then people would think that God was like the Dewa Ruci. Well, that is the difficulty, brothers and sisters. So you must not be in such a hurry to believe stories, but it is very necessary to clarify them in the latihan kejiwaan, so that you can know how things are.
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 4, 1978
Code Number : 78 CDK 10
Because Adam had become a human being, his inner nature required him to wake and to sleep, to be sad and to be glad. Of course this happened. It is a quality inherent not in human beings, but in the conditions of human life in this world. Adam felt happy, and then he want to sleep. It is strange how people s1eep. Before he went to sleep, he felt happy to be near his wife and his children, with good food close by. But when he was asleep, he forgot them, and did not remember anything at all. On the contrary, he dreamt nonsensical dreams. He dreamt about riding on a chicken instead of a horse. Thus everything was upside down, When he woke, he felt that. He said, “Just now when I was asleep, I forgot everything. If that is so, then the happiness of life in this world does not last for ever. I shall not have it always, which means that it is not eternal and everlasting. This was only just being asleep, so how much more so when I die.” From that moment on he began to feel unhappy. Whereas he had formerly been rather on the stout side, after having gone to sleep he began to get thin. His weight dropped from a former eighty kilograms to sixty. That is what his weight would have been if he had been weighed. At that time there were no weighing machines. He merely felt thin, because he was unhappy. “Just now, when I was only sleeping, I forgot that I was beside my wife, whom I love,” he said. “My wife, to whom I often say that in all the world there are only the two of us, and that this whole world belongs just to us. But as soon as I went to sleep, I forgot. So this world does not belong just to me nor do I remember who or what has been close to me. This is when I am only asleep, so how much more so will it be after I am dead. Death means that nothing is working any more; my thoughts and all the rest will not be working any longer. How will it be then? So he began to lose weight, and where he had formerly weighed eighty five kilograms, he went down to only sixty seven.
Because he was a human being, and could be said only recently to have been created on this earth, he could still really feel his closeness to the power of God. So then he remembered. Of whom should I ask this question? Who will answer it? Of course, it is none other than God. He kept still and quieted himself, He remembered, and as he remembered it seemed as if he was given the answer. It was as if he was told the answer. “Adam, you forget. You forget the time when you were in heaven. You were not near your wife, you did not possess your five senses, but you were close to the power of God. You were happy, for whatever you wished was there as soon as you wished for it. One might say that if you wished for a beef steak, a beef steak would suddenly appear, and it was very good. You wished to taste some chocolate, for instance, and suddenly there it was; there was some chocolate. That is an illustration of how it used to be in heaven. You had everything; you could do everything, you could have every happiness. Now you are in this world and you are accompanied by the full complement of your five senses. But unless you do something about it, you will be miserable, because things are different in heaven from the way they are on earth. One may say that in heaven, if you intend to take something, it has already happened before you move to take it, because the power of God is always close to you. On earth it is not like that. If you want some chocolate to eat, you have to look for it, and it is by no means certain that you will find it somewhere close at hand. Sometimes it is a long way off, sometimes there is none, sometimes you have to work for it. Thus this world is full of conditions, and so you have to work.
Cilandak, Indonesia March 4, 1979
Code Number : 79 CDK 6
So it is clearly willed by God that man should work and use his life in this world to the maximum advantage. In reality, if you really can feel it, there is no such thing as a human being who is idle, or a human being who is out of work. Because even if you see someone who is sitting still and doesn't move, actually if you really can understand his state, you will know that his mind is constantly going round in circles in his head. So even if physically he is still, his mind is never still. If his mind stops, he will immediately go to sleep. So don't let your state be like that. And in fact, Bapak has often said that even in sleep, you should be able to be conscious.
For example, Bapak himself, when he sleeps, often has dreams, but Bapak can, as it were, stop himself, so if Bapak is having a bad dream, Bapak immediately wakes up. But if Bapak is dreaming, for example a dream that is pleasant, or something like he is having good fortune and he is getting, let's say, a lot of money, then for Bapak this is something really true. He really is getting a lot of money, but in his dream. So what he is getting is dream money.
And this is the advice that Bapak always gives to you all. If you have a dream that you are receiving a gift from God, or you are receiving some great good fortune, or something like that, then just accept it in the dream. Because that is what you are receiving - you are receiving a dream good fortune.
For this world, you can get your good fortune by working. So what you have been given by God, as your accessories, as your tools in this world, are for this world. Not for the world of the miraculous, but for this world. And for the world of the miraculous, there you cannot use these tools; but for that you have to follow the latihan kejiwaan.
When Bapak was talking earlier about the fellow who liked to fast and to restrain from sleep who finally ended up in the world of the satanic, Bapak said that this is the way it is arranged by God Almighty. Because man cannot improve himself by his own efforts, or by the efforts of the heart and mind. The reason for this lies in the nature of man himself. Man is a very weak creature. But at the moment when he feels powerful, then his power knows no bounds. In other words, he immediately becomes arrogant and he wants more and more. If you don't believe this, you only need to look around the world today. Where do you find a country where people are not fighting for power, and where there is not a conflict and instability? In fact, to be quite honest, if you look at America, they are in a state of uncertainty or instability. The same in Europe, the same in Africa and Asia. Everywhere people at the moment are frightened of what the future holds. If you look around the world, you even find maybe that among all these places perhaps Indonesia is the one that is the most peaceful and the most quiet. But don't then draw the conclusion from this: Oh yes, then in that case it must mean that Indonesia is specially loved by God and especially willed by God to become very good, or to make progress or something.
There is nothing that is ever the same or remains the same. There is nothing that remains forever strong or forever weak. Everything is changing all the time.
Cilandak, Indonesia - April 22, 1979
Code Number : 79 CDK 12
Just to take something small as an example; it is not very appropriate, but it will do as an example. Supposing you dream that a tiger is chasing you, and you say to someone else, "I dreamt that I was being chased by a tiger." You did not like that dream. Why does it happen that you do something which you do not like? It is because, when you dream, things happen without your intention; things that you do not like and do not want to dream about.
Take another example. Perhaps Rusli is here? Rusli once said that he had read about how the prophet Muhammad's daughter had a dream, in which she met her father and met the angels, and she also dreamed that she received a blessing, something glorious. She told her dream to someone else, who said, "On, that could not possibly happen. Why could it not happen? It happened to me in a dream. Of course you yourself do not believe it because you did not have the same dream as I did.
Well then Siti Fatimah reported this to her father the prophet Muhammad, and asked him, "Was this dream of mine true or not?" “Because this was a dream only you and the 'One Almighty God know about it. That is why you must surrender it all to the One Almighty God and do not think about it. Dreams are not things that one can think about, but one can only surrender to whatever happens in them.
That is the way, to explain about this latihan kedjiwaan of Subud, brothers and sisters. And now for the question as to whether Subud is a religion. You can answer that it is not. Be positive; say no. For one can say that a religion is a body of organized rules which regulate human life and which are laid down in the commandments of the One Almighty God, which means that the laws of human life which have been given to mankind by the power of God are stated therein. But of course, brothers and sisters, the rules that God has given to mankind are in accordance with the human condition or situation. It is like what is said in the holy books; in the Gospels and in the Koran. Although in these there is also much that is of the nature of teaching, much advice that is good and beautiful capable of being followed exactly, yet what is said there in the Koran and in the Gospels applies to those times and those places in which they were written. There is no word there at all concerning the life and conditions of mankind in this era. There is nothing about that for it was not yet time for it.
Toronto, Canada - August 23, 1979
Code Number : 79 YYZ 11
Whether the progress of Subud is smooth or otherwise of course depends upon the power of God, brothers and sisters, but the second place it depends upon you yourselves. If your capacity approaches anywhere near that of Christ - if, for instance, it is ten percent of that of Christ - you will be able to receive that much. It is clear that Bapak has experienced all that, brothers and sisters. Bapak has experienced all that.
Because in what is called ilmu or in the spiritual life there is of course no difference between death and life, tomorrow and today do not exist. What exists is only the now. That is why Christ said that death is what in Dutch is called eenvoorzetting van hot leven, a continuation of life. Voorzetting means continuation. Any of you who are from Holland will understand that. That is why Christ said, "I am not afraid to be crucified, for the cross is a bridge to take me back to my own world; the greatest and widest of worlds." That was also the case for the prophet Muhammad and for the other prophets. That is why it is said that those who are faithful to their religions , those who persevere in the religion of Abraham, the religion of Moses, the Christian religion of Jesus Christ, the religion of Islam - are not afraid to die. Thus if there is a war, they are not afraid, for death is something quite normal, like sleep. People sleep and then awaken from their sleep. Yes; they are convinced of this. But when people do not know and understand about these boundaries ( of life and death ), then of course they are afraid, and they feel heavy and confused, the more so for those who can feel death in their dying when even in sleep you cannot feel anything. At night you sleep beside your wife, sharing the same pillow very close together. Sometimes with your arms around each other. But if while you are sleeping someone were to take her away, or if a husband were to be taken away from his wife, you would not feel it That is just when you are asleep, but how about when you are dead? Whereas sleep is only moving from one place to another; your feelings move, they move into your mind. That is why the things you are thinking about are reflected in your sleep, in your dreams.
Brothers and sister this is what Bapak tells all the members; that a decline in the numbers of Subud members throughout the world would not cause Bapak any disappointment. No; all that is left to the people themselves, to the members themselves. Of course, brothers and sisters, when people have immersed themselves really deeply in an ilmu or in what is called a spiritual teaching, it is indeed not easy for them to rise from that up to what is called hakekat. The meaning of hakekat is truth or reality· It is the true reality of life without any limitations. That reality of life has no boundaries. Can you feel where you were before you were living in this world and where you will be after you leave it? It is clear, brothers and sisters, that you come from you know not where, and when you die and leave this world you enter into a state of being which you cannot know· This is your need for the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, so that you can receive how it was before you came into this world and how it will be after you leave it. This is what you have in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. That is why you must not be in a hurry, brothers and sisters, and you must not feel that you have to receive quickly, all at once, so that you can understand. It is not necessary. What matters is for you to have saber, tawakal and iklas; patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission to God. The meaning of saber, patience, brothers and sisters, is that you do not feel pain or feel upset if you are criticized. As a rule, people's hearts are unable to accept that. If they are criticized, they are, of course in a state of revolt and rebellion. This is a disease.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 3, 1980
Code Number : 80 CDK 1
Bapak will tell you something, brothers and sisters. While Bapak was ill in that hospital, St. Carolus, a telegram arrived from London, from an Omani prince. He was a king. I had never met him or even seen him. I did not even know his name. Nor did he know me. He said that he was sending me some money; ten thousand pounds for Bapak Muhammad Subud. I was amazed, Here was someone sending me money whom I did not even know. Had it arrived? No. So that was that. Later on I happened to be going to England. The doctors tried to dissuade me but I did not allow them to. They could not dissuade me. "But what if you die Bapak?" "Well, then, I shall just die." "You could die on the plane, before you ever get to England'. "Well, I did not die. I do the will of God and I carry out my task. I work for the Lord God, not for any human being. When I got to London I met that prince. When we met, he embraced me. He was a big fat man and he crushed me flat. Yes, he really hugged me and kissed me. Well, I thought I was done for. Then I sat down. "Bapak, I thank you very much."
I had not yet said anything. "Bapak has been able to convert people to Islam when Islam is unpopular in the world” he said. “That is a very meritorious act." Then I talked to him. He asked me whether I had received the check from him? It so happened that at the time when his check had been sent I had already left for London. I said that I had not yet received it. "Oh, never mind. No matter, if it has got lost. I will write another one. I will add a bit more, to make it up to twelve thousand pounds." So here was yet more good fortune. That was to some extent mukjijat.
Thus mukjijat can be explained as something of which people do not dream, but which comes to exist. That is mukjijat. But the things that people do dream of and achieve through effort, these are istijrat. Thus when people acquire supernatural powers and become invulnerable, that is istijrat. When they die, these people cannot go on to the next world. They cannot do that. Such people belong to this world. That is why they are reincarnated. Thus in Bapak's case, according to Bapak's receiving, he will not reincarnate when he dies, but will go on. Let us hope that you can go with him and that B. can follow Bapak.
Cilandak, Indonesia - March 6, 1981
Bapak's Farwell Talk
Code# farwell-talk
So what we receive in the latihan kejiwaan is how to be touched by the power of God in the middle of everything we are doing. The latihan kejiwaan of Subud is the "nudging" of the power of God throughout our daily activities. It is how to worship God in our walking, in sitting, in laughing, in talking, in all the things we do everyday. That is what Bapak means by the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. It is being normal. It is being our everyday selves, alive in everything that we do.
So, brothers and sisters, actually Almighty God is always close to man, but man cannot be aware of it because of his nafsu. Because man's nafsu, left to itself, never leaves any empty time, or any space for the power of God to get in. For example, people say that when you are asleep, you are really resting and you are really quiet. But the proof that this is not so is that when you are asleep, you have nightmares and you have dreams, and your mind wanders all over the place, and does all sorts of things.
Bapak himself, Bapak says... You know, Bapak still dreams. For example, he has dreams of doing things like he did in his youth. He has dreams that he is fighting, and he has dreams that he is climbing mountains, and he has all sorts of dreams... Because the mind actually never stops. The mind is constantly going on and the nafsu is constantly going on. The only way to stop it is to subjugate or quieten the mind from the power of God.
So brothers and sisters, if you want to be guided by God, if you want to be close to God's guidance, the way to get there is to be completely normal ... to be simple, to be normal, to be straightforward and to be conscious; to be conscious in everything you do and limit yourself to what is needed. That is the way to receive God's Grace.
So don't get the idea that the way to get close to God is by practicing asceticism or self-denial, or self-torture, because what that does is to strengthen yourself. In other words, that is something which strengthens what is already in you. So if what is in you is wrong, then it will strengthen that wrong thing. For example, if your inner self is still full of satanic forces, of devils, then it is those devils that will get strengthened.
Cilandak, Indonesia - March 8, 1981
Code Number : 81 CDK 5
Thus, esoteric teachings and science do exist, which are merely for analyzing an dissecting spiritual matters over and over again. Yes, and people compare Subud to these. They say that those things are like the latihan kejiwaan. No, no the latihan kejiwaan is not some esoteric teaching, not a kebatinan, but something normal and ordinary. The latihan kejiwaan is a knowledge of life, because it runs in parallel with life. This goes on until you can feel the grace of God; so that you can feel yourself touched by the power of God – by what in religious language is called zat Tuhan Yang Maha Esa or the Power of the One Almighty God – and feel this in walking, sitting, and laughing – in seeing, in speaking, in touching, yes, in all those things you can feel the vibration of the Power of God.
Thus it is clear that the Power of God does indeed touch you all the time, and it continues to touch you. If one speaks of God coming close to human beings, God does come close to His creatures, but His creatures are not yet certain to feel His nearness because they are robbed of this knowledge and obstructed by their senses of hearing, sight, smell and taste and by their imagination and their thinking. Thus it is your thinking which gets in your way. People say that whey they are asleep they are resting, but that is by no means certain, for even when they are asleep, they dream nonsensical dreams. Bapak himself, when he sleeps, sometimes dreams as if he were still young, doing pencak ( Javanese art of self-defense ), yes, and climbing up and down mountains, so when he wakes he feels quite tired out. This is the life of the imagination that we live in dreams.
Baden Vienna, Austria - May 11, 1981
Code Number : 81 VIE 4
It was thus clear, brother and sisters, that Bapak's mother was to be the vessel for a child yet to be conceived, and so it was very necessary for her to lead a pure and holy life. Bapak is not making any comparisons, but Bapak feels that this was like what happened to Mary before Christ was born, so that it is usually said that Christ was born of the power of God. Well, however that may be, that is the story of Bapak’s mother which he himself heard from her. Then, this happened a second time. All that happened before Bapak’s mother was married to his father. The later on, after she was married to Bapak’s father, she became pregnant and during her pregnancy Bapak' s. mother frequently had dreams, or what one would call dreams, because they were not really happening. She had those strange dreams up to the time of Bapak’s birth. At the time of Bapak's birth the two volcanoes Merapi and Kelud were in eruption. Bapak was born exactly at dawn in the Islamic month of Maulud in the Islamic year Dal. Bapak is not saying that he is like the prophet, but he was born at precisely the same time ( the same time, day, month and year of the Islamic cycle ) as was the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, because at the time of Bapak's birth the cannon were firing a salute, of forty guns at the Mataram, Yogyakarta and Solo palaces to commemorate the birth of the prophet Muhammad in the month of Maulud, which is the great day celebrated by all the people of Islam. So the month Maulud, the greatest month, and the year Da1 were the same as when the prophet Muhammad, was born.
Cilandak, Indonesia - October 3, 1982
Code Number : 82 CDK 14
Bapak surrenders everything to God and in fact as a result goes on living rather than dying. Bapak is now 82, which is considered as rather old, so what does he think about death, does he wish to die? No! People have to die so there's no point in being afraid or having regrets. What is important, brothers and sisters, is that people should not be engrossed in evil acts prior to death, one ought not to neglect the performance of duties that are truly the Will of God.
So work on yourself, on all your senses, so that you may be able fully to provide for your needs in this world ( where you need your physical senses to live ), as you must have enough for your requirements here; but you won't need those particular senses after death.
Once you are dead there are other considerations, different problems to be faced, this physical body wouldn't do for them. Let us consider dreams. People say that if you dream of being eaten or mauled by a tiger, it means for a working person that they will be promoted in rank. For traders and businessmen, it can mean much profit and good fortune.
Despite the fact that you may have heard this, if you fall asleep and do dream that you meet a tiger, you're half scared to death, despite the fact you may remember the saying that being eaten by a tiger in a dream is a symbol of good luck to come. In fact, the meaning of dreams is sometimes the opposite of what it seems to be. Not only sometimes, either! If you dream of being beaten up, you're more likely to receive great good fortune. Does this mean you'll look forward to being beaten up? Not at all! Things are different in dreams.
We see then, brothers and sisters, that although dreams are symbolic of facts, they cannot be fully relied on, as the reverse often happens. Even in the case of your dreams, the mind is of little use. How much the more so when it comes to death! This isn't a human problem, it doesn't relate to human life here. Leave it to God!
Nevertheless, brothers and sisters, God has given us the opportunity, God has given us something which we may use for guidance in our lives. Perhaps if we can't actually put it to use, we can experience it independently of our thoughts, in our hearts. Through Divine Guidance, you may have an experience, but it won't be like a dream, not at all!
We should surrender entirely to God the question of death, as it is only God who can create and give understanding to our inner nature, when we are free of thought and desires. This is the truth, brothers and sisters and the Mi'raj, or Ascension, of the Prophet Muhammad symbolizes it. The mind is no longer of any use here and in any case, your whole being will have been purified as a prerequisite.
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo