Montreal, Canada - May 18, 1959
Code Number : 59 YUL 2
Also, we will be able to provide money for helpers to be sent where they are needed, which of course involves a lot of expense. We will be able to establish schools and, if necessary, a hospital for those who need medical treatment, who want to get well and be healed of their illnesses. Certainly such undertakings will involve a lot of expenditure and produce no income, which means that Subud will need to spend lots of money. That is why the committee really needs to make an effort to set up something that produces income. In that way we can cover our future needs.
Once we are able to set up hospitals, don't think we won't need doctors to work in them. We do need doctors, to enable us to bring about a collaboration between the knowledge of the mind - which is science - and the knowledge we get from God, which is spiritual knowledge. In these hospitals there would be doctors and nurses with qualifications from the medical schools. But, besides them, there would also be those who have done the latihan, to help in the hospital. These two can then work together to heal and fulfil the wishes of the patients.
It is even better if the doctors themselves, the nurses themselves, already have a lot of experience in the spiritual field. That's even better, because then we won't need so many people to help. The doctors and the nurses will already be able to work in both fields, the scientific and the spiritual.
Perhaps there are still many other things the committee can try to do in the humanitarian field. That will depend on the strength of the committee itself.
Such work and such actions would be proof that Subud and our latihan doesn't just emphasize the spiritual side. As normal people in the world, we need to work so we can reach the level where we are happy in this world and the next; where we are all right in this world as well as the next one - in our life after we die. We are able to work for our own welfare, based on our worship of God.
...read the complete talk - 59 YUL 2
Coombe Springs, England - August 9, 1959
Code Number : 59 CSP 1
In the medical field - supposing we get enough money to also establish hospitals - the hospital will not only employ Subud members, but also the appropriate professionals; for instance, qualified doctors with diplomas. But it would be best if, besides having diplomas, these doctors are also Subud members; then besides having the ordinary kind of knowledge, they will also be able to receive from within. In this way they will be able to care for and heal their patients, who will not then leave the hospital unaware of the spiritual aspects of their healing, only to keep returning to the hospital again and again. Because their healing was accompanied by the latihan, they will become self-sufficient and gain an understanding for themselves about their illness. Eventually these people will no longer have to go to the doctor every time they are sick. They will be capable of healing themselves. So the aim of these hospitals will be to enable people to correct themselves and cure themselves through self-confidence ( based on ) their faith in God - by strengthening them so that they believe in and worship God.
...read the complete talk - 59 CSP 1
Tradition associates Jesus with the color green. The meaning of green is that his being was not influenced by the world, so he was in truth the beloved of God. Green, as you may know, means a state of childlike innocence, still free from desire; in particular the desire for women, but also for the things of this world that human beings have come to desire. About Jesus we are told that besides being able to heal the sick and raise the dead, he could also walk on water; and that eventually he was willed by God to face death by crucifixion.
To heal the sick and to raise the dead means to rectify the faults and weaknesses within the inner feeling of people, and to awaken their human soul, which is still dead within them. This is essentially the same as that which you have received in the latihan of Susila Budhi Dharma or Subud. All the faults that you have suffered within your being - all kinds of sickness, whatever people call them - are being repaired and corrected. Your souls, which from birth to the present have been imprisoned by your desires, thoughts and will, are being awakened.
...read the complete talk - 59 LON 1
Munich, Germany - December 6, 1959
Code number of Recording: 59 MUC 1
A brain that is working will just go on working. People do not realise that the constant working of the brain will cause their being to malfunction, leading to the various illnesses many people suffer from nowadays – dangerous illnesses like cancer and tuberculosis. The main cause of people suffering from these illnesses is simply the thinking, heart and desires. So the braking or cessation of the thinking, heart and desires in the latihan is not only beneficial for the development of your soul. No. It is also beneficial for you because your health will be taken care of and protected. So it is clear that what makes the body well, what can heal an illness, is the cleanness of the heart and thinking mind. This implies that the thinking, heart and desires stop working for a time.
There are still many people who have too much faith in material things. They think material things can be powerful. No. Material things are just material things. But a person’s faith in a material object can put a brake on their restless thinking mind. This can, at the same time, get rid of their illness and they get well. This is not because of the material things – not at all. It is because they themselves are able at that moment to let everything go, because they focus their attention on this thing they have faith in.
Their only mistake is that they direct their faith towards something material. The healing in fact comes from themselves. This is an example of something you have already received in the latihan. So you have already started: you have started to have trust in yourself; you have started to have trust in the greatness of God, which flows within you. From this you will experience an enormous change, a change that will bring you to happiness not to injury.
...read the complete talk - 59 MUC 1
New York, NY USA - July 4, 1963
Code Number : 63 NYC 5
The difference with doctors who have not yet received the latihan is that they are still enveloped and influenced by their desires, so that sometimes in doing their work they are not considering the needs of their patients but rather their patients’ money. The result is that sick people who happen to be poor often get well much slower than those who are rich.
A doctor who is guided and taught by the power of God within them, will do what is necessary in line with their function, duty and responsibility, and in line with the nature of the work. The duty of a doctor is to heal the sick, irrespective of whether they pay or not, whether they are willing or able to pay or not, or whether they pay a little or a lot – but it does not usually happen like that.
The same goes for engineers, in whatever discipline. Also for the scientists who discover very powerful weapons, like atom bombs or whatever. Suppose that the person who discovers something like that, or who is in charge of it, is guided and able to receive the education of God within his or her being: they will not use that weapon to kill people. They would not do that.
...read the complete talk - 63 NYC 5
Detroit, MI USA - August 1, 1963
Code Number : 63 DTT 1
Then you will be able to check your own actions. Going back to the earlier example – you have just made soup. You can examine what you have made. Does the soup you have just made taste more delicious than a normal soup? And also the effect of it – ‘effect’ means its influence: ‘Does it quieten my heart when I have a lot on my mind?’ So, if you make soup, and while you are making it you are not influenced by the food or by the utensils you are using, but everything you do is filled with the essence of your human soul, then what you have made not only tastes delicious but will also heal someone who is feeling sick.
There has been proof of this in Indonesia. A man is sick; he does not feel well. Normally you would give him a powder, or an aspirin, or something like that. His wife cooks, and while she is cooking she never ceases to worship God, as when you are doing latihan. When the food is ready, her husband eats it. When he has finished, he asks his wife, ‘What did you put in your cooking? Did you mix any medicine in it?’
‘No. How can you cook with medicine – it would taste awful!’
‘So how is it that after I ate your cooking just now, my illness disappeared?’
This is the benefit if you are able to cook in a way that does not come from your desires but from the guidance and direction of your soul, like when you are doing the latihan.
...read the complete talk - 63 DTT 1
Los Angeles, CA USA - August 20 1963
Code Number : 63 LAX 3
Regarding movement and what is awakened in the latihan: Bapak would like to repeat that there is certainly a connection between the process of purification of the inner feeling by God’s power, and faults in the inner feeling that are usually called illness. It is automatic that when our body is awakened, whatever is ill within us is certain to move, and that movement will heal the illness.
Nevertheless, Bapak advises you not to regard it as given, or to expect the Subud latihan to be a process for healing illnesses. In reality the latihan is a guidance in the direction of excellence, in the direction of a complete worship of God. So for those of you who happen to be ill, do not regard the healing of your illness as the most important aspect of the latihan, even though it is part of it.
Indeed, the latihan can bring about not only healing of illnesses within us. Things that are not working in our family, between husband and wife or between parents and children, can all be improved. So it is clear that the latihan can bring us not only good health, but also can improve anything that we need for our life in this world. However, Bapak says to you once again, do not let all this become the most important thing. Because although it works that way, it all depends on God’s will: if God does not permit it to happen or God does not bless us, it will not happen. Therefore it is best for you if you can just surrender everything to the greatness of God.
...read the complete talk - 63 LAX 3
Los Angeles, CA USA - August 22 1963
Code Number : 63 LAX 4
To confirm the truth of what Bapak has been saying about the difference between the movements inside and outside of Subud: there are many Subud members who, before they joined Subud, had received those kinds of movements and used them for all sorts of things; for example, to heal the sick, to guide others and to pass the movements on to others. But once they joined Subud and received movements in Subud, the movements they used to receive disappeared. Many of these people asked Bapak, ‘How can this be? I used to be able to do this and this, and it has been the source of my livelihood. But now that I’ve joined Subud and received the Subud movements, the old movements have completely disappeared. Can they come back or are they gone forever?’
Bapak replied, ‘Yes, they are gone forever. But don’t worry; similar movements will arise within your being, and these will not be initiated by your desires and thoughts, as were those you used to receive; they will be moved from within, by the power of God that envelops your being outwardly and inwardly.’
Indeed, quite a few of these energies in methods other than Subud are used for healing. It is quite appropriate if they are used for that purpose, because what is being healed is just this physical body. So it is appropriate if these energies received outside of Subud, which can only affect the physical – since they are activated by the desires that reside in the heart and thinking – are used for the physical body, since they cannot possibly penetrate deeper, to the soul.
So, it is in fact quite appropriate if the energies in methods other than Subud are used for healing. That is why Bapak says that in Subud you should not only emphasise healing, or only expect healing. Because if you only look for healing, what will be healed and repaired will be just your physical body; what is most important for you all is that not just the physical but the fine part too – meaning the soul – is repaired.
The importance of your soul to you is to preserve your complete awareness of life, even after you have died. An example of this, once again, is the one you believe in – that is, Jesus. After Jesus was crucified, his life after death did not change. He was fully conscious and was able to show: ‘These are the marks of my crucifixion.’ And he was able to indicate: ‘These are the places where I used to live.’
That is how it is. So the Subud latihan, which consists of an energy that appears similar to what people outside Subud possess, does not only cleanse, bring to life and heal the physical body but also the fine one; that is, the soul. You really need to repair your soul. It needs to be returned to its true, original state. It is unfit, and has been unfit for a long time, so it needs to be brought back to the state of a perfect human being, which is called insan kamil [Arab.].
...read the complete talk - 63 LAX 4
Los Angeles, CA USA - August 30 1963
Code Number : 63 LAX 7
There is an example of this as well, brothers and sisters. Maybe you have already heard this story on Bapak’s second journey; it is about Dr Zakir. Before he joined Subud, when a patient came to see him he would write a prescription based on what he had learned in his studies. It was in accordance with what was taught in medical school. After joining Subud and doing latihan, latihan, latihan, when he wrote a prescription for a patient, the prescription was ready before the patient arrived. And the result was that almost all of his patients came only once, thanks to the efficacy of his prescriptions. Patients who would previously have come back ten or fifteen times would be cured after one visit.
Dr Zakir thought to himself, ‘Well, from the point of view of human welfare this is indeed how it should be. But from the point of view of one’s own needs it is different; I should make them come ten times. For if I treat them according to what I receive in Subud I will only get paid for one visit; if I treat them according to what I was taught in school I will get ten times as much.’
So, looked at with the mind of an ordinary person, Dr Zakir was making a loss. He asked Bapak, ‘What should I do?’
‘Hm,’ Bapak answered, ‘Did you become a doctor for yourself or for humanity?’
‘Well, half and half. For myself, and for humanity.’
‘Oh, no. If you become a doctor it should be to heal the sick. To heal the sick! And it is not you who is sick is it? It is other people.’
‘Yes.’
‘So, you become a doctor so that you can heal sick people. The important thing is that the sick get well. You don’t need to calculate the fees. The priority for a doctor is healing, to heal other people.’
‘But I’m losing money, Bapak. Normally they would come at least four or five times. If one visit is ten rupiahs, that makes fifty. But now they come once and they are cured.’
‘Yes, well, it is up to you, whether you want to be a human doctor or a Zakir doctor.’
There is another person whose case was similar. She is a doctor, but also like a pharmacist, a medical doctor from Germany. Her name is Dr Leonore Kuplis. She used to make her own medicine and she would mix it herself … [Bapak demonstrates; laughter.] When it was ready she would give it to her patients. What kind of medicine did she make? Well, it was medicine for cancer patients. She had more than forty cancer patients. After they took this medicine that she had made herself, perhaps about seventy-five per cent of the patients recovered, and only twenty-five per cent were left. That is the result of the latihan. It does not impair your medical understanding; rather, it gives you clarity and increases your understanding of what you have learned, of what you possess.
So it is clear, brothers and sisters, that the latihan really brings to life what is lifeless and awakens what is asleep or not yet awake. Therefore, if you find that you are put to sleep instead of being awakened, it is not the fault of the latihan. That is part of a process or journey where you are being purified of something within your inner feeling. It is because the work you are doing is not at all suited to your individuality, and the suffering you experience after you join Subud is a reflection of the mistakes you have made that are there within you.
...read the complete talk - 63 LAX 7
Cilandak, Indonesia - July 31, 1966
Code Number : 66 TJK 2
‘Before, when I wasn’t in Subud, I got only ill now and then, but after joining Subud I need a kerok8 every night!’ How can that be? What is Subud then? Sometimes Bapak is amused when he encounters this. And it is not just one person; every letter is like that. One gets weary answering them. Subud is their own self, so how can they blame Subud?
About this feeling you have, where you say, ‘Before I joined Subud I felt ill only occasionally, Bapak; well, maybe just once a month. After I joined Subud it is every night. What is happening to me?’ Well, yes, that is what it feels like, so you cannot be blamed for that. But it is not correct.
Before you joined Subud you felt healthy, but that was health from your desires. It was a state of health that wasn’t really right. For example, suppose that there is someone who has a limp, meaning that they move up and down as they walk. Well, that’s not good, is it? But if you correct that, the person will feel discomfort. That is the point; that is quite certain. When something is wrong but you are used to it, you feel fine. But when it is right and you are not yet used to it, it is uncomfortable. Yes.
So when you say that you were healthy before you joined Subud, indeed it is true. But that was health from the desires, it was the health of something that was faulty. Since you are now being educated and guided by God – and God wants you to be clean, pure and good – you are experiencing the transition from there to here, from health from your desires to health from your soul, and that feels uncomfortable.
Indeed, Bapak always experiences that; every day, actually. Suddenly, for no reason he feels blank. But the strange thing is that he has a good appetite. That’s strange, because when somebody is ill they don’t like to eat; but Bapak takes a second helping. In Cilandak, the queen of ill people is Ibu. Who would guess that Ibu is ill? Imagine! Every night she says, ‘Ouch!’
‘What is it?’
‘I need a kerok.’
‘A kerok. All right.’
But other people wonder about it. ‘Is it really true, Ibu? You look so well!’ This is because an ill person would … [Bapak starts wheezing. Laughter.] So when Ibu says to Bapak, ‘I don’t feel well.’
‘Oh, it’s nothing.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, do you have an appetite?’
‘I have.’
‘Well, there you are!’
Just now Bapak was talking to Istiardjo. Istiardjo was complaining,
‘Oh, Bapak, inwardly I am suffering very much.’
‘So you are feeling depressed?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘But how come you look chubby?’
‘Oh, I have no idea!’
‘Actually, you look like Gatotkaca!’[A wayang superhero.]
‘Oh, I wouldn’t know about that, Bapak.’
‘Clearly there’s nothing wrong with your body, the problem is your heart.’
This is something you need to be aware of and to understand. So now, if you feel unwell, do not feel concerned. Do not think, ‘Does this mean that I’m getting close to the other side – what is this?’ Don’t have that thought. Don’t immediately feel close to the other side; just accept it. Didn’t the prophets experience that? They certainly did.
There you are, brothers and sisters. So it is very much out of place if we are described as a mystical teaching. But what name can we use, other than one that relates to the realm of the soul? It is difficult to find a different name, other than ‘the latihan of Susila Budhi Dharma’. The reason why it is difficult is that there are no words that describe what we have received other than Susila Budhi Dharma. We could create a more impressive name, say, Hasalira Bhatara. [Jav.: body of a god] Wow! Hasalira Bhatara is the body of a divine being. Wow! … [inaudible]. With that name you would end up walking like Bhatara Narada!9 [Laughter.]
...read the complete talk - 66 TJK 2
Surabaya, Indonesia - October 27, 1966 Code Number : 66 MLG-1
There’s another strange story, brothers and sisters. There were two people, a man and a woman. They were not married. One – the man – was the bookkeeper and the other was the manager or owner, but they were inseparable. They were not young any more – both of them were old. The man had an illness, a sore or wound that would not heal. In England it had been treated for twenty years, but it would not heal. It was eating up all his money. He was doing the latihan, and in the latihan he received: ‘Go to Indonesia, to Jakarta. In Jakarta your illness will be healed.’ So he went. Of course by then he was already weak because of the illness.
Before he left he said, ‘If my plane crashes and I were to die, then I want all my possessions to be given to Bapak Muhammad Subuh in Jakarta.’
Isn’t that strange? If he dies I benefit! [Laughter.] It didn’t happen, but apparently that is what he said. Then he flew to Jakarta. When he met Bapak he asked, ‘Bapak, may I come and stay here? About how many months may I stay?’
‘As long as you like. You can stay over there. I can see that sore – what is wrong?’
‘This? This is my illness for the last twenty years, and it will not heal.’
‘Oh … so?’
‘Well, what shall I do?’
‘Let’s see …’ Strangely enough, I received: ‘You need to eat house lizards: two in the morning, two at midday, two in the afternoon, two in the evening; eight altogether.’
‘What, Bapak? House lizards?’
‘Oh, once you have eaten them three times you will get used to them.’
‘But why?’
‘For your illness. Apart from that, you need to apply hot compresses and also do latihan.’
‘Yes.’
That was all. At first he fried or roasted them. ‘I’ve been told to eat lizards, what can I do?’ But because of the seriousness of his illness, he had no choice. After eating them for a week, he became addicted to them. Really! One morning when he couldn’t get two, he said, ‘Where can I get them, Bapak? How much do they cost?’
So … [inaudible] he started trying to catch them himself. His wound was gradually disappearing. Yes, all of it. It got smaller and smaller until, one day, four days before the lizards ran out, it was gone. After that he decided to return home. He said, ‘Bapak, I am going home now. My illness is cured. But I’ve made a promise, Bapak.’‘What promise?’
‘We would both like to settle here. We want to sell all our property in England and bring the money here. Perhaps … [inaudible] to Bapak.’ That is what he said. But after they had gone home, there was the Gestapu, the G.30.S,30 so they couldn’t come back. Until now. He wrote a letter asking whether they could still come here. I answered him, ‘Whatever is best for you; you can come.’ [Laughter.]
That is how God shows the way to human beings who truly obey His greatness. Therefore do not get into the habit of worrying about where your capital will come from. Something like this could happen to you. Who knows? In fact, if you were to go looking for it you might not find it. The important thing is to have the intention. And along with that, do the latihan, so that there should be a way.
...read the complete talk - 66 MLG-1
The Hague - May 11, 1967
Code Number : 67 HAG 3
Also, if these members do not yet understand about Subud, it is the responsibility of the helpers to give the clearest possible explanation about Subud and the latihan, so that the members are aware that Subud is not a group who just heal sick people, or find marriage partners for men and women. That it is not for helping people to make money; nor is it a religious organisation that arranges retreats. And that in Subud there is no teaching. In this way a member who has not been for some time will truly understand both what Subud is and its aim.
...read the complete talk - 67 HAG 3
So, do not let it happen that after you do the latihan, after you join Subud, you fall ill and you do not know what to do.
Now, it’s not that Bapak doesn’t like doctors; it’s not that Bapak is against doctors. Really! But never entrust your soul to another person, not even a doctor. A doctor is just a person who is also searching – searching for the right way, searching for knowledge.
There is nothing wrong with going to a doctor, but do not put all your faith in them. Make it go further, all the way to God, so that you will heal. Firstly this is in order to heal anyone’s sickness, including your own; and secondly, so that the doctor who treats you may receive something they did not know about before. Experience has shown this.
Bapak has experienced this kind of thing – well, it doesn’t happen in every case. If every case of sickness was healed this way nobody would make an effort. But Bapak has frequently experienced cases of those among you who had cancer here [gesture], such as brain tumours, or cancer of the womb. The doctors told them, ‘We have to operate!’ Then that person came to the Subud hall. Not to Bapak’s place, but to the Subud hall.
Bapak gave the following advice: ‘If you want to be healed, your illness can only be healed if God heals you, so the question is: do you sincerely wish to put your faith in God and worship God by doing latihan? Bapak doesn’t say this so that you will join Subud and Subud will grow, or that you will do the latihan and be healed and then Subud will have lots of money. If you do the latihan, it is for your own benefit. But if you want to be healthy you must worship God, and the way to do that is through the latihan.’
Then, after doing the latihan … well there was the case of someone with a tumour as big as an egg, it was growing here [gesture] in his brain – it disappeared. It was a brain tumour, it happened in England; it was actually a doctor who had that experience. It was big. Bapak did latihan with him for three months – luckily there are members from England here who will confirm this – then the tumour disappeared. The same thing happened to a surgeon … what was his name? Henting … who now lives in South Africa. He said his tumour disappeared too. Why? It was because he worshipped God by doing the latihan.
An illness, be it cancer, tuberculosis, or any other kind of illness, is still a physical illness. A physical illness is relatively simple to diagnose or detect. However, a far more dangerous illness, which is impossible to detect, is a sickness of the soul. Not mental illness, but a sickness of the soul: the body is human but the soul is an animal one; the body is human but the soul is a material one – a satanic soul, the soul of a devil, the soul of a jinn [Arab.] That is what is dangerous.
A person cannot know this; they seem to be healthy, yet they behave like a devil. For instance, a man has enough money and enough food, he has a house and clothes, he has a wife and children. His children are fine, and so is his wife, so why should he do bad things, why should he act badly, why should he kill or harm other people? What possible reason can there be?
This … [inaudible] take another example: why should someone who is educated, who is a lawyer, who knows the law, who knows that if they do this or that they will be punished, break the very laws they have studied? It is because their soul is sick. That’s the reason.
This is what you need to find out by doing the latihan. You need to do the latihan to find out for yourself, ‘What am I?’ And then you can experience for yourself how God works to repair your soul, so that you will receive and come to possess a soul that fits your human form.
...read the complete talk - 67 CMB-1
London, England - March 29, 1967
Code Number : 67 LON 4
It is human beings who are wrong when they do very strange things in order to get to know God and God’s power. They make it difficult, with meditation, denying themselves this and that, wearing strange clothes and acting in ways that are not normal. In fact that is not God’s will: ‘Find God and worship God in the way that you live your everyday life. If you happen to be dancing, that is where you will meet God’s power. Do not isolate yourself.’
What is the reason for that, brothers and sisters? It is because death does not come to us only when we are lying on our mattress. It does not come only when we are at home. It does not always come in a place we have prepared or decided upon. A person can die on the way to somewhere. A person can die driving a car, or fighting in a war or flying in a plane. Therefore we need to be in touch with God’s power in the midst of every human activity, so that when we die we are not cut off from it, we can go by the path that God wills for us.
For that reason, the path for all of you to be close to God and for God to be close to you has been made as broad as possible, as varied as possible, and includes every situation. For those of you who work in an office, your hand will be made to move by itself as you write. Your heart will also be made to move by itself. This and this [gestures] will be filled, so that your writing will go by itself.
Someone who paints pictures will find their hand, their feeling and their vision filled as they paint. Those who heal the sick, meaning doctors, when they meet with a difficult problem in their work they will find the answer if they truly surrender to God. It will be as if their brain is opened. The same will happen for others, working in whatever field they are used to.
...read the complete talk - 67 LON 4
London, England - April 2, 1967
Recording: 67 LON 7
In olden times, women would sing as they dressed. Here is the woman [Bapak sings]. Once you are able to do that - say, you are doing your hair - the strange thing is that you will look very beautiful even though you have not been to the hairdresser. But now, because you are not there yet, even though you put on a beautiful dress, people who look at you find it strange rather than wonderful.
It is evident, brothers and sisters, that people these days have really lost touch with artistry, with the individual culture that used to provide a chain or a thread whereby human beings could return to their own soul and know again their contact with life.
Bapak has tried this, and not just once or twice. There was someone who was sick, seriously sick. He asked Bapak,
'May I have some medicine, please?'
'What medicine? Bapak is not a pharmacy.'
'Any medicine, as long as it can cure my illness.'
'All right. Just listen to what I'm going to say.'
Here is what I did [Bapak sings in Javanese]:
'You need to ask the Almighty, Who gave you life.
You need to surrender and submit to the Almighty.''That's it, I'm cured,' he said.
'What? You're cured?'
'Yes, I am.'
'Well, if you're cured, that's good.'
So it is clear that it is very useful for you to do the latihan and to reconnect with living culture. It is not just to demonstrate to others that you truly know your own soul, but also to be able to heal people who are ill - as long as their illness is not too serious. Well, you may be able to heal serious illnesses too. You will also be able to calm someone whose heart is in turmoil or feeling sad.
...read the complete talk - 67 LON 7
London, England - September 1, 1970
Code Number : 70 LON 2
Of course, brothers and sisters, everyone wants to have a healthy body and sufficient means in life, but such things are not the objective in Subud. However, so long as we follow the way of the latihan kedjiwaan of Subud, we can always receive purification of the inner feeling and development of the djiwa, which can really change a fate in life that is bad to one that is good, and can lighten the physical sufferings of the body, which can eventually become healthy. But in entering Subud, the basis and aim is devotion, that is, constant devotion to the One Almighty God with patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission. Whether a bad fate in life eventually becomes a good one and the suffering from a physical illness is cured depends upon the Will of Almighty God. He is the One Who can decide what is beyond our comprehension. This is what the helpers have to explain to people who are interested in joining Subud. This is necessary so that they will not have any misunderstanding about Subud later on.
...read the complete talk - 70 LON 2
Jakarta, Indonesia - August 10, 1971
Code Number : 71 TJK 7
This is why Bapak reminds you once again that Subud people have to work and must set up some undertakings or enterprises, because from these enterprises will flow money to pay for all the needs that have been and will be incurred by various departments, such as the library, and needs that also extend into health and social services.
Let us return now to the subject of health. Things are the same for a doctor. Being a doctor, he prescribes for sick people. A sick person who is suffering, let us say, from malaria is usually given some specific remedy or other. That is the medicine, although the decision that this is what should be given for malaria is taken without ascertaining whether the malaria is the same in the cases of A, B, C and D; that is undecided. For the disease will not for certain work in the same way in one person, A, as in another, B; it may be that the malaria attacking A is an acute form and will soon destroy him, whereas in B it is not working so fast and may even come to a stop, so that he will recover of his own accord.
In these circumstances the doctor, if a Subud member, will be able from his quiet state, his state of prihatin, to write a prescription which, although still a prescription for malaria, will be different in the cases of A and B.
A Subud doctor in Indonesia has already had this experience. ( There are not many doctors in this country who are in Subud, for some people think Subud is mistaken, is something they call klenik - witchcraft or black magic. They classify Subud as klenik, resembling what the quack or witchdoctor practices. But you are able to judge for yourselves that this is not so. ) When doctors treat a sick person they usually tell him to come back and see them another day, even though he has been given one prescription and has already recovered. Why must he come back another day? In order to increase the doctor's income.
So although it is a doctor's duty to cure a sick person quickly, he takes rather a long time about it as a rule, because he needs the money. The Subud doctor too needs money, but, as soon as he does prihatin to cure his patients, many of those for whom he prescribes fail to return, because they have already recovered.
Then, when he asks the cured patient why he does not come back, the patient replies: 'I'm already better; what need is there for me to come again?' 'Well, you had better come back all the same,' says the doctor, in order to increase his earnings.
Then this doctor asked Bapak why he earned so little when he put Subud into practice in his work as a doctor.What are you to do then ? You must accept this; you have of course taken your oath. When you become a doctor, you become a healer of the sick. So what means happiness for a doctor is the quick recovery of the patient. Not the money, but the patient's restoration to health makes the doctor happy.
So if you are to be a real doctor you must be honest. To heal the sick is indeed your avowed intention.
It is, therefore, very important that all the things you have been talking about should be done according to what you have received in the latihan kejiwaan, that is, so that you can put what you have received into practice in the field in which you are an expert. You must not imagine that Subud only means doing the latihan, no! This latihan is adapted to your situation and capacity.
The day before yesterday Bapak explained how what is received from God passes through your inner self. Thus if Bapak taps this ( glass ), it gives a ringing sound like ting, ting, ting; if he taps this ( table ), it gives a wooden sound like tock, rock, tock. These sounds come from their inner selves.
Thus supposing you are a doctor, skilled in healing, and that is the field in which you work, then you will come to know things you cannot discover through investigation.
...read the complete talk - 71 TJK 7
Wolfsburg, Germany - June 17, 1972 Code Number : 72 WOB 2
As for the doctors, they will be people who besides being qualified doctors are also helpers, so that the people they cure will worship God because they will remember that they were cured through being treated by a kejiwaan doctor; a doctor with a jiwa, a Subud doctor, a helper doctor. That is your amal ( religious obligation ), brothers and sisters, so that you can heal not only people's bodies, but also their souls, so that they will remember the One Almighty God and worship Him. This will be our good fortune when we are able to put into practice the plans made at past Subud congresses.
...read the complete talk - 72 WOB 2
Huntington, New York U.S.A. - September 10, 1977
Code Number : 77 NYC 2
In the teachings of the Holy books it is only forbidden to do anything that will be harmful to health. Thus strong drinks and drugs and narcotics are not specifically mentioned there, because at that time they did not yet exist, so that they could not be mentioned in the Holy books. But people who follow a religion will of course make some such prohibition for themselves, so as not to cause damage to the followers of that religion. Thus it is clear that they wish their followers always to be in a good state.
Bapak will begin with the question from Perry about healing the heart. It is not a question of the heart being healed, but its contents, through the presence of the latihan. Bapak is always testing with you, for example, how is your receiving when you are troubled or suffering, so as not to feel it and so that this suffering will not cause illness or be bad for your health. So Bapak tests with you, how do you feel when you surrender to the One Almighty God, so that you do not complain when something hurts you but only surrender to the One Almighty God, so that there is nothing there but surrender, just as when you are in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. Brothers and sisters, you have been able to experience for yourselves how, when you are receiving the latihan kejiwaan, you are separated from your suffering and do not feel it at all, which means, in fact, that you are not being effected by the nafsu, which are ruled by the lower forces; by the material, vegetable, animal, and ordinary human forces. That is how to heal the heart and make it healthy and happy - not the physical heart, but its contents.
...read the complete talk - 77 NYC 2
Montreal, Canada - September 17, 1977
Code Number : 77 YUL 2
Now, about the animal forces. Bapak knows very well that animals exist everywhere. Even in the air we breathe. Although Bapak hasn't studied medicine or anything like that, Bapak knows very well that this air is full of small creatures which cannot be seen with the human eye. If you have an instrument which can magnify 10,000 times, maybe then you can begin to see them, but with your normal eye you cannot see them. Yet this is the same as the animal forces which are maybe contained in cows or sheep or whatever. Animals are not only cows or people. You don't only eat meat if you eat beef or mutton or something like that. They are all around us, and Bapak knows very well that it is these little animals which are within the air around us which bring health and sickness to man, and determine his life and death. Similarly, if vegetarians eat fruit - that fruit is full of the animal forces. There are many, many little creatures which live in fruit and vegetables and so on.
This is the significance of the Latihan Kejiwaan, of the Movements that we receive in the Latihan Kejiwaan. This Movement is something that is very, very important for all of us. And this is recognized nowadays by medical science. This is why doctors always advise people, especially children, to do sport and to move, because it is through this sport and this movement that all the parts of the body will return again to health, and all the principal organs will become healthy again. But sport is something that is designed by men. In other words, it is thought out by men and you are told - you have to do it like this, and like this, and like this, and like this. But how much more excellent if the sport comes from within you, if it awakens from within you - that is, if it is truly in accordance with the needs of each one, because the physical nature of each one is different one from the other, and what we each need is different.
They will be able, as in the case of Philip, not only to treat patients physically - that is to heal their illness or to return them to health according to medical science - but would also be able to heal their jiwa; that is, to introduce them to the worship of God Almighty, and once they have been cured, they would then also continue to worship God Almighty. As a result, we would have the praise or the approval of society that we are able to help people - but we will also have the blessing of God Almighty, Who will then give us a Gift, or a Recompense, or a Reward, for the fact that we are able to bring enlightenment and grace to those who have not yet received it.
....read the complete talk - 77 YUL 2
Marin County, CA U.S.A. - December 4, 1977 Code Number : 77 SFO 3
Brothers and Sisters, that was Bapak's answer to the first question ( much laughter ). Bapak wants to know the questions that were asked by the other people; and Bapak wants to know whether maybe they have already been answered by Bapak's answer now; or whether there is still something more you want to ask.
Question:
The other night in Bapak's talk he spoke about how there are many more illnesses. And there are quite a few people in Subud now who seem to be drawn to work in the field of healing - not just medical doctors, but other forms of therapy and healing. Although Bapak has spoken about this before, I wonder if he has any further guidance for those people in Subud who are working in that field of healing?
Bapak: Man's illnesses actually arise from man's own actions and from man's own behavior. For example, in the old days what people ate was still relatively simple. If you had a steak, it was made of beef ( laughter ). But today you get a steak which is made of prawns, or you get a steak which is made of dog, or sometimes you get a steak that's made of snake. In other words, people eat all sorts of things, and the result is that they have all sorts of illnesses. So the complexity, the increasing complexity of man's illnesses and problems come about from his own actions, from his own behavior and from what he eats and so on.
Everything goes along with the situation of the times. In those days the situation was like that. Now the situation is different. When Bapak was a young man, in a town maybe you could find 100 doctors. Nowadays in the average sized town there are 100,000 doctors, so there are also more illnesses ( laughter ) because, of course, man's life has become more complex. What he experiences in his everyday life is discovered and is observed by more people - so the doctors are more and more observing more people, whereas before illnesses were usually rather simple. Now, because of man's behavior, as Bapak says, when man eats, maybe he gets served up an alligator, or a mouse or something ( laughter ) and he really doesn't know what it is. As a result his illnesses proliferate; and as a result of more illnesses there are more doctors; and as a result of more doctors, there are also more illnesses ( laughter ), because there are more people to think about his illnesses and discover more illnesses. This is as it should be, because the illnesses that man creates, the illnesses that man experiences as an inevitable result of his way of life, are something that man has to solve himself. In other words, it is right that to cure the illnesses that man experiences nowadays he has no choice but to follow the way of science. In other words, the way of the understanding of the mind; and through science to be able to correct and put right these things that man has experienced. In other words, through medical and other methods.
But what about healing through the kejiwaan? Yes, there is that too. There is healing in the kejiwaan. But what you can heal in the kejiwaan are the illnesses of the kejiwaan - and the illnesses of the kejiwaan are what? The illnesses of the kejiwaan are the illnesses of man's character. So that what can be healed through the kejiwaan is the illness of the jiwa, which is the illness of man's character. And this healing is what we experience in the Latihan Kejiwaan, and the proof of that is within all of you, although maybe you have forgotten it. But if you are able to feel again how you used to be before you joined Subud, then it is almost certain that you will remember that before you joined Subud the slightest thing that happened made you angry, so you can say that you were angry almost all the time, with small intervals. Everything upset you, everything made you angry. Or maybe you used to quarrel with your wife all the time. But as you have done the Latihan Kejiwaan it has become less and less and less and less and less. So that is the proof. That is what Bapak means by the healing of the kejiwaan; it is the healing of the character. But when it comes to illnesses that man creates himself - that is, through his eating, through what he does in his life - that is something that you can only cure through man's ability, through man's intelligence and so on.
An example of this - what can happen to you, the way man can create illnesses and disturbances and so on in his life - is contained in a story that Bapak wants to tell you about a Subud member who lives in Indonesia. His name is Dr. Rachman Mitchell, who happens also to be a medical doctor. Rachman is someone who likes fishing very much, and Bapak always warned him: 'Rachman, you like to fish, but be careful when your wife is pregnant - be careful during that time not to kill any animals, and not to indulge in your hobby of fishing at that time.' But once when his 'wife was pregnant he forgot and went fishing. It seems he caught a fish and the hook of the fishing line got caught in the fish's eye - and it happened that when his wife gave birth to their daughter she had one eye missing, so that the child was complete but had only one eye. Well, she has since then been operated on and a glass eye has been put in so that she can develop normally.
This is an example - but it is an example that doesn't only happen in Indonesia, it happens all the time all over the world. Also here -only people are not aware of it, because they don't realize why that is. For example, women give birth to children who when they are born it is found that they have no brain. It is very strange. Why should a woman give birth to a child who has no brain. Of course, that child will die after a few hours. Still, it comes from actions like that which Bapak has described. But people are still unaware of these things. It's different in Indonesia. People know these things because for many, many years, for centuries, people in Indonesia have been expert in the inner world of man. They can feel things, they are aware of things which in ,the West we are not that aware of. This is why you have to be very, very careful in your life. Especially - and this is really something secret that Bapak is telling you - when you come together with your wife, or when the wife comes together with her husband to have sexual relations, beforehand, and during what you are doing, you must both remember the power of God Almighty, as when you are doing the Latihan Kejiwaan, so that through that Bapak hopes that you will be protected from every kind of danger that could impinge on you. Bapak hopes and prays that as a result of that your children will always be born safe and sound and healthy.
....read the complete talk - 77 SFO 3
Slough, England - April 5, 1981
Code Number : 81 LON 6
The use of the nafsu is to fulfill the needs of our everyday world. This is very important. Bapak warns you very much not to get tempted to use the kejiwaan for fulfilling the needs of your life in this world. This is very common, and Bapak still hears from time to time, that there are helpers, who, for example, like very much to feel that they can heal people, or give advice or expect payment for it. In other words, never commercialize the kejiwaan. Never depend on that for you livelihood. That is for your own awareness, or the needs of your life in the next world.
For your life in this world, you have to use the nafsu. You have to work. This is where enterprises come in. So, it is clear then, that the councilors, the kejiwaan and the organisasi, should be quite clear what their job is.
....read the complete talk - 81 LON 6
Lisbon, Portugal - May 15, 1981
Code Number : 81 LIS 1
Brothers and sisters, many events occur which form examples for us who are following the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. The latihan kejiwaan of Subud, brothers and sisters, will cause a path to open for you so that you can follow the way of your inner-self. Bapak takes as an example an architect; if you are an architect, then you will be guided through the latihan kejiwaan of Subud in the field of architecture, so that you will be able to create things that are beyond what your mind can picture, so that you yourself will be astonished at what you know and what you suddenly receive. If you are a singer, then your voice will be guided through the latihan kejiwaan which you are doing, and you will be guided by the power of God so that you can produce such melodious sounds that they will astonish you. That is a miracle; that is the guidance of the One Almighty God. If you are a musician, and if you really persevere, you will be able to receive so that your ability to play music is not only increased and made more pleasing to people's hearts, but your music will be able to heal the sick. You will be able to know and understand how it was in the stories about the prophet David, who, with his flute, could cure people who were very ill. This was not playing from the nafsu but from something miraculous, because of the power of God. It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, that if you can really persevere, then God's nearness to you will bring you into whatever field you need to make your life in this world a happy one.
....read the complete talk - 81 LIS 1
Maybe in your hearts there is a question ... why does Bapak still need an operation when Bapak already knows things which are not normally easily understood? Brothers and sisters, Bapak has often told you that Bapak is by nature a man and is also affected by sickness and death. It would not be right for Bapak to feel proud that he knows of things before they occur and understands things which are difficult to know. This is why Bapak has to undergo an operation even though it is just for Bapak's eye. So then don't be surprised that Bapak is easily affected by sickness.
Brothers and sisters, this can be seen for example in the life of Christ. Christ could bring back the dead and could heal the sick, but Christ himself was affected by sickness and death. So it is clear that other than God there is none like God. The only one who is not affected by sickness or death is God.
But for you, brothers and sisters, while not able to prevent sickness, at least through the grace of Almighty God, it will heal by itself.
...read the complete talk - 86 LON 1
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo