Ladies and gentlemen, Bapak has now returned to London to meet with all of you, and as usual Bapak will give clarifications concerning the way of the latihan, or the spiritual path.

In reality, clarifications are not very necessary in the spiritual life. But as you don't have much experience in spiritual receiving, Bapak feels it necessary to give you a picture to prevent your heart from feeling anxious.

Bapak will explain to all of you that you shouldn't use your mind and understanding to try to understand what you receive in the training ( latihan ). Indeed, this is surprising. For human beings have a mind and intelligence, and they should use them so they can have some notion or understanding of what they are going to do. Bapak is not finding fault with that; Bapak approves of it. But don't forget that in the latihan we are not facing one another, we are not facing people; we, as human beings, are facing the One God.

Know that the One God, the Creator of all things, created us. We exist because of God's will. We can think, and we have our character, also because of God. So, when we are facing the One who created us we should wipe clean everything that is in us. God knows and perceives what is in the feeling of your inner heart within your breast. But God also knows the strength and capacity of each one of you to receive a gift from God. For this reason, Bapak suggests and hopes you just receive what happens in the latihan with patience and surrender, without thinking about anything.

There are many people who appear to be sincere and may indeed be sincere in their heart when they worship God. And many surrender within their heart every day and every night, mentioning only the name of God the Almighty. But why don't they receive guidance from the One God, straight from God to themselves? The reason is that the state of their heart's surrender to God, and their heart's belief in God, is founded on man's rules, and is not by God's will.

If you feel for a moment and consider how Bapak opened you, and how in your opening your soul ( jiwa ) could immediately awaken and receive the true vibration of life, which envelops you, both outside and inside... When you were about to receive it Bapak's words of advice to you were very ordinary words and less than the way in which people usually praise, extol and glorify the greatness of the One God. Yet you were able to receive it. You were able to feel it for yourselves.

So it wasn't the words that enabled you to receive, nor was it the words that enabled you to be cleared of the obstructions that were in your inner feeling. What Bapak did, and what you received, was really by God's will. So in practice, in reality, what you did in the latihan seemed easy, and light and possible. You can conclude from this that if something is willed by God - even something considered ordinary or completely insignificant - it becomes easy. This is why Bapak tells you: just receive in the latihan. God knows what is within all of you.

And Bapak can say that the latihan you receive regularly is a fertilizer which always fertilizes you within your self, within your inner feeling, within your spiritual feeling, so that you can receive what God gives to you. Later, when your powers have been fertilized, and when your soul has been fertilized for receiving God's gift, the time will eventually arrive when you come to the level Bapak refers to as the level of understanding.

That's why, in the latihan, movements are necessary. Although one might say these movements are meaningless, they are the precondition for being able to receive, eventually, all the needs of your inner self. There is no other way. For the physical body, the body of feelings, the body of understanding, and the body of awareness of man, are filled with forces that man himself doesn't yet understand. Man is still unable to be aware that what is within himself is not entirely himself, not one hundred percent him. So, a person who hasn't yet received guidance and the awakening of the soul in the way we have received it, cannot know or understand that what is felt in his feelings, thought in his thinking, and conceived in his awareness, is ( not ) all from himself, from the human being himself. For this reason his surrender, his faith, and his worship of the Lord, the Almighty, get no response whatever and do not bring about the awakening of his soul.

People claim that their faith arises from their own heart, and their surrender awakens from their own feelings. Indeed. But they are not yet aware, they cannot yet know that this assertion of theirs is in fact made by another party, another force, which influences and oppresses them within their heart and feelings. Bapak will clarify this by explaining what really happens relating to the inner feeling of man and the forces below and above man. You have more or less heard already in Bapak's previous talks the explanation and clarification Bapak is going to give here. But Bapak will repeat it, so you can feel clearer in your feelings.

Bapak will describe the state of a human being from the time when a human being is born on earth, that is, born from its mother. A newborn baby is not yet able to feel anything, nor can it see any of the sights of this world. It can't yet hear any sounds or smell any smells or taste any foods. It can only suck from its mother's breast, not because it knows, but because its feeling is in its tongue. And at that time, the baby is not yet able to distinguish whether the milk is from its mother or not. So, if the baby child is put near a mother dog or cow or other animal which is suckling its young, it will still drink.

At this time, a newborn baby is still able to see, hear, smell and taste things that we grown-ups cannot know or understand. That's why a baby's face sometimes seems to indicate that it is suffering in its heart and feelings; and sometimes it appears to be happy, showing that its heart and feelings are really content. Evidently, the baby's happiness or suffering shows in its movements and facial expressions. But we grown-up people, we adults, only say that the baby's antics are for no reason, and that there is no cause for his dismay, joy and so on. Although the baby's face appears to express feelings of joy and dismay, grown-ups just say that there is no reason for his crying or looking distressed or happy. Our latihan shows us that that is the state of a baby, that is the state of a human body which is not yet mixed with passion, not yet mixed with pictures of this world, not yet mingled with this and with that. So the baby is able to receive something beyond our ability to understand.

This is the reason why in receiving the latihan you laugh, cry, move like this and move like that, but you don't understand yet what it means, or what causes it. 'Why am I crying for no reason? Why am I laughing, also for no reason?' It is clear that all of you, now you have received the latihan, are - not as if, but really -repeating your life from when you were still small. Your life -your movements, your habits, your behavior, and everything else- from the time when you were small until you grew up to adulthood, consisted of private movements and situations which were not in the service of God, not specifically for God. As Bapak always explains, the movements you have received, even though they are not yet the true movements, are all willed by God, whose power awakens our state of being, beyond our ability to understand. We have begun to work and behave, albeit still only a little, according to God's will. And that is called service of God ( godsdienst ).

Many people whose belief in God is very real and complete fail to arrive at their goal, namely, God. For the expression of their faith, although it is aroused in the feeling of their heart, arises because of desire, because of the experiences of this world they have received from childhood through to adulthood and maturity.

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.

And after the person has become a mature adult, he wants to use his mind - which has become so wide - and the feeling of his heart, to rediscover the states he was in when he was still a baby and entirely untouched by images of the world. It is no wonder that the mind, heart and feelings cannot possibly grasp or be aware of states that occurred before the mind, heart and feelings had developed in that way. So, quite a few people try to receive something like the state they were in when they were still a tiny baby. They try to do this by going off far from the crowd and isolating themselves in some remote, quiet place, such as a forest, far from everywhere.

What do they do this for? To enable them to be calm, put aside and avoid their thinking and feelings which have developed since they were small. Obviously, they want to force their mind and the feeling of their heart not to work any more. But this is impossible; certainly the mind, feelings and heart will continue to work. They can only not work when a human being is really and truly dead. But these people are still alive, so they go off and isolate themselves in a quiet place far from the crowd. Their thinking, the feeling of their heart, and their passions, are forced to stop, and have to stop, but they are not dead. They do not cease to exist. They just stop, and bide their time. Then, when the time comes they re-emerge. Consequently, in the majority of cases -Bapak does not say in all cases - the results people achieve by forcing their mind and heart to stop thinking and feeling are not results that God wills; they are, for example, sorcery, hypnotism, magnetism, spiritualism and the like.

It is so difficult for us humans to rediscover and recover something that really is willed by God and really is the compass, the main mast and backbone of our voyage to God. But God is Almighty. God is All-knowing. Because God created us humans, we are certainly accompanied by instruments and means that we can use to perfect our own being. God did not create us at random, but complete and to perfection, with what we need to make our lives happy both in this world and in the hereafter. We can only find this and receive it if we are really able to resist the pressure of our desires, thinking, feelings and heart - in other words, if we can be in a state such as we were in when we were still small, as if we were still in the state of a baby who is not yet mixed or oppressed with images of this world, as Bapak said before. When we are in such a state, we will be able to know, understand and come to an awareness of God's promises to man, and man's promises to the One God.

Bapak might illustrate these promises with an example: suppose you buy or are given a machine. The machine, let us say, can be used for sewing clothes, and you know how to use it. 'Ah,' you might say, 'This is the way for me to use my mind, my desires and my feelings.' But suppose Bapak were to tell you that God has promised you a sewing machine, and suppose you used it not for sewing clothes, but for hitting things. It would then be used for a purpose that is not in line with God's will as created in the sewing machine.

So, if we return to the world of a baby, to a world not yet under pressure from the mind - as when you receive the latihan and make movements and laugh and so on for no apparent reason -we can really discover how to live our life in line with God's will as contained in all that He has created in us. And in that state, when we are able to go back in our feelings and become like a baby again, whatever is required for our soul, and for our life, begins to happen. Although this doesn't happen all at once, it always grows, it always moves; it is always there, and it always happens by itself.

How can we find the right way to God and the perfection of life? Because in that pure state, the accessory instruments God wills for man - which cannot possibly be conceived or felt by ordinary thoughts and feelings - will emerge, and will be felt and received. Clearly, we are strengthened through the presence of God's power, so that we are not oppressed by desires, thoughts and feelings. God's power comes and is there - in fact, it existed before anything else existed, yet when we feel it, we say it comes and is there - when we can calm ourselves and surrender ourselves with the assistance and guidance of someone who is willed by God to clear the way for people who haven't discovered it.

Now, why are you only able to find this with Bapak, for example, as an intermediary? After all, God is the One God, and is Omnipotent. Surely He himself can give the reality to all of you. Surely He doesn't need to be accompanied by Bapak; He doesn't have to order Bapak; He doesn’t need Bapak as intermediary? This does not diminish God's greatness or God's power. In reality, God's power always envelops you. But when you were not yet close to Bapak, you were closed up by your desires, your thoughts and your personality, so that the power of God enveloping the self of man was still very strange to you.

To put it simply, in ordinary terms - but it's not really like that, Bapak is only giving this as an illustration: suppose you are approached by someone - not Bapak - who happens to be of a different nationality, doesn’t understand a word of English, and is completely unfamiliar with English customs. That person, by approaching you, must want to make your acquaintance. But because you don't know the person well, you think he must want something. So, when he comes up to you, you run away. You are afraid, because you think he might do you some harm.

Clearly, God and His power are close to all of you. God's power approaches you from within and from without, enters your eyes and your seeing, and enters your hearing, speaking and feelings. There is nothing God's power cannot enter. But it would have felt strange to you before you met Bapak, because the direction your seeing, hearing and feelings were taking was not towards God, but towards pictures and images of this world.

A human intermediary, that is, Bapak, makes it easier for you to have faith in God and worship God, because Bapak is a person also, and you can be touched instantly. You can hear Bapak's words when he talks, for example. Bapak will explain again. Why does God need someone to enable people to receive a contact from God, when God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Most Great, and All-wise? The reason is that Bapak is an ordinary person. Bapak knows how you developed when you were a baby, and how you grew up and became adults. It is easy for Bapak to know in the ordinary way, and to make contact in the way people usually make contact. But God is not like that. So it is necessary for Bapak to accompany you, and open you and introduce you to the movement that is within you. Naturally, a person first knows another person better than they know God at first. But later, when you've gone deeper and wider in the development of your inner feeling and soul, you will feel: 'Ah, it's so easy to worship God.'

This is Bapak's clarification.

Why does Bapak always tell you not to use your thinking mind in the latihan? The reason is that your thoughts and feelings are not yet your real thoughts and feelings; they have developed and have been carried away by images of the world, and those images of the world are filled with all kinds of forces. So just receive what you receive. If you find it necessary or beneficial, you can discuss the experiences you have received. But don't try to understand or be aware of them. What Bapak calls understanding and awareness will grow and come about spontaneously when your inner feeling - which envelops your whole body - comes back to life and is clean and pure again. Bapak doesn't want to prolong this explanation about spiritual matters. Because lengthy explanations won't make your feelings clear and pure; on the contrary, they will increase the stuff and dirt that is in your inner feeling. It's better if Bapak uses the short time remaining to do some testing with all of you, to give evidence of what you have received in your inner self.

( Testing )

( Inaudible ) for the existence of this world, the existence of mankind, the existence of the stars and everything you see in the heavens, is a symbol that God works, God lives and does not stop even for one moment.

It's clear, and it is apparent now in your latihan, that it is God's will for you to be able to live and work, both in this world and later, after death. Of course, the kind of work for us to do outside this world, after God has shown us the way there, will be different from the kind of work we do in this world. The conditions of our existence once we are there will not be as they are now. And the one who will create and fashion the requirements of our life there is the One God.

It is for this reason that we are being exercised and trained. We gradually begin to leave behind the influences of this world. And we begin to be able to work with means and instruments that come from God and that arise when we are able to put aside and keep away the pressures of the world. These instruments will arise and develop gradually or, Bapak can say, in the measure of the strength within your soul. So, eventually, you really will be in possession of the instruments we need for our life in this world, and those we need for life after death.

Obviously, you will not attain this all at once. That's why Bapak advises you not to expect or look for anything in the latihan or outside the latihan. For any such expectation is only the fruit - that is, the desire - of the heart and passions. In reality, expecting something is the same as telling God to give you something. One is ordering God to give what one asks fur. And that will not secure you the right way; on the contrary, it will close the way that leads to God. That's why Bapak always advises you to have, within your heart and feelings, a feeling of patience, of entrusting yourself to God, of surrender and sincere submission. Use your feelings and your mind for worldly matters. The mind, desires and feelings, or the feeling of the heart, are only for this world, not for the life hereafter or for facing the One God.

Now, to return to the testing Bapak did just now, if you were able to receive it. If Bapak describes it - but do not try to visualize it to yourselves - it is not something new, because after all, you are already used to walking and doing all kinds of things. But when you usually walk, in the ordinary way, it's your own private walking, meaning that you walk because you are pressurized and influenced by images of the world. Movements that are the true service and worship of God occur by themselves. And through such movements, your whole body can know and feel that God's power is within everything that is in you, as Bapak is always saying.

So you will discover and be able to receive God's gift to man, or to all of you, in the place that God wills, according to the situation. When God speaks to man, and says to man, 'O man,' it is already there within man s speaking. Similarly, if God gives man something to hear, it is within man's hearing. Likewise, if God gives man an understanding of God, it is within man's understanding. So, if someone says, 'I have studied a long time to know about God, but what is God really, and where is God?' it is clear that God has not yet imparted understanding within the brain of that person.

In the latihan, although you have only just begun, everything happens by itself. Everything comes to life by itself. My leg becomes acquainted with its life in its real state. My hand gets to know its life in its real state. Later, the mind is reached also, so there's nothing difficult in thinking about life after death. It occurs by itself within the thinking. Why? Because God moves man's mind, so that man with his thinking knows and understands about God's state. It's like that. It's very difficult for the ordinary mind to know the truth if it hasn't been moved and brought to life by the power of the One God. God wills from within whatever is needed.

Life needs to be able to see this, and hear that, and also to function through the other organs. All these organs come to life through the development of the soul. So don't worry that your soul may not develop. Certainly it will develop, because it's already there within you. You will be able to receive the development of the soul very clearly. You will be able to be aware of God's power within your eyes, and within everything that is in you.

Again, please...

( Testing ) . . .and God's power strengthens the life of the perfect human soul.

Again, please...

( Testing )

It's very difficult when you meet a mute person who is completely unable to express himself, because he cannot indicate to you what he wants, or what has to be done. Bapak only cites this as an example. Clearly, your voice is exercised in the latihan so that the voice from your own soul will be created and develop. Of course, it begins with what you experienced before, both outwardly and in your feelings, or in your spirit or soul. So, the things you always used to say before will come out first. Once all that is clean, you will be able to receive the real thing, and the voice that issues from your mouth can really awaken your human soul and bring it to life.

This is all for now of Bapak's explanation concerning spiritual matters. In days to come, Bapak will give further clarifications concerning spiritual matters, or the latihan. Meanwhile, Bapak hopes that this explanation, which has not been very much or very long, may give some measure of satisfaction to all of you. And Bapak will now end his explanation. Thank you.

Translated by Sofyan Brugger