Ladies and gentlemen, Bapak wishes to give explanations about the path of the training ( latihan ) again tonight, but Bapak will not start at the very beginning because there won't be sufficient time. So Bapak hopes that those of you who have not yet heard Bapak's previous talk will listen to the recording.
As Bapak explained, there are four walls, as Bapak described them, in the body or self of man. The first wall is the coarse wall, that is the coarse or physical body. The second is the body of the feelings. The third is the body of the understanding, and the fourth the body of awareness. Bapak draws it like this - but because there's no space, it's not so good - one, two, three, four. This is the wall that Bapak referred to as the coarse wall, the coarse physical body, including both its visible and invisible parts, for example, that which can be seen easily as well as that which lies within it. The second wall is the wall of the feelings. The third is the wall of the understanding and the fourth is the wall of awareness. These four are a set that make up the body of a human being, so that he can receive, or be brought to life by, the awakening of the soul ( jiwa ).
Actually, the force or vibration you received and experienced at the time of your opening and which you feel during your training ( latihan ), is not really something strange, it is not some unknown force or foreign thing, but existed before this physical form came into being. That is why Bapak says that the force Bapak is referring to is within everything that is inside and outside of all that is outside. So, too, is it before everything that is before, and comes after everything that is after.
If, then, it has always existed and is not strange to man, why does man still feel it as something strange, and still feel he cannot receive it clearly? It is because man's self has become enveloped by forces below the human being, which should in fact be partners in man's life.
The forces Bapak refers to are: the material force, or the nature of minerals, of what exists in this world, in the earth, both what is seen as well as not yet seen; second the force of plants; third the force of animals and fourth the force of humans themselves. These forces are really like man's partners, to enable him to arrange his life and act rightly in his life.
Besides these forces that have become man's partners, the human being, by God's will, also has the desires ( nafsu ) he needs, to arouse in him the spirit to work and be active. The nest of these desires is in man's heart, that is, in the heart of man's will. There are four kinds of desire or passion. The first is called aluamah, the desire or wish to win; the second is amarah, the desire to become rich or acquire wealth for oneself; the third is surlyah, or the wish become, oneself, the most famous and well known; and the fourth is mutmainah, the nature of the heart that wishes oneself to be the most wise. Man needs to possess such desires so that he does not remain motionless like a material object, or like a plant, or an animal, or like a human being without learning.
Besides this, within man's self, that is to say in the body of feelings, man also possesses four kinds of feeling. First there is the feeling that likes to accept, meaning patience; second there is the feeling that surrenders; third there's the feeling that is tawakal, that is, the feeling that truly gives without expecting anything in return; and fourth there's ikhlas, which means that God alone is the owner of everything.
Of these two series, namely the four kinds of desire and the four kinds of feeling or inner feeling, the first group has its nest in the heart of the will or 'little heart', and the second has its nest in the heart that is called hati sanubari ( inner heart ).
The series of accessories Bapak has just described work for and awaken the self of man, so that they can fulfil the needs of man's life in this world. But because man doesn't remain in one place only, due to pressure of space, he is forced to search, to use his intelligence and to make efforts to ensure his safety and well-being. So, gradually, due to the influence of the pressures of life that constantly beset him and demand his attention, he is forced to forget his patience, his tawakal, his surrender and sincere submission ( ikhlas ) to God.
Such a state makes it easy for man's companion forces, which are meant to be below him as just partners, gradually to control his being so that man forgets about the greatness of God and chases after the things he requires for a happy life in this world only.
Man's forgetfulness in worshipping God and also the progress that comes from man's chasing after the needs of his worldly life - which gradually extend further, and become deeper, and it can be said greater - have the result that man's thinking and feelings forget about the content of his own jiwa, the content of his self, the human jiwa, which really contains something with which he can worship God.
In reality, such progress is a kind of good fortune for man because he has advanced so far; in theory, therefore, he should easily be able to receive and feel what is happening within himself.
An example is the discoveries made by people all of you have heard about. These discoverers, called uitvinders, obtain something that is actually beyond their expectation. But because this progress is sought with their thinking and their will, they don't acknowledge that it comes from God; it is as if it is from their own thinking, which has progressed so far in searching for it. Because of this, the discoveries received or obtained do not necessarily bring happiness, but may even become dangers for mankind.
Why is this so? It's because the will of a human being is always accompanied by the desires ( nafsu ) Bapak mentioned earlier - the passions that want things for themselves, like a good reputation, fame, victory and to be called wise.
Therefore, man is excessively dominated and enveloped by the material, plant, animal and human forces, to such an extent that it's as if the nature of man's feelings, or Bapak may say his soul ( jiwa ), is no different from a material object on which a price can actually be put, an object that can be valued or bought and sold by people.
Bapak is not singling out you, brothers and sisters, or people who are always quick in their thinking, but generally it cannot be denied that seeking cleverness is for no other purpose than for selling something to get a livelihood, as Bapak said just now, like an object which is bought and sold for a high price.
That's the way it is. So in reality, the nature of man's passions, the nature of man's progress, is hardly different from that of a material object, with the result that it is said that if one does not have material possessions, if one does not have property, if one does not have the things that are usually referred to as wealth or the objects of this world, one has no value at all. And because of this, or because the thinking has become involved in this way, if people seek the truth within their souls ( jiwa ), seek the way to God, the path to the One God, in their feeling and thinking, they just represent God as they would a material object. Thus they imagine that in the hereafter they can meet God in the place where He lives - in a magnificent place, enthroned and regaled like a king or like the richest person in the world. Whereas in fact it's not like that at all.
It is said that life outside the life of this world, called the hereafter or the time or state outside the world, is certainly altogether different. Even if it is only a little ( different ), man cannot picture the hereafter - the place of God, or the land of God - as being like anything that exists in the world, or as anything that has already been conceived or imagined in his thinking mind.
Therefore what all of you have received, brothers and sisters, is an inner receiving ( which comes ) after you are free of the passions, free of the thinking, free of worldly imaginings and picturings.
Indeed, that is what is sought by all the seekers, by all those people who need to find the road to God, for example in India, in Indonesia, in Tibet, as well as in other places. And the way they search for the path to God is first to put aside and avoid worldly pressures, worldly situations that always affect and influence the inner feeling. Such efforts have no purpose other than to calm the heart, thinking, feelings and desires ( nafsu ), to make them peaceful, clean and still, so that those people can find something that exists within themselves. That is how difficult it is for human beings to find the way to God, such that they have to isolate themselves from society, set aside and wipe out all the pleasures that man usually enjoys.
That is how Bapak describes the efforts of man - such as all of you - to attain the true road within the calmness of the inner self. Therefore Bapak always says, and Bapak says it now, and perhaps at a later time you will verify what Bapak says here: that which all of you have received, what you have received in the training ( latihan ), is in fact the same as the fruit of the efforts made by man, which Bapak has just described, and yet you can receive it very easily here.
And the ease with which you can receive it is not because of Bapak, because of Bapak's asceticism, perhaps, or Bapak's will or Bapak's efforts. No. But maybe it’s because it is indeed willed by God that man is able to receive this in the present state of things. It is certain that God, the All-knowing, knows the state of the world and the state of human beings everywhere, who at the present time cannot possibly quieten themselves, because of the pressure of the age, which has made such progress.
Because of this it is truly fortunate, truly a blessing and a very great gift of happiness, that man in his present state - what is called modern man, who due to his progress has become so dirty and mixed up in his thinking - has been able to receive this, to find this, a way that can lead him to the life of his inner self.
That is why Bapak says that what you have received isn't really something new or strange, but in truth existed before this world came into existence. So it seems strange to you, feels new to you, because only now have your desires ( nafsu ) and thinking and emotions been opened and set aside, so that what exists within you emerges by itself.
So in fact it was already within us, but this ( body ) could not feel it before, because it was suppressed, pushed down, pressurized by what Bapak has just described. So it isn't something strange or new for mankind. It's only man's thinking that considers it strange. And why is it received here within ( Bapak indicates the center of the circles ), but that which feels it first is here ( wall number one )? Because this needs to be finished first, needs to be purified, because it has received dirt and pressure from here also.
An example is when a child is newly born into the world. Although the infant is newborn, if you observe its attitude and expression, ladies and gentlemen, it is sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes half happy, sometimes satisfied and sometimes frightened. Therefore, the newborn infant can certainly experience in its seeing, its hearing, its feeling and so forth, things that we, as adults who have been in the world a long time, cannot easily know about.
A newborn infant feels sad, but it does not see anything in front of it to make it sad; it feels happy without seeing anything that brings happiness to its heart - anything that can be seen as we can see. But it is clear that the newborn infant certainly has those experiences. It can certainly see, but its seeing is not like the way we who are grown up and already old, see.
Gradually the little child begins to see forms and shapes of the world, it can hear a variety of sounds, smell all kinds of odors, feel objects or forms that it can touch, and the experience that exists deep within begins to recede far, far, far away. They grow closer to the world, so they can see objects that make them happy, they can hear sounds that please them, they can taste food that makes them happy, and they forget the experience that is within their inner self, so that eventually the child, after it has grown up, is nearer to the world than to its own inner self, that is, nearer here ( wall number one ) than here ( wall number four ).
In reality, when the child has grown up, there is no longer an awareness of the soul ( jiwa ). Instead there is an awareness in the brain, the thinking, because it is as if everything is done by measuring, by drawing, by sketching. That is why they grow closer to the world and finally completely forget what truly exists within their inner self.
Such a happening is not wrong; there is nothing wrong in it. Indeed, God wills that man be on earth so that he can move in the world and awaken and conduct his life so that it will not be at odds or in conflict with what exists in the world. But don't forget that man exists because of God, not because of himself. So besides what Bapak mentioned before, God also gives man a kind of instrument that can sense where and how is God's power that envelops man's self- namely, what Bapak mentioned before, patience, acceptance, surrender, trust ( tawakal ) and sincerity ( ikhlas ).
Yes, but life is indeed difficult, so if a man does not have a strong desire to become a person who is well known, wealthy or successful, or a person who is wise, he even becomes the opposite. That is to say, if his will to win is not strong enough, nothing happens, and he feels it's all right just to be timid. If this desire to become wealthy is lacking, nothing happens, and he has the feeling it's all right just to be poor. And if he does not become famous, he says he does not care, becomes discouraged, says he doesn't need to look for anything, and that it's his fate to be like that. And if he is not wise in seeking knowledge, he can't achieve it because, well, this upsets him, that upsets him, or because he is sick. Then after that there is a feeling, well, it's better to stay stupid as long as I'm safe and sound.
That really is not permitted. It is forbidden by the One God. Do not decide anything of your own will before it is willed by God, because in reality a human being who worships God does not want to say anything is certain, no; certainty is in the hands of God alone. So obviously, if what is desired cannot be obtained - like becoming rich - be patient, surrender it to God so that God will give you true guidance, which is right for your path in life, corresponding to your soul ( jiwa ). And not only that; God will give to man so that man is not merely happy in his life but happy in his body, healthy for example, so that his good health becomes the good health of his soul, and he can truly worship God.
That is why Bapak said earlier that the reason for it beginning from here ( wall number one ), is that man has become blind to God, so this ( wall number one ) has to be cleaned first; and the dirt and stains within the inner feeling of each of us must be purified, by whatever means and in whatever way is necessary. Only God can give, only God can guide, in a way that is beyond the reach of the thinking mind and the passions.
That is why Bapak says the training ( latihan ) all of you have received has no connection at all with the strength of desire ( nafsu ) as in what is usually called spiritualism, hypnotism or magnetism. Bapak simply says it is an awakening of the individual soul ( jiwa ), the soul of man that is usually called insan kamil - that is to say the perfected human being. The way you experience it is by being moved, being awakened so that the awakening returns to its right place everything within us that is wrong - not Forgetting that what is wrong in us is not only that which is observable, in the hand and foot and body, but also in our heart and thinking. How can the mistakes in man's brain, in his thinking, in his imagination, be corrected. Well, we do not know whether this can be done or not, but Bapak is certain of one thing, that man himself cannot do it, only God Himself can do it. Therefore the training you receive doesn't just cleanse what can be seen, but it extends to the thinking, the understanding, the feelings and imagination - all are completely purified.
So later we will be able to receive, 'Oh, this is the way I was when my mother gave birth to me, when I was not yet affected by the power of the influence of this world, and this is how it was when I could not yet speak, or see shapes and forms, or smell anything, or taste what was nice and what was not. Now I have experienced all of that.'
When you have reached that point, the follow-up will certainly be: 'Oh, this is how it was when I was going to be made, and after I came to have the nature of a human being.' So you will be able to receive for yourself how it was when 'I' had not yet become 'I' and how it was after 'I' became 'I'. We are free of the usual thinking, yet we understand and we are aware. Why is that so? It's because we have been purified by the One God, by the power of God.
The Prophet Jesus is an example of this - a child of humble birth, who had no education at all, who was not looked after but left completely to himself. Yet now his advice is revered and honored and followed by nearly half the people in the world. The same was the case with the Prophet Muhammad, in the Islamic faith. He was also a child of parents of humble rank, and his father even died while he was still in the womb. Nevertheless when grown up he could give advice that is similarly followed, revered and obeyed to this day by millions of human beings. Why is that so? It's because these two human beings had been purified by God. This is symbolized in Christianity by baptism and in Islam by the syahadat ( declaration of faith ), both of which mean being purified for entry into that religion, or being dedicated to, or entrusted to and given faith in, the One God.
Therefore what you have received, what you have been doing in the training ( latihan ), does not in any way violate or negate anything existing in the world. It is not a follow-on or continuation of any effort by mankind, no. Yet it can also be understood as the continuation of every effort ever made by man, because the efforts of all men are actually only to one end – that they believe, entrust themselves to God, and worship God, so that they may obtain God's gift. Because of this, if you have received this, whether you are Christian, Muslim, or of other religions, you will become aware of this yourself.
This does not mean, my children, that you should be like Bapak, or follow Bapak. No. This is not Bapak's knowledge or teaching; it is knowledge or teaching from God, not from Bapak. How could you possibly imitate Bapak, since you cannot even cough like Bapak? So seek what corresponds to you; there is nothing but you yourselves. God will give to each what he needs; it will arise from your own nature. So don't follow the example of others, thinking to yourself, 'Oh it must be like that.' No. I am myself, and you are yourself. Only do not forget that the differences will not give rise to dissension; in fact they can be the cause of unity, because they are so willed by God. So what creates differences of opinion, differences of action, is the mind of man, not God. There is only One God, and it is He who is worshipped and adored by all His creation. God is not going to differentiate between A and B, this nation and that nation, no. Whether animal, plant or material object, all are God's creation.
Therefore it is clear that if later you have become clean and good, you will automatically penetrate this and come back to this point. Once all of this can be penetrated, it means that the power of God envelops a human being within and without, so that he can see his life in this world as well as life in the hereafter. And it is clear and certain that God exists in everything, everywhere. Nothing is left empty. This is expressed in Islam as, muhituna fil lazi mahma man finunakum badi, which means, 'The power of God, the glory and the greatness of God pervades everything; nothing is empty of it.' But man himself cannot yet grasp it, and understand, because he is not yet clean.
Through your true worship, my children, it will come about, by God's grace that God will create a teacher within the self of each one of you; that is to say, you yourself will become the teacher within. Later, little by little, you will be able to receive and feel this. Of course, if you ask Bapak how many years, or months: 'In about how many more years Bapak, will I be able to reach that point?' well, Bapak cannot say definitely, because it is within yourselves.
Suppose, for example, Bapak compares your body to a piece of soiled cloth. The quickness or slowness of the cleaning process, the time needed to clean the cloth, depends on how dirty the cloth is. Possibly there are some among you who can obtain what is necessary in two years, and there are others for whom it will be twenty years. But you can judge for yourselves that in this training ( latihan ) we feel, there is something that moves extremely quickly. If we look just at the beginning, this has already been fast - faster than other methods. So if you compare yourselves with others, it would take twenty, twenty-five, thirty years to achieve what they are waiting for, namely to hear the voice of the inner self, what is called de ware ik ( the true 'I' ) or the true content. Whereas you here, my children, who have not yet been doing the latihan for even one month, can already hear the voice; and the voice arises by itself.
So if you compare it, this really is something very fast, because it is in accordance With the present age, and because humankind has become impatient. If people are asked to study in the way it's done over there ( in Java ), the way they call ngulerkambang ( leech ), which means at one's own pace, or slowly, they don't have the patience for it any more. Their minds are the minds of today's people. But because God is All-knowing, what He gives is in accordance with the way of thinking that has become so fast.
This is Bapak's explanation for tonight. Bapak will stop at this point because, well, Bapak is tired. Bapak asks you all please to forgive him if the talk has not been long enough or has not satisfied your feelings. Bapak truly asks your forgiveness and prays that all of you will be able to receive this with patience, trust and surrender to the One Almighty God.
Translated by Luqman Leckie