Coombe Springs, England - October 20, 1957
Code Number : 57 CSP 11
Bapak returns now to what Bapak was saying about how a baby cannot yet see the scenes of this world, and how the baby, unbeknown to us, is able to see, hear, smell and taste things. It is apparent that a human being who is still so tiny is clearer and knows more than we do about the states before birth, which are beyond the ability of our mind to fathom. Then, as the days pass by, the baby becomes more and more able to see the images of this world, to hear sounds, to smell odors and taste foods, and so on. With the outer progress he makes as he continually sees the scenes of this world, the vision and illumination from within, which formerly was clear and bright, gradually closes up, and does so even more as the small child grows bigger and acquires all kinds of instruction and knowledge. He becomes darker and darker, and the connection between his inner feeling and the invisible, spiritual state gets more and more closed up. His understanding, his outlook on life and his heart and feelings become wider and wider and wider; but because of this, the powers or knowledge from the soul within him become narrow.
Los Angeles, CA USA - April 30, 1958
Code Number : 58 LAX 2
This is the aim and purpose of this spiritual latihan. It is not only for curing and making our body healthy. The most important thing is that we should be able to worship Almighty God, so that we can return to our true world, that world which is eternal, everlasting and unlimited. You may ask, ladies and gentlemen, 'Can the life in the human soul, which has no organs, experience this or that like we do when we are in this world?' Not like in this world, no, but more real than in this world. Because, with these human instruments of ours, the greatness and power of life that exists within the human self is limited. So without them it would be much wider.
Los Angeles, CA USA - May 17, 1958
Code Number : 58 LAX 5
It is usual for human beings to believe they can see because of their eyes, they can touch because of their hands, and they can think because of their brains. Yet, if one already has the real instrument, one can think without the brain, touch without the hands, see without the eyes. Later on you will become gradually more able to verify this; during the latihan, like this, the eyes, while closed, will later begin to 'open', and be able to see situations no less beautiful than those seen by the human vision in this world.
You will be able to receive this one day, but do not be in a hurry. Be patient, and later the time will come when you will get there by yourself. It will be much more interesting and satisfying there. Now you are just beginning. If we compare it to someone making a house, you have just bought the tools, ladies and gentlemen, but you have not yet begun to lay the foundation.
Mexico City, Mexico - March 29, 1959
Code Number : 59 MEX 2
To continue Bapak's explanation, he will now explain about the actual state that you always experience and receive when you do the latihan. As Bapak explained, in receiving the latihan you do not need to use your thinking, your will or your desires. Certainly, a condition like that is disconcerting for those of you, and people generally, who are highly experienced in working with their brain and heart - for here is something you cannot think about. Usually, when facing something, human beings have to think about it and think it out thoroughly, so they can know the scope and the real meaning of what they are experiencing.
Bapak is not finding fault with anyone who thinks about things in that way. Certainly, God created the brain, the heart and all the parts of the human body to overcome, to understand and to correct situations that people always have to face. The fact is that we have to use the instruments of our human self, wherever necessary, to look after ourselves in our life in this world.
However, do not forget that this spiritual way is a way of living-and relates to the whole of human life. And it is not possible for human beings to understand human life from within their own life. This is only possible from a vantage point higher and more powerful than humankind. And a vantage point higher than humanity certainly transcends all that is in the human self, and is beyond human capacity.
As you know, our situation is that we are limited to the measure of each of the parts that go to make up our being. For example, when we see, we cannot see anything beyond our range of vision. It is the same with our brain. We cannot think of anything that is beyond the capacity of the brain that we have. Thus our strength and our ability to do anything cannot exceed the strength that we have.
However, the work of our soul, if it is done by the Almighty, can go beyond all that is in us, that is to say, beyond the parts of our body. So we can see beyond the range of vision of our eyes. Also we can think about something beyond the ordinary thinking that works in our brain. This is how the prophets like Jesus Christ were able to describe things that are beyond the scope of ordinary human thought.
Clearly, the work of our soul, while it is wrapped in this body, cannot go beyond human life in this world. So why did God create us humans like this, with our human soul enveloped in this body, which is only of a limited scope and reach? It is because we, or our human soul, need to experience things starting from the lowest and then climbing higher and higher; we also have to learn to adjust our steps to the conditions that are current and exist on this earth. In reality, human beings are created on this earth as a test for them, to see the extent of their obedience and good works for the One Almighty God.
Denver, Colorado USA - June 30, 1959
Code Number : 59 DEN 1
You can compare the relationship ( between us and the next level ) to that between human beings and animals. Since we belong to the fourth level our relationship with the fifth level is similar to the relationship between animals and ourselves. Animals are unable to know what human beings want. The same is true of us with respect to the life force above us. The life force above us knows more about us than we know about it. So whether we like it or not we are influenced by it, are under its power, and cannot resist. Moreover, when we are under the power of the level above us we are made happy because we will find the right way, which can raise us up - higher than the world where we now reside.
It is said that God's creatures on the rohani, or fifth level, not only know but also understand the life of human beings in this world -just as you do when you see a goat or a horse walking about, standing in the stable, or being used for racing and so on -whereas human beings cannot possibly know these ( fifth-level ) creatures in the normal way, on account of their power and their greatness, which block our vision in a similar way to when animals look at a human being.
So, no matter how clever human beings are - and human intelligence seems to have reached such a peak that, for example, they can now build rockets and launch them into space, or make an atom bomb, which all seems very amazing and advanced to the mind of humans - the creatures at the fifth level are higher than all of that. For them our highest and most advanced knowledge would seem like knowledge that has no reality, which doesn't meet the conditions of excellence and perfection that exist in the world of these fifth-level creatures.
This is even more true of the sixth level, which stands in the same relationship to us as human beings do to plant life. We regard plants as something we can just plant and eventually harvest. We use their wood to make whatever we wish, such as tables, chairs and so on. And plants used in this way by human beings have no power to do anything other than follow whatever human beings wish to do to them.
This is also true of the life force on the seventh level. It relates to us as human beings relate to inanimate objects. ( Material things ) are entirely at the disposal of human beings. Inanimate objects have no power whatsoever, they can only submit themselves to the authority of human beings.
That ( explains ) how the life forces are arranged. From this we are able to ponder and feel our true position in this world. That is how perfect everything is that has been created for human beings, and for the whole of life.
And yet people consider it is very easy to know and approach God using their desire and their will; whereas, in fact, they are powerless even when just in front of the life forces higher than the human. How much less then are they capable of thinking about God, who created ( those life forces ) and who is certainly more powerful than whatever He created.
Vienna, Austria - December 18, 1959
Code Number : 59 VIE 3
Perhaps you would prefer another method. Perhaps you wonder why it should be necessary to worship God with this kind of movements, why it is possible to worship God in a quiet, easy way, sitting down, without shouting or moving about, just as other people worship God. But truly, and Bapak wants you to know this, the movements which you have received and performed do not simply go on like that. These movements serve to free the inner self of its defects, of the dirt which has been brought in through the desires, thoughts, and emotions.
Clearly then, these movements are caused by the process of purification of the inner self from dirt, and the inner self as well as the outer body will thus resume their original condition. And the longer you exercise, the more will this action deepen and broaden, until you will become able to receive in your understanding and finally even in your consciousness.
In this way your inner being will be fitted to follow the movement of life, for life vibrates and moves onwards at great speed, and if you can share in the movement of life it means that you have attained stillness and calm. Let us compare it with flying by plane, though the plane may move at a speed of 500 km. per hour, yet if you are inside the plane you do not feel its speed, for you share it. It is quite another thing if you are outside a vehicle, it may travel at no more than 4 km per hour, but since you have no share in it you notice its speed as it passes you by.
If, contrary to this, someone wishes that the latihan should be done in stillness, wishes to worship God by stilling everything, although life itself moves so very fast, then, if you wish to worship God while arresting all movement, the highest you can possibly achieve is to watch the whirl of life in its course, without being able to jump on and to move along with the speed of life as it revolves onwards on its path.
Truly, also, although it may be your wish to be still in your worship of God, yet such stillness belongs to the will and effort of emotion, thought, and desire. Your body may look still, you may be sitting still, you may not be seeing or hearing what is going on around you, but your thoughts, your emotions, your desires go on churning inside you. And ,thus, all that has been the object of your thinking or emotion, presents itself again to your vision, and it may be said, therefore, that such stillness is of your outer body only, while your inner being, your thoughts, emotions, and desires are not still at all.
In the Subud latihan, on the other hand, once you are able to follow them really, you will be able to remain calm while in movement, and you will be calm within calmness. This means, though the wheel of life turns fast, you will remain calm on it, and if you stay outside of that wheel you will yet remain calm.
Truly, once you can follow the latihan to this extent, if even for only one, two, or three minutes, you will be able to be conscious and to know, and to remember your entire life, beginning from before you came into existence, through all that happened since, and so on to the end.
Such are the conditions prevailing in the spiritual exercise, and they witness to the scale and comprehensiveness of the work of God within the life of man, or the inner self of man.
Perth, Australia - February 25, 1963
Code Number : 63 PER 1
Brothers and sisters, please do not study spiritual matters in the same way that you study worldly things, because they are beyond the scope and understanding of the thinking mind. Bapak can illustrate it like this. Before you were born, before your body was formed as a human being and before your being had any content, there was your soul: the first thing, which existed within. So it is clear that your soul came before your outward form. The soul was already there, while your human nature or your human seed still resembled water. At that time a human being does not yet have reason or intelligence and is unable to understand this and that, other than by way of their soul.
It is like a sound: if there is no mechanism to transmit it, it remains unheard, because there is no material form yet to be touched or struck. Take a piano, for example; the sound exists, but if that material form is not there, of course the sound cannot be heard; but actually, the sound existed before the form existed. You can also think of it like a radio or television set. Before you have the visible form, the [sound and vision] are in fact already there; however, human beings cannot know it, or pick it up or hear it, because they do not have the container yet whose job is to capture the colour and the sound. This is just an illustration – not the way it really is – to help you picture the way the soul exists within a human being.
So the soul possesses everything needed for human life. For example, it too can hear, see, smell, feel, and understand everything that goes on in the outer life of human beings on this earth. Moreover, once the soul is covered up by the form of the body – the outer form – the power and range of these faculties become limited. For instance, when you were still in the state of the soul, the distance you could see was unlimited. So it is clear, that with the tools of this coarse body, the range and power of your life have become limited.
The Hague, Holland - September 5, 1964
Code Number : 64 HAG 3
As for the latihan you receive, which starts with movements where you are led and guided in how to walk, see, hear, and so on: all of that is necessary so that it is not just your inner content which can feel what is called heaven, but you can feel it too. And what is it that enables you to sense what there is in heaven? It is your feeling, just like it is here.
It is this feeling that is brought to life, brothers and sisters, so that what reaches heaven is not just your shadow or your imagination. For that would be like wanting to be rich but not yet having become rich; or wanting to be skilled but not yet having become skilful. But with us it is not like that. With the latihan we are really taught, we are really educated, really led and guided to have a heavenly soul and a heavenly body. Because, as they say, ‘If you are looking for heaven, you will not find it until you have heaven within you. Similarly, if you wish to meet an angel, you cannot possibly do so until you have an angelic soul and an angelic body.’
This is also symbolised by the death of Jesus Christ. What is the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection? That Jesus did not live in a dream, nor did he live just in his heart, in his imagination. Jesus lived in reality, but not in the way people normally live; because – as Bapak said – our feeling needs to be cleansed and needs to be able to receive and to really sense that life in death is not something imaginary but real. Only someone who has been able to receive that can confirm it; a person who thinks scientifically and relies on earthly instruments will certainly not be able to receive or experience that.
Not only has Bapak experienced this reality, but many members have experienced it too. For instance, there was a woman who was doing latihan – the way you do, but she was more advanced, her latihan was deeper and wider – and she saw a garden, or something that looked like a garden, full of trees bearing fruit, like grapes and so on. She saw that. And a little later one of the trees came close to her, and the fruit she had noticed came close too. At that moment she thought to herself, ‘This fruit looks very delicious! What does it want?’
The fruit entered her mouth and she ate it. She really felt that she had eaten the fruit. How did she know? After she had eaten it the vision disappeared, but then she belched – you of course understand what to belch means: after you have eaten your fill, you go ‘burp’ – and she could smell the fruit she had eaten.
To the mind that sounds amazing, but it is not amazing in the realm of the soul. It is really like that. Once the human inner feeling – our inner feeling – has been brought to life and is guided by God, we will be able to experience things that are far from this world; such as heaven, which Bapak was just talking about. This is something you will be able to experience, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps later on. As yet you cannot, but it will be possible for you to experience it and get clear proofs, so you will be able to confirm what Bapak has been telling you.
And that will of course also satisfy Bapak, because it means that there are others besides him who have been able to experience this. It means that this gift God has given Bapak is not a fantasy or a dream but a reality in human life, even if not in the ordinary life that people usually live.
It also confirms what Jesus Christ said during his life, as recorded in the Bible: that God’s kingdom, the world of Almighty God, is full of things that are out of the ordinary and more sublime and magnificent than that which exists in this world. That is what Jesus Christ said.
Solo, Indonesia - October 28, 1966
Code Number : 66 SLO 1
It is the same with worshipping God. Say you have been doing the latihan for ten years and all you can do is nod. ‘There is no point in doing the latihan, the latihan is nothing but nodding.’ So you stop there. Don’t do that. Find out what the reason is, because nothing happens without a reason. There is bound to be a reason. This is important, especially since a person who is on the spiritual path has a broad outlook. You need to be able to obtain something that is beyond analysis.
That is why, besides or in parallel with your worship of God through the latihan, you need to build any kind of business that, in your opinion, can really succeed. But Bapak will give you his opinion: for right now, the best field is agriculture. Truly, agriculture is best. But don’t look in the middle of town. Sure, it’s easy – if you want to farm, you start by hoeing the town square. No, don’t. Find a place that is fertile, even if it is far from town, and do it working together. Here is why: you are educated people, not like your ancestors who lived all their life in the village. If you were to farm and live in a village – wow, you would be like Umarmaya [a Javanese magician]; you would be able find your way around easily. Farmers who are close to the soil, they can do the work but they lack vision. That is why, once they have sold their produce, they eat and go to sleep. The next day they work again, they sell, eat and sleep. And the next day, they work again. But not you. You will work, eat, sleep and save. That’s the difference. So, you are different.
That is the point; and in doing this you are sure to get guidance and direction from Almighty God. Why is that? Well, when people think about this, they assume that a person who can receive God’s gift is one whose mind is calm, whose heart is calm and who is not greedy. This is just for example. But ask people in Papua, or people who still live in the jungle in Africa. They do not think about anything except eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping; so why doesn’t God give them knowledge? Why are they not able to receive? Because, unlike you, their heart and mind do not resemble wide open spaces.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - February 23, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 1
Bapak will give you an example. Hopefully some of you here will have experienced what he is about to tell you. Many members, here in Ceylon and elsewhere – in the United States, in England, in Europe and in Indonesia – have experienced this in their latihan, their regular latihan. It happens like this: they start with their eyes shut, then they see something in front of them that is bright and far away – it is as if they are above this planet. Then, because they don’t trust what they are seeing, they open their eyes. But when they open their eyes they cannot see the walls any more, instead they can see very far into the distance, where they see someone flying – flying!
Then that member asks Bapak, ‘What was that?’
Bapak tells them, ‘Once your inner feeling has been cleaned by God, your vision will not be limited by your physical eyes, it will not be limited by normal limits of sight; you will see beyond normal human limits. The same is true once your ears have been cleaned; you will be able to hear far more than normal hearing allows. The same applies to the power of thought; once the human mind has been cleaned by God, a human being can think of things that are beyond the reach of the human mind, such will be their intelligence. However, this is impossible with normal human abilities. It is impossible unless it comes from Almighty God.’
Why is that? The reason is that God has placed God’s will inside you. You experienced this when you first received the latihan: it felt strange and you wondered, ‘Why did I do this? Why did I do that?’
And yet this is not strange; this is not something new. In other words, this latihan is not new. It has existed ever since human beings were first created in this world. It is just that humankind has gone astray due to the influences of this world. In time they forgot – they forgot their true individuality. They forgot, ‘Who made me?’ When, in fact, ‘The One who made me is always with me, is always in me … [inaudible].’
If you want to know, if you ask, ‘Why can’t I do that too?’ Bapak just explained that God did not create human beings to be different from each other. In fact, God created all human beings the same; namely, with an inner content that should match their outer form. So, why are there such differences? It is the fault of humans themselves, it is because most people are led by their desires and, because they follow their desires, these differences arise. So each generation gives birth to a new generation that is of a different quality.
As you know, we are all descended from just one person, from Adam, and of course Eve. But, if we are all descended from one human being, why are we so different? It is the influences of this world that cause so many variations among people. It is these differences that you need to understand, you need to know, so you can receive and sense them.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - February 26, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 3
The only knowledge that can be had without study, that you do not have to seek through great sacrifice, comes from God. Not from someone else, not from a human being. You should reflect on this as deeply as possible. To be absolutely clear, God is looking after you. And if you do not feel you are being cared for by God, that is a great loss; you will lose a guide and basis for your life that is without measure.
Of course you are not yet able to perceive, you cannot see that, even now, not only does God know that you are here, but there are thousands and thousands of angels among you witnessing this [talk]. You cannot see them. Why not? Because … [inaudible] your vision, your hearing, your sense of smell, your feelings and your thinking are still thickly covered by your desires – the desires of this world that are manipulated and controlled by low forces that are ever present on your left, on your right, behind and in front of you.
Colombo, Sri Lanka - March 3, 1967
Code Number : 67 CMB 5
Ultimately, once you can receive properly and your soul and inner feeling know each other, when your soul and inner feeling are acquainted, you will certainly say, ‘Why only now? Why wasn’t this active before now?’ That is how you will feel, and that is why Bapak urges you: do not wait until it is too late.
To continue now on the subject of the soul. The soul is the part of you that rules you. Because your soul rules you, every part of you is controlled by your soul: your thinking, your heart, your inner feeling, your hearing, your vision, your sense of smell, your emotions – they are all controlled by your soul. So, if you have the wrong kind of soul – for instance, if you have an animal soul – that animal soul rules you. Because of that, even though your mind has been moulded and educated in the best way, at some point you will revert; you will give in to what your low soul desires.
This is why it is often the case that someone who is well educated and knows the difference between right and wrong, someone who knows that certain things are wrong, will still do those things. It is a fact; they know it is wrong. Such is the power of the soul that it makes a person forget the right path, forget what is right and what is wrong.
London, England - March 27, 1967
Code Number : 67 LON 2
Bapak would like to tell you about the experience of a member, as an example for you. This is a member who has really been diligent in doing the latihan, with patience, acceptance and submission, and his latihan is good. He is a painter, and he has done latihan for a long time. This experience did not happen in the latihan, but outside the latihan. Even outside the latihan your latihan still goes on, because it does not work only in the latihan hall. Even when you are at home, on the road, in the office, or wherever you are, you are enveloped by the latihan. It is just that you do not realise or imagine that it is so. In fact the latihan is with you in your everyday activities while you live in this world. So, one day this member saw a vision. In all his life he had never seen anything like it. He thought to himself: ‘If I go and get my painter’s materials, will this disappear?’ He went to get his painter’s tools, but he could still see his vision, so he set about painting it. Once he finished painting, he opened his eyes and looked at his painting. It was really amazing. It was a painting of something he had never seen before in his life.
That was the experience of a painter; it may not be very great, but it was something special for him. Other members have also had such experiences, which Bapak does not need to relate here. It may be that there are some among you who have received similar things; you just have not spoken of them as yet. They are a proof that whatever human beings need comes from or is provided by the power of God. That is why Bapak says that whatever arises in this world arises from God’s power. It is just that human beings do not understand about this and claim that these things have been obtained by people using their intellect.
London, England - March 29, 1967
Code Number : 67 LON 4
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.
Such is the closeness of God’s will to human beings – there is nothing in between, between a person and God. That is what God’s power is like, in that God’s will has been placed within every creature He has created. That is why God is called All-powerful.
So the Almighty guides you in your life in a way that is truly empowering, so that you are not dependent on following some-thing because it is considered to be the right way. For example, if you follow a training according to somebody’s method you are under the power of that person; because, whether you like it or not, you have to be like they are. It means you do not have freedom within yourself. That is different from the latihan, where you are awakened in accordance with your own individuality. It does not alter who you are.
Santiago De Chile - May 26, 1967
Code Number : 67 SCL 3
In reality, the best way for each of you to make progress is in a way that fits your own nature; in a way that does not conflict with your own situation. Another human being cannot show you that way, because when someone tells you what to do, they do so based on their own experience. Therefore it is impossible for anyone to guide you in a way that matches your nature or individuality. Only God who is Almighty can do that. God guides, leads and shows you a way that is absolutely in line with your own strength and capacity.
Take, for instance, your physical body; [your training] will be adjusted to how broad or narrow, far- or near-sighted your vision is – your eyesight. It will be adjusted to your hearing; it will be adjusted to your feelings. In short, it will be adjusted to all the different aspects of your being. In that way what you receive, what God gives to you, will not seem strange to you.
In short, there are no lessons given in Subud and there is no method that you have to follow. This shows that in the spiritual association of Subud we receive guidance from only one source; namely, the guidance from Almighty God that has now been given to each of you. And it is also clear that what you are receiving and practising is not new. Once Bapak explains this, you will realise why that is so.
Toyko, Japan - July 24, 1967
Code Number : 67 TYO 4
Brothers and sisters, as Bapak is continually telling you, the latihan we call Susila Budhi Dharma, abbreviated to Subud, is a training that comes by the grace of Almighty God. The fact is that every time you start doing latihan, your heart and thinking come to a stop. This happens not because you want to stop them, but through the coming of a contact from the power of Almighty God that touches the whole of your inner feeling. At that moment your inner is touched and moved, while your heart, thinking and imagination spontaneously come to a stop. Therefore it is not because your heart and thinking are empty that the contact comes to you; rather, both happen in the same moment and cannot be separated from one another. So it is clear that what causes your imagination and thinking to stop working at that moment is the grace of God.
This can be compared to the morning dew when the sun begins to shine on it. When the rays of the sun fall upon the earth, the dew disappears by itself. Because the light of God’s power shines on the whole of your inner feeling, your imagination and your thoughts stop by themselves, independently of your own will. This is the reason why Bapak says the Subud latihan is truly a receiving from the grace of Almighty God, which has been given to humanity at this time.
Is this something that has happened suddenly or accidentally? Bapak has heard that it had been talked about before it happened. For example, in France he heard from a member that she once met a woman who told her that thirty or forty years ago she had a vision of Mary, in a place that has become a place of pilgrimage, a special place for Catholics or Christians. This is the story Bapak has heard; those of you from France may not be aware of it. When she met Mary in this holy place … [aside to Usman, the interpreter] where was it?
Usman: In Lourdes.
Bapak: This woman was told: ‘Remember, that in thirty or forty years’ time someone will come here from the East, bringing something from Almighty God that will open the way for people and reveal all that is still secret, particularly in the spiritual realm. But do not tell anyone about this until after you have met this person; then you may talk about it.’
And in Holland Bapak heard another story: that seventy years ago someone among the Christian Theosophists, who were very interested in studying spiritual things, received an inspiration that seventy years in the future someone would come from the East who was a Muslim but did not have a moustache or a beard, and who wore a tie and Western clothing rather than a robe. It would be he who would awaken people from their forgetfulness and neglect, people who had for a long time turned away from God.
Similar stories were told in other places too. So the birth of Subud has not come about by chance, brothers and sisters, but was foretold. It is clear that, to some extent, human beings were able to receive in advance what was to happen in the future concerning the birth of this spiritual exercise that we have come to call Susila Budhi Dharma or Subud.
Toronto, Canada - May 12, 1976
Code Number : 76 YYZ 2
Bapak received a letter from South America telling how the writer had at one time been attacked by a dangerous disease, and how eventually, from a human standpoint, even from a medical standpoint, he appeared to have died. He was taken to the hospital to be prepared for burial. While he was there he was seen by the doctors, seen by other people, who confirmed that he really was dead. But he himself felt and knew that he had been taken to the hospital, where he was put in the mortuary. In the mortuary he was covered up in a shroud, like a dead person. Then he asked in his heart "Am I dead? Why have I been put in this dark building? And why am I covered with a shroud, which usually covers someone who is dead?" He wanted to ask the man in charge, but could not speak. He just stayed quiet and still, and he was left there with a kind of medical orderly.
Eventually there came to him a priest, a priest dressed all in white, and as he watched, the appearance of this priest gradually changed. The man was afraid, because he saw that the priest was no longer a priest, but this was Christ whom he saw. Then Christ spoke to him and said, "Just keep quite calm. You really have died, but in fact you are not dead. You are still alive, and the One Almighty God has brought you back to life. You are now cured of your illness, completely cured. You are no longer ill, and the dangerous disease from which you suffered has now disappeared." Yes; he had been suffering from some kind of cancer. And after that the vision of Christ told him, "When you are examined by the doctor you should just tell him that you are not dead, but still alive, and ask to be taken out of this building. That is what you must do." Then he vanished.
Then the doctor came. All this had happened during the night, and in the morning the doctor came in. As soon as the doctor came to him, he said, "Doctor, I am still alive. I am not dead." The doctor turned and ran; both the doctor and the assistant ran away, for this was a dead men who was speaking to them. Then a whole lot of people came in together. The doctor had fetched some other doctors to keep him company. He and his companions came to look at this man. They came up to him, and he really was alive. "Are you still alive?" "Yes, you can see for yourselves." They could see that his pulse was beating. Then he was taken out of the mortuary and taken care of and given a bath like an ordinary person, and eventually he recovered completely. This was a Subud member.
Then there was another case, where Bapak received a letter from Japan about a man who had been doing latihan for two or three years. Before he died he spoke to his wife and told her, "When I die, you must not give up Subud. You must keep on doing the latihan. And although I am going to die and leave this world, I shall still always protect you. I am going to safeguard you so that your life will always be looked after. I want you to go and see my friend so-and-so." He told her this three months before he died, and then he did in fact die. His death was a very easy one, like someone who was not ill.
Before he died, he gave a message to the friend whom he had mentioned to his wife. "My friend," he said, "I feel that I am not long for this world, and so I am entrusting my wife to your care. Please find her some work that she can do so as to support my children. I have two children, both still very young." "Oh, why do you talk like that. Are you really going to die?" "Yes, I really am." "Very well, then. I agree."
And in fact the man did die about two or three months later, so that his friend was very much surprised, for how had he been able to tell him this while he was still in good health? So eventually the man died, and then, after that, his friend went to the latihan hall one evening rather late. On the way someone called to him from behind. "Heh! Heh! Tan! Tan! Tan!" The friend looked back and saw this man who had just died, but for the moment he had altogether forgotten that he had died, and thought that he was still alive. Then the dead man came up to him and asked him, “Why have you forgotten my message?" "What message?" "I gave you a message that after I died you must not forget to find some work for my wife to do." "Oh yes! But have you died? "Yes I have died." "Well, then why are you here?" "Because I need to tell you this." Then the friend asked him, "Where are you going?" "I am going to the latihan hall with you." He came to the latihan hall and went in. He came and joined in the latihan until it was over, and then sat down for a few moments. "That is done; I have repeated my message to you and now you know about it." "Yes." "well, now I am going back. I am going at once." "Where are you going?" "I am going back to the place of my origin - I am leaving this world." "Oh, like that," Then the friend looked around and saw that the man was no longer there. He was frightened and went back into the latihan hall again and told the people in charge, who were also frightened. Then he wrote this letter to Bapak.
Christchurch, New Zealand - January 13, 1978
Code Number : 78 CHC 1
That which you received when you were first opened, that vibration which you felt within you, which Bapak describes as a life within your life, is that which Adam received at that time when he surrendered himself to God Almighty. It is that which is called the Qodar, or the Hadir Ilham - that is, the gift of grace or the revelation of God Almighty.
It is for this reason that Bapak always advises you and reminds you: do not neglect your Latihan Kejiwaan. Indeed, this is something which represents an incredible blessing and good fortune, that you have been able to receive this, by God's will, at a time when the world is in a state. We are in the time of the New World - where the use of man's heart and mind, has progressed to a point where man has been able to possess tremendously powerful weapons. Man has been able even to go to the moon. The brilliance of man's heart and mind are such that it is impossible for man to believe any more in God Almighty. He can only believe in his own cleverness and his own understanding of this world.
But his awareness of the other world is completely occluded or hidden from his eyes. This is why it is said that man cannot see the power of God. In other words, man cannot see that world of the jiwa because his eyes are shut off by his vision of this world. His eyes are shut off by this world.
And these are the words of experts in the kejiwaan. Bapak doesn't mean a psychiatrist, but people who understand about the Qodar - who understand about the receiving of God's grace. They also say: 'Why cannot man hear the power of God? Why cannot man hear the atmosphere of the whole universe - of all the worlds that God has created?' Because his ears are closed off by the sounds of this world to which man has become accustomed. Why cannot man sense and touch the form of God? In other words, the world of his jiwa? Because his feeling and his touch have become completely covered up by the state of this world.
Toronto, Canada - August 23, 1979
Code Number : 79 YYZ 11
So too has Bapak received letters from Christians, who say that they are no longer active in Subud and the latihan because after doing the latihan kejiwaan for however many years they have been in Subud, they now feel that what they receive in the Christian religions true. Thus it is the same case as it is for Islam. So too for Buddhists. When Bapak was in India there was a maharishi there who had spent thirty years going deeply into Buddhism, going deeply into his religion. It was the same even for this maharishi, when he entered Subud, Bapak himself felt afraid ( to open him ) because he only looked at Bapak. But because he asked to be opened, eventually Bapak opened him. But all went well. It did not take long for him to start moving about in the latihan, and he stopped meditating. Then after about two or three weeks he saw a vision of the Buddha. The Buddha was radiating light. Then the maharishi said to Bapak that this was now enough for him, and he was not going on with the latihan any longer because it is enough for a Buddhist if he can just once see the Buddha in a vision. That is a sign that this person has achieved the fullness of his religion.
That is why Bapak tells all the members that Bapak does not object, brothers and sisters, supposing that any of you feel like that. It can be said that quite a lot of Subud members resign, and Bapak is not at all surprised. For of course, brothers and sisters, to receive wahyu ( grace and revelation ), to receive from God, is not something easy, but neither is it difficult, whether it is easy or difficult depends upon yourselves.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 3, 1980
Code Number : 80 CDK 1
Once when I was there with the kiyai ( Muslim scholar or teacher ), the land in front of me disappeared and there was an ocean before me. Then some small people came along. They were dwarfs. They came up to me and asked me what I would like to ask for. I said that I was not asking for anything, but that I wished to find the One Almighty God. "I want to Find tho One Almighty God. I pray for a sign from the One Almighty God." That was all. The dwarfs vanished. I told my teacher about it. “Well", he said, "Why did you not say yes or ask for anything?” They symbolized the Dewa Ruci ( Holy Spirit )." No, they were not like that, they were satanic beings. Well, just think about that. They were supernatural beings, so if I had asked them for this or that, I could have had the power to fly anywhere and everywhere. Yes, I could have had supernatural powers. If I had become someone who had supernatural powers, then what would have happened? I might not have become a robber, but who would have dared to withstand me? Well, that was how it was.
I was astonished at my teacher. After that, I decided to leave that teacher. His name was Kiyai Pontokartoko: he was the teacher of Magkunegoro V. he had also been the teacher of Kanjeng Gusti Mankuogoro I Sambornyawa. Although he had also been Bapak's teacher, that was another matter. Bapak was different. He was already different. This is how it is, brothers and sisters.
So, through this latihan kedjiwaan, we are guided by God into the holy way that is really right for our lives later on, after we have left this world, so that we are opened to the vision and the knowledge of the difference between heaven and this world. Well, that was a little bit about Bapak's experiences.
There are more stories like that. I had a friend, brothers and sisters, who went to the same teacher as I. He practiced asceticism; for five years he ate no rice, but only green vegetables. He said that he had been able to meet with all sorts of things. when he was in Jatirogo, he went together with me to the home of the kiyai of Jatirogo. The kiyai of Jatirogo was a spiritual teacher, but he taught the spiritual wisdom of islam. He had received this teaching from Sunan Ampal Dento, Sunan of Surabaya, a wali. He asked my friend what he wanted. "I want to study with you, Kiyai." In Fact he had already received a lot of teaching and was already quite learned, but he still wanted to do this. "If I may, Kiyai", he said, 'I would llke to tell you what I have already experienced." "All right", said the Kiyaiy. In my meditations, Kiyai, I was able too see myself all lighted up. It was very beautiful." And he said that this was what was being worshipped. That was what one calls a genderwo, a phantom" answered the Kiyai of Abdarrachman. “Oh, was it?” "Yes; that was a phantom."
Then my friend thought that if it was like that, then he had better stop what he was doing, for obviously this was a genderwo. So if there are any of you who deviate from the latihan kedjiwaan, so that you may that you meet with this or that during your meditations, those are all genderwos, brothers and sisters. Islam is not like that. Everything has been brought together in it and there is none of this or that in it. Bapak has experienced how if someone has charms or amulets about his person, and then he joins Subud, he loses them. Yes, yes. If someone has susuck charms inserted under the skin, they drop out. There are all sorts of susuk charms to render one invulnerable or to make one handsome or pretty - but when someone enters Subud all these drop out and get lost. The price for one susuk used to be a thousand rupiahs, but now it may cost a hundred thousand. Yes. Thus there are many of the beautiful women in Solo who make use of susuk. When they join Subud and do the latihan, all these susuk come out; all these bits of gold drop out of their cheeks and get lost. Well, if any of you have anything like that, just throw it away. Indeed, my children, if you have things like that people can be overwhelmed when they see you. Yes, they are overcome, so that if you smile at them you enchant their heart. Yes, if you just have P. a glance he would be enchanted.
Brothers and sisters, one ,may conclude from this that the best thing to do iS to follow the way of the latihan kedjiwaan of Subud, for the latihan kedjiwaan of Subud is in truth guidance and direction From the power of the One Almighty God. Do not go seeking for God, brothers and sisters. God is already present within your inner-selves. If you do not seek for God, but just go on doing the latihan kedjiwaan according to what we have received, God will come still closer to you so that you can correct your own selves. You will be able to know your own faults and your own wrong actions, and you will be able to know the right path to follow in order to be able to provide for your own lives in this world until they come to an end. It is thus clear, brothers and sisters, that this latihan kedjiwaan of Subud really does constitute ilmu, or divine wisdom operating in your lives.
Wisma Subud, Jakarta, Indonesia - January 16, 1981
Code Number : 81 CDK 1
The fact is that this idea that God guides man, is in fact a formula which is convenient for man to understand, but in fact, the reality is not like that. God Almighty is Almighty. He is All-Powerful. He is All-Encompassing, and because of His greatness and His nature, Almighty God can unite with everything, and does unite with everything in the universe that He has created. So when we say that God guides man, it doesn't mean that His guidance is perceived by man in the same way that one man guides another man; in other words, in the way that you hear some advice from somebody and then you do it. This is not the way in which God guides man. The way in which God guides man is through the fact that He is one with everything which He has created.
If God wills that man hears something, then that sound will arise within man's ear itself. In other words, it will not come as something from outside; it will arise within man's ear. If Almighty God wants man to see something, then that vision will arise within man's eyes. Similarly, if Almighty God wants man to understand something, then that understanding will arise within man's own thinking. It is because of this fact - because of this nature of God's Guidance - man very often has the feeling that this guidance he has received from Almighty God has in fact arisen from his own self, or from his own nature, or from his own nature or his own power.
Cilandak, Indonesia -- April 8, 1984
Code Number : 84 CDK 2
And God provides something even further for mankind, something higher still and mom powerful, more perfect than the roh rohani. That is, the roh rahmani - the life force of the prophets and the messengers of God.
All this is still only an explanation, a manner of speaking. Even if with words alone mankind could get there, we still couldn't receive it - not with the situation we're in, not yet. For we are enclosed in our world and closed off from the higher worlds by the framework of life forces of our own being here - by the level of our own being itself, the human.
This is why it is said the human beings actually can't see how it is in the realm of the miraculous; cannot understand how the Word of God really is; nor how the Power of God really works. Because human beings are closed in by their own eyes.
What can be done if the tool for vision itself, the means for seeing things, is the very thing which prevents seeing?
The cause is the nafsu ( in the tool ). The reality is that behind your seeing, in front of your seeing, to the right and left and all around and in you - everywhere is God's Power working.
Bapak can say this because Bapak has experienced it. And how? By latihan.
That is the whole point. And it is what Bapak has been explaining to members around Java - in Surabaya, for instance - so they will understand it. When you retrogress in latihan, it is because you accept the latihan as some sort of game, or playing around; or you think it's a kind of meditation, concentration or samadhi - or even other sorts of things. Oh no, brothers and sisters: that is not correct. If you go along that route, when you die you end up in the "dream-realm".
This is shown to be the case when you read certain historical narratives such as those from Java. The contents of one such book is the story of the life of Sheik Amongraga. This was the man who could survive for indefinite periods under water without dying. Yet the end of this man was a departure not from this world but deeper into its finer realm. He couldn't rise from this world. He couldn't go to heaven: because he was still layered over ( here ).
On the contrary, if you are truly purified, it is not that you go flying somewhere. No. It happens all by itself that you just "rise". By yourself you just ascend - you don't have to "fly" there - you just arise and are then above. It is like the Dutch expression, lighter than air or 'airless': in other words, without nafsu. So it happens all by itself, naturally. And if it is already like that, then the speed of your leaving cannot be compared even to the speed of sunlight. That's regarding the speed ( it happens at ).
Cilandak, Indonesia - August 9, 1984
Code Number : 84 CDK 17
The other day, Bapak met Pak Hardjono. Well, Hardjono related that he once met a lady from Austria who claimed to be, and indeed was, clairvoyant. One day she wanted to see Wisma Subud, so he invited her to come along. But when they got to the gate, she refused to come in and said: 'Just this far is enough - I see a lot of angels in there!'
Ask Hardjono yourself, if you think Bapak is talking nonsense. So this person, gifted with clear vision, could see this place full of angels! It happened only recently. Bapak will not speak of Bapak's own experiences during the twenty or twenty-one trips Bapak has made around the world. On these trips, Bapak had many, many experiences of supernatural phenomena.
So there are two types of experience man can have in this world - the supernatural, and the theoretical or materialistic, obtained through the mind. Why is this? It is God's justice. He knows who is wrong, who loses, and who is right, who is strong, and who is weak.
Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo