Gentlemen, the explanations Bapak is always giving about spiritual matters concern the training ( latihan ) you are doing - in these explanations Bapak is giving you the broad outlines of the spiritual way you have received.

Because a large number of you have not heard Bapak's earlier talks, Bapak will have to repeat things that he has already said, even though this will reduce the time available for the continuation of these talks. You can also listen to the talks that are already on tape, and it would be better to do that before you listen to talks like the one Bapak is now going to give; it would be better to listen to Bapak's talks that are already on tape.

Now Bapak will continue giving you some necessary and useful explanations about what exists in the latihan you are receiving. The latihan you have received is the latihan kejiwaan. Kejiwaan means it is to do with the jiwa or force, which is present in the life of every creature. These forces are necessary components of our life as human beings.

Bapak will explain these forces beginning from the lowest - that is, the material force, which in esoteric language is known as the daya rewani or the satanic force. The second level is what is called the daya nabati, which in ordinary language is called the vegetable force. The third force is the daya hewani or animal force, and the fourth is the daya jasmani, or the force of the ordinary human being. And above all these there is the force of the true human being, which is called the daya insani. There are still other forces above this, but it is not necessary for Bapak to explain about them here, because they are very far above, and can only manifest and be received when a human being has been able to gain mastery over the forces below that level.

The first to the fourth of these forces - that is, the material up to the ordinary human force just described - always accompany and strengthen the lives of human beings in this world. These forces are also present within the selves of human beings, so that Bapak says that forces like this are both outside human beings and inside human beings. That is why the forces that enter from outside can be accepted by and interact with those that are inside human beings, so that they constitute a framework for human life on earth.

You should know that these forces do not have power over human beings, but ( they are influenced ) because human beings themselves possess passions ( nafsu ) - what Bapak calls the four nafsu - of which the first is the nafsu aluamah, whose nature is black and which radiates that blackness. Thus the black light that it radiates is what is usually called the black force or the dark force, or zwarte magie ( black magic ). And the second nafsu that human beings have is the amarah, the nature of whose light or radiation is red. The third is the nafsu surlyah, as it is called in spiritual language, and the nature of its light is yellow. The fourth nafsu is called in spiritual language mutmainah, and its light is white.

As for the functions of these nafsu, the first, aluamah, is said to be strong; the second, the amarah, acts blindly, not understanding what is good; the third, the nafsu surlyah, is the one that wants things; and the fourth is the nafsu that surrenders, the good nafsu. Although it is good, its nature is also that of nafsu, of desire - one can say it is a nafsu or desire that desires what is good or right.

Human beings possess these four nafsu in order to strengthen their will and their wish to work and to do the things they intend. It is thus clear that these four nafsu, both the strong and the good, are very useful to human beings, because without them people's strength and will would be weakened.

The nature of the nafsu in human beings is that of tools or instruments to be used as necessary. But because of the faults in human beings, acquired during childhood and on into adulthood and old age, they always give precedence to the wishes that want to be or to have more than others, or which desire personal power. So, of the four nafsu, the ones people use most are the strong nafsu, the nafsu amarah and the nafsu that very much wants to be more than others. Whereas what Bapak just now called the good nafsu - the one that surrenders, which accepts, which is willing to give way to others - is very seldom used by human beings. They are not really to blame for this situation, for the nature of people on this earth is really weak.

And so the nature of human beings - a nature that has its physical origins on this earth - is very easily affected by and involved with the forces below the human level. Bapak illustrates it like this: you can of course understand for yourselves that all the various things to be found in this world make up the framework of one's life in this world, so that, if all the various things to be seen on earth did not exist, it could be said that without them you would have no power at all. But human beings, in their relationship with the conditions that are always apparent in this world, do not really know how all the various things of this world in fact embody or are enveloped by the essences of forces below the human level.

Take, for example, such material things as clothes and other material objects. Although these do not look as if they are alive, yet in fact in everything material there is an essence of life, which has its origin in the material force. Thus it is clear that if, to take an example, there were some instrument able to detect what is inside a stone ( you would know that ) in fact there is a life force inside that stone that moves and is able to interact with the life force, or the inner feeling, of human beings, because there is a similar kind of force present in human beings.

Nor do you understand how if, for instance, you eat things derived from plants, there clearly is life in these plants, and they too are inwardly filled with the material force. It is the same with the animals, which are often eaten; when you eat meat the animal force also enters your selves. It is different with the ordinary human force, the jasmani. You do not eat people, but that force enters into you through the intermediary of those of your own species - through women. Therefore the way this force influences or deceives you is different from the way the forces below the ordinary human jasmani level do.

To continue about the way this works: the forces coming from outside enter in and are accepted by the corresponding forces that are already there; and once inside, the strong ones, the ones that have been able to find their way in, influence the will of human beings, and hold sway and rule. As a rule, people cannot prevent this or avoid material forces, that is, the forces that Bapak said just now are in reality satanic, so these material forces are the strongest to be found in the inner feelings of human beings. Once the material force has acquired influence within the human self, by means of using the instruments of which Bapak spoke just now, that is, the nafsu - with that, the content of that person has been reinforced by the material force, using the three nafsu below the human level previously described - the aluamah, the amarah and the surlyah.

It is also necessary to know that human beings possess instruments they need for their lives - the instruments for feeling, for providing the energy for work and for action, and also another, which can be used for understanding and being aware of what is necessary for their lives. All these instruments exist because the force that holds sway within human beings is the material force, together with the three nafsu just mentioned. So the way people feel and the way they summon up the energy to work, to act, to understand and to be aware, are almost all filled and given strength by the material force.

That is why it happens that so many of the human race are unable to rid their awareness and understanding of the influence of this material force, so that there are times when they think and believe that if God exists, it should be possible to see God in the same way that one sees material objects. The reason why they cannot avoid having that kind of opinion and understanding is that the whole of them, from their feelings to their awareness, is filled by the material force. The same is true with the other forces that influence the inner feeling of human beings - the vegetable force, the animal force and also the human force - but these work less strongly within the human self, because the will and desires of human beings themselves give preference to the material force over the others.

As a result, human beings are unable to be aware of the true status of their true selves. Situations such as these do not happen because God wills that human beings should be influenced or oppressed by the subhuman forces. Rather, God wills that with these companion forces to give them strength and to help them, humans should be able to manifest their individual reality and status for themselves.

As an example, Bapak takes the building of a house, and planning how to divide the work involved. In planning to build a house, the house can be built if it is done by all the manpower involved, from the engineer down or from below up to the engineer, for example from the laborers and the foreman to the overseer and the architect and the engineer. For one cannot build a good house if it is only the laborers who build it, nor if only the architect works on it, nor just the engineer on his own.

To build a complete house needs all these people working within that framework. It would be a mistake for the engineer to work as a laborer and not want to employ laborers, because he wants to make more money than usual; if he does that, the house will not be built properly and it may even quickly fall to pieces. Thus, in building a house, it is necessary to have an organization in which everyone cooperates, and each occupies his proper place.

What Bapak has just illustrated here is also the situation for human beings. Human beings should not do something low, which can be influenced by the material force, because they are like the engineer Bapak just described, who carried out the work himself, that is, they act as the material force does; the house, which is their own self, is a mess; it is badly built because of their own carelessness.

These are the conditions prevailing within people's inner feelings, so that Bapak can say that although people may look alike outwardly, yet if what is inside them is really seen, they are different one from another. What is different is not the human soul ( jiwa ), but they differ in what is exerting pressure in each person's inner feeling. That is why there are not a few people who are good and also well educated, and who have also been given good advice, but who still do things that are not normal ( for human beings ). That is so for no other reason than that the material force has influenced their feelings, their understanding, their will to work and their awareness.

Of course that person will not feel that all this is not his true self, because the material force also feels itself to be a human being. Bapak can say that this is like the fact that no thief acknowledges that he is a thief, and people who do wrong seldom acknowledge their faults. So too with the material force, which is really what is manifesting in that person's inner feeling; if anyone tells him that this is not his own real force, he will not accept it. He will of course claim that it is from his own self, a human being.

It is the same with those who are ruled by other forces. That is why it is difficult for people to correct their own selves. Human nature cannot correct itself because it is a weak nature, very easily controlled by other forces lower than itself. Perhaps some people may claim to be able to correct themselves, but they are not yet able to understand whether the one doing the correcting is really the true human being. Is it not rather that the person is only like a mask for the material force that gives him strength, and which is embodied in his inner feeling?

That is why, because the One God is merciful, and also because God knows everything - both that which has already happened and that which has not - besides all that God has already given to human beings, God still always gives them something they are able to receive on this earth so that they can make use of it, can use it as an instrument to correct and to raise the position of their inner selves.

This gift from God is described in Dutch as gave ( gift ) and in Islam it is called ilham ( inspiration ); it is what is called rahmat ( grace ) from God. This is the one and only instrument - Bapak is just calling it an instrument - the only thing able to break through everything that obstructs the lives of human beings who wish to go towards the truth.

Bapak doesn't say that among these gifts of God is what all of you, my children, have received, but all of you have seen that what you have received is real and truly is a power within the human self that is beyond people's expectation. That is why Bapak said in a former talk that the power of God, which human beings can receive when they are able to surrender everything, is within everything that is within, and outside everything that is outside; it is also above everything that is above and below everything that is below.

That is the nature of the power of God, the instrument that Bapak has just said can become an instrument for breaking everything down, so that people can see their own actions and also distinguish the nature of the forces that have taken control of their selves. Hence this instrument is present both inside and outside the human mind. That is why you are all able to feel and receive, as you do in the training ( latihan ), that this is where you are being awakened from within, something which you yourselves find strange and astonishing.

Thus Bapak is not just saying that this is one of God's gifts, but there is also evidence to prove that it is not something created by human beings but by the will of God received by human beings. Also it is not Bapak who causes this to manifest within your selves; it manifests because of the greatness and power of God. Bapak only opens somewhat the pressures of the desires ( nafsu ) upon your inner feelings, so that after you are opened you feel a vibration there that makes your body vibrate and move in whatever ways are necessary for you.

Why does this begin with coarse physical and visible movements? Because people's faults and mistakes have also begun in the coarse physical part of them. That is why, if they are to be changed, the changes also begin there. For example, it is like when you are learning to write: first you learn to write the letter 'A' as a triangle, and go on writing that until you are used to it. Then, having begun like that, you start again and write a proper 'A', not like a triangle, but like a normal 'A'.

So, too, is the way, Bapak says, by which the life force works to protect human beings from the forces that influence their inner feelings; that also begins from the coarse parts, because it is through the coarse physical part that, for the first time, the inner feeling can be protected from the material force. And once they are prevented from pressurizing the inner feeling, these material forces will automatically flow into their original place - that is, the material force present in the human self.

This is like the building of a house, as described before: the laborer himself must be given and accept his own wages, and he must himself do his own work, which must no longer be taken over by the engineer. Then the engineer will be able to receive the salary appropriate to himself. And, beginning from the material, the coarse part, this ( action ) will gradually go deeper, further and wider, so that it can also prevent the pressures of the vegetable force. And after the inner feeling of the human force can be freed from the vegetable force, it too will flow to the force appropriate to it that is within the human self.

So it goes on, and that is why Bapak often tells you that now is not yet the time for you to want to understand what you have received or to think about it, because the breaking-down process has not yet reached that point. And if you try to force things and deliberately push too hard, so as to get there - which is what Bapak means when he says that your mind wants to work at being aware and understanding about this. It is not dangerous but it is not right or suitable, because thinking about it will never achieve its aim, but may even lead you astray, which will result in confusion of thought and feeling.

The times of which Bapak has spoken will of course occur, because the latihan has begun to work and you have begun to receive, and it will go on working, so that later on you will be able to receive how and to what extent it is working and how well you are receiving.

Meanwhile Bapak will stop talking for the moment, because he inwardly wishes to stop. Accept what Bapak says about it stopping of its own accord, because what Bapak is expressing is not something created by the mind, but comes out according to what is needed.

As you yourselves may know better than Bapak does, it is like what has been recounted in the history of the Prophet Jesus: how in his life or after his death he never boasted or prided himself on his power. He acknowledged that he bowed to the commandments of the One God and to what God willed for him. So in the end, the death he had to face, which he had been told about in advance, he simply accepted with complete patience and trust and surrender. That is an example for all of you. That is why Bapak hopes you will not be in a hurry to know about everything in the latihan, because at present it is still necessary to break down what is on the lowest level, and that is by no means completed yet. Bapak would say that it is only two or three percent accomplished, having only just started; you have only just begun to receive it. So there is still rather a long way yet to go. But compared to any other way, the latihan you have received is very quick, as you may already know or perhaps some of you have experienced.

Experts in the spiritual field who have practiced for a long time, for years and years, and also people who meditate, do so in the hope of being able to manifest some power or obtain some knowledge that is beyond ordinary expectation and that originates from their inner depths. If they have achieved this, they believe that it is truly a gift from the One God. Indeed, it really does come from the Creator of all things, and it is that which has been manifested in the inner feelings of all of you who have been doing the latihan. Bapak says it is as if you are reaping the fruit without having done the work of planting and cultivating. It really is like that. Perhaps God wills it to be so because it is very hard indeed in this present century for people to be able to quieten themselves or to isolate themselves from society, as people were able to do in olden times.

Thus for all of you, as well as for Bapak himself, this is a grace beyond all expectation that we have been able to receive - a grace from God that we can receive, while at the same time carrying out our activities in this busy world. So we can go to the office and work at various things without producing any obstacle to the breaking-down process that has begun from inside and that you have all received. That is something which Bapak says will not vanish or disappear once you have received it; even though Bapak will be leaving England for a while, what you have received will not disappear, but will always go on developing.

Bapak says that it will always go on developing; certainly it will, but Bapak hopes you will not wish to hurry things up, so that the breaking-down of which he has spoken can go on step by step, stage by stage, and that there will be no bad results. So the training ( latihan ) you have received will go right on, and will always work well; whether at times of latihan or otherwise, whether you are asleep or awake, it goes on working. Of course the way it works when you are asleep is not the same as when you are actively doing latihan, but if you happen to wake up while you are receiving it, it is the same as if you were in the latihan.

If it were working all the time, you would not remember to sleep and wake, but would be moving and walking about all the time, taking no account of it being night or day. That is why Bapak hopes that you will have patience, acceptance, sincere submission and trust that God will give to you all the right way to direct you and the way for you to follow, to bring you a happy life, both in this world and in the hereafter.

The broad outlines Bapak has been explaining are to clarify a little the direction and the real nature of the spiritual training ( latihan kejiwaan ) you receive, so you can comprehend and receive what its purpose and basic principles are.

Bapak feels that this is enough for now. Although you have not received enough yet - still not long enough - you should not, as Bapak just said, be in a hurry or wish to go quickly; later on it will develop by itself. Your sincere patience, trust and surrender will help the way of working within, and make it easier for you to obtain things you have not yet obtained.

That is the end of Bapak's talk, and he hopes that this short talk and explanation will to some extent satisfy your wishes. That is all.