Ladies and gentlemen, as Bapak has already explained about the spiritual way - that is, the training ( latihan ) that all of you receive and practice - in this latihan you receive an inner movement or vibration, which is felt; and eventually it brings a force of considerable power. This force comes or is present when you are quiet, when your desires and thinking are put aside. It is clear, therefore, that it does not come from anything involving the desires or thoughts, but only from God's power, which is within everything that is within and goes before everything that is before.

It is evident that it is not one of those things usually known as spiritualism, magnetism, occultism and hypnotism. For hypnotism, spiritualism and occultism, as well as magnetism, are derived from will-power or from thought processes and passions. Whereas what is obtained in the latihan is altogether different from these so-called 'isms'. Someone who has never entered deeply into, nor acquired much experience in spiritual matters might possibly assume at first sight that there are similarities between the content of the latihan and these 'isms'. But such assumptions could only come from people who have not gone deeply into and understood what goes on in the worship of man towards the One God. You will be able to understand and be aware of this when you have had a lot of experience in the latihan that you always follow.

The prophets of every religion have proclaimed and affirmed in their advice that the grace of God, or the contact between man and God, can only happen if man within himself has been able to still the desires and thoughts and all else that constitutes the will of man. And so in every religion the followers were required only to have faith and to surrender, and to obey its commandments with good behavior and sincerity of heart towards the One God. Why was this stated and recommended to the followers? Because God is All-powerful and the power of God can be neither preceded nor exceeded by the power, intelligence or understanding of man.

Bearing this in mind, what is then the nature of God? God's nature is that He exists without having been created; God exists in Himself, He goes before everything that is before, and He comes after everything that is after; He understands without having to use a mind or a brain, as is the case with man. Putting it briefly, God acts in everything as He wills, unrestricted by any conditions, which means without any organs such as we human beings have, who were created by Him.

Because of this it is impossible for us, or man in general, to either see or comprehend God, when we still have only coarse instruments that can easily be affected by illness, can easily change, can easily become damaged and so on. For this reason it is necessary that in this training, our body should be made whole and pure; and through the purification of the content of our body, our true human soul ( jiwa ), which we possess in order to know the power of God, will quietly and completely envelop our body and release us from our coarse condition and replace it with a state willed by God. If whatever is within us, especially our desires, heart, brain and thinking, still continually closes up the way for the soul to be able to work and worship God, we cannot possibly discover the truth and reality that our soul requires as a perfect human being.

Therefore with this latihan the feelings of our body can regain a healthy condition, a condition of cleanliness and purity, and this will penetrate deeper and deeper within, until it reaches our heart, the human heart, so that this human heart will really turn to God, and not towards the world, nor be drawn to one thing after another. Similarly, our human mind will turn only to God, so that the path of our worship of God will be really straight and truly go in one direction without turning to right and left.

This kind of activity is practiced by those who seek to worship God - by the Brahmins for example, human beings who retire from the crowds and find it necessary to live in isolated places, on the top or the side of mountains. They hope that situations like that can help them to escape from those desires, thoughts and futile wishes that people usually have. These are the hard and difficult measures undertaken by these Brahmins; for us city dwellers, however, there is little possibility of following such practices.

Therefore it is a very great good fortune, a very great grace for us that we are able to receive this method - the latihan that you all receive - while our thoughts are still fully occupied with such matters as are usual for us in the life of this world. Moreover, this receiving is not just a blessing, but a dispensation without bounds. For in reality, what we receive and what we do in this latihan is not set in motion by us, but by the power of God, at work within the self of man. So it is clear, ladies and gentlemen, that what you have experienced in the way of movements is not of your doing, not of your will, but is God's will and God's power in operation, working in man; man only has to surrender, to be patient, to submit, to be sincere and to have faith in Him. This is what is said to be the work of God in the true sense, orgodsdienst as it is usually called ( in Dutch ).

And how does this come about? Through His power, God works in us human beings, because God truly knows and understands that it would be extremely difficult, and beyond expectation, for man, in his ordinary state, to be able to stop his thinking and give up his will and his desires. Human beings acknowledge that if humans were able to limit or stop the ever-wandering thoughts and heart's desires, even for a period of one or two minutes, they could, as a result, become free of anything that is not good within their inner feeling. So it is said that the stopping of thoughts and desires can be a remedy or medicine for the health of the human body. It is indeed true that if men were capable of stopping their thoughts and desires, there would be a possibility, a very real possibility, that they would be able to receive the life contact from the One God, which feels like an invisible force, or a vibration felt within the inner self.

That is the general concept, but we have now experienced it, and all of you received it, in a way that was easy and beyond your expectations, so that you yourselves felt very strange. This thing that we always receive or practice, as Bapak said earlier, has not come as a result of desires or the mind, but has come because of the stillness of our thinking mind, of our will, of our wishes and desires. You yourselves have already been able to receive and confirm this; in the latihan any measure of thinking on your part will bring the exercise to a stop.

This is proof that the awakening of the soul ( jiwa ) cannot possibly be mixed with the thinking, desires, will or wishes of man. It is God's work alone; as for man, he should use his mind, heart, feelings and desires to fulfil and adorn the requirements of human life on earth, so that this world becomes good, prosperous, secure, well ordered and good to live in, a place where mankind can worship the One God.

Concerning the movements of which Bapak spoke earlier-these do not merely reach the point where, for instance, they can be felt as we walk, or as we actually move; as time goes on the movement penetrates deeper within, and spreads wider and wider, until not only our body becomes good, pure and clean, but also our heart, brain and thinking become clean and honest. And eventually we become able to worship God from the outside to the inside, from the inside to the outside, with our whole being, with all our parts, as one, in worship of the One God who created us in this world. In the end we become able to worship the One God in everything and in all our actions - if we are farming, in sowing and cultivating our crops or in preparing the ground; if we are conditioned to a city life, in our office work or any other occupation. In whatever work we may be engaged, we shall not leave our worship of God behind, because all our movements, feelings and thoughts will be filled by God's power, which is within them.

At present all of you have experienced two kinds of life movement in your life. The first is beyond your expectation, and is the life movement activated by the power of God, which is present in each one of you. The second is the movement activated and carried out by your own will, from your feelings and thinking as ordinary human beings. So the main thing for all of you is to let whatever you receive in the latihan work in you freely. Do not think about it, do not let your thoughts and feelings interfere, because the interference of your heart and mind will not help to quicken God's work within yourselves or within your inner feelings. On the contrary, they will be an obstacle, so that the working of the human soul, which has just become active in the human being, will not progress smoothly.

Some people tend to consider that anything that lies beyond what the mind and feelings can grasp is in fact not true. But they possibly fail to take into account, or rather they forget, that the Prophet Jesus, as well as other prophets, acquired intelligence and wisdom without having to learn or attend a school. Yet now, those of us who receive a university education, respect, follow and practice the advice given to mankind by these prophets. For this is the way that God the All-powerful bestows ( wisdom and deep understanding, which people usually cannot obtain by studying - Indonesian not on tape; English taken from consecutive interpretation. ) For this reason Bapak advises you not to doubt or be anxious that by abandoning the thinking, desires and feelings you may go in a direction or follow a path that is wrong, and is not in accordance with the will of God. In fact it is exactly the opposite, for if we are able to abandon our thinking and desires in receiving, that is, in the latihan, this will speed God's work within us, and we will obtain something without great difficulty.

This is essential for all of you when you receive the latihan, or God's work within the inner self of each one of you. As Bapak has explained before, this is nothing new, this is not what is usually referred to as religion, something brought by man. This is really man's birthright, bestowed upon him at the time he was created by God on this earth. For God did not create man at random. Just as when you yourselves make something, even though it may be something that is not very valuable, you will wish to work on it and fashion it in such a way as to render this object as perfect and as valuable as possible to other people.

So too, in His creation of man, God did not will man to become a nature or something that is useless, that is, only to die. Such was not the will of God. Man was not created in this world just to die, just to live for a short while. It can be said to be a short while because man's lifetime on earth does not exceed a hundred years. And what's a hundred years? Understood rightly, it is of no significance. It is clear that God does not create man in this world only to die, but in order to understand that finally he can return to his primal origins, to the true place that has been provided for him. As the Prophet Jesus said during his lifetime, as recorded in the Gospels, The true kingdom is the Kingdom of God.

So it is necessary for us, and it is indeed Bapak's hope -especially for all of you who have received this latihan - that you just receive what you receive. It is not necessary to think about it, for at present your thinking is not purified. The way of purification that operates within man has not reached that far yet. But once it has reached that far, you will be able to understand by yourselves, as Bapak does. Bapak never studies these matters, yet Bapak understands. Why? It's because he has been purified, so what Bapak thinks, exists, and whatever Bapak thinks, he understands.

This process, once it has begun within the self, will purify and bring back to life the feelings, which were formerly dominated by passions and thinking. And when this has been completed and received, it will penetrate deeper and will open up further, to the place that is usually called the sex. After that it will continue its work, and penetrate to the next threshold, that is the human heart or the inner heart ( hati sanubari ). And from there yet deeper, to the threshold of our thinking and understanding, that is to our human brain. Then it will continue its course to the kalbu; the meaning of kalbu is the inner nature or consciousness of the human soul.

And if you ask: how many years do I have to do the latihan to get that far? Bapak only answers that time isn't a factor, that it entirely depends on you yourselves. The wishing of the heart, the wanting of the heart and the thinking of the brain can in no way hasten the progress of the work of the soul, which is within you; they can only slow it down. For this reason Bapak has just one answer to all your questions concerning progress; Bapak's answer can only be, Make your hearts pure and honest, have faith that God is All-powerful and surrender everything to the greatness of God. Do not think about this and that for God. God knows all of it. This is the way for the receiving in your inner self to go smoothly.

This event or situation is something beyond expectation and is usually called miraculous or wonderful. Yes, all of this is certainly wonderful and beyond the ability of man's mind to fathom. And we are very fortunate, all of you are fortunate, ladies and gentlemen, to have received this to hold on to, as an heirloom, for you to be able to live your eternal life.

Bapak ends his explanation for tonight, which was necessary for you to hear, and Bapak takes this opportunity to say goodbye to you, because in four days' time he will leave San Francisco for Los Angeles, where he will give guidance and talks, and look after the people in Los Angeles. Bapak asks you all to forgive him if anything in what he has said is out of place. That is all, thank you.

( Bapak later added ) In order to serve you and to organize how you do latihan, to provide a building or latihan hall and any other needs of an association of members who live in this world, Bapak needs to form a temporary organization, a temporary association. The real, formal one, Bapak leaves to all of you to arrange later. But for the time being, Bapak has appointed a committee for this organization, consisting of the people Bapak has mentioned. Perhaps these will be announced by Mr. Bennett to all of you.

That is all Bapak needs to say concerning your requirements.

Translated by Luqman Leckie