Ladies and gentlemen, before answering the questions he's just been given, Bapak would like to welcome you to this evening's meeting. In fact it is very likely that answers to the questions you submitted will be in Bapak's explanations this evening about the spiritual training. So, you did not really need to submit any questions. Even without them, Bapak would give you explanations concerning your needs, and all that is related to the spiritual way you have received and practice.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Bapak has already explained, the Subud latihan, which you have received and are following, is a training willed by God's power. The latihan arises within your being when you are able to stop your desires, heart and mind. This being so, whatever happens and whatever you receive in the latihan is not because you want it, but entirely because of God's will, which is beginning to work within each of you.

Occasionally, people who have followed the latihan for some time do not yet feel any movement within their being. The reason for this is that their desires, heart and thinking are still very strong. This influence of their desires, heart and thinking prevents or blocks the movement of their soul, which has in fact been awakened by the power of God within the being of each one of you. Even if such people do not think or imagine anything during the latihan, they used their mind so much and so intensely in their state before they were opened - before they experienced the latihan - that as a result their thinking, desires and hearts have, as it were, been frozen or turned to stone. So it is not possible to break up and undo all this right away; it can only happen gradually, a little at a time.

Take the example of those who followed the latihan for six or seven months without moving at all, but then reached the point where all this breaking up and undoing was complete. Only then were they able to receive what was willed from within. One of them is Dan here, who did the latihan regularly for seven months at Coombe Springs without feeling anything at all. Then, when he was going to leave London, he talked with Bapak:

'What's up with me?' he asked. 'Why can't I move after seven months?'

Bapak said, 'Be patient. The time will come when you will be able to experience this with a feeling that truly amazes you.'

And in... ( Whispering to the interpreter ): Was the eleven-month one in Florida or Washington? ( The interpreter replies, 'Florida'. ) In Florida, St. Petersburg, there was someone who had been waiting for eleven months; in every latihan he just stood there and didn't feel anything. But then, when Bapak came there, he began to move for the first time. So he said, 'I have been doing this for eleven months, Bapak, but only tonight do I feel that I have really experienced what Bapak has been talking about.'

It's not that God does not love human beings; it's not that God does not give to human beings. God always gives to human beings and protects them; always envelops them with God's power, wherever they may be. It's people themselves, through their hearts and minds, who prevent the awakening of their own souls. Nor is it that God is weak towards human beings. No, God is Most Just. God gives things to people when they are ready and able to receive them. God will not give anything to someone who will use it wrongly. Therefore it all depends on the person. God has provided and equipped human beings with everything they need. The equipment God created for them, and which they possess, is perfect.

God is Most Just, Most Wise. The heart and mind of humans cannot possibly influence God. A person who washes clothes will surely ask God, 'O God, do not let it rain as long as I live, so that my washing can dry.' But a farmer will ask, 'O God, let it rain and go on raining without stopping so that what I am sowing will grow well and bear fruit.' Such are the wishes of human beings. If God were not Most Just and Most Wise, if God only followed the wishes of human beings, it would certainly not create peace or goodness in the world.

So the way people visualize justice, and the way people visualize wisdom is just their own idea. It is nowhere near the Wisdom and Justice of God. For the Justice of God envelops everything. This means that it envelops those who wish for something and those who do not; it envelops those who take advantage and those who are taken advantage of. But humans are not like that. Those who are taken advantage of ask for it to stop; while those who are taking advantage want to go on doing it. So, human notions of justice and wisdom are very different from God's.

For example, in Asia there are people who always give loans to other people at extraordinary rates of interest. In other words they practice usury; they charge the maximum possible interest. Well, to the lender this seems just. It is necessary and as it should be: 'If I lend money, I should get it back with high interest. 'The borrower's idea of justice is different, however: 'If I borrow, I want a low interest. If I borrow a hundred dollars, I will give back a hundred dollars plus just one dollar. If I can, I'll pay it back over a hundred years, not ten months.' This has long been part of the nature or character of human beings; each perceives their own version of justice.

With God's power it is certainly not like that. Those who in God's eyes are just, are those who are aware of the needs of their life, and don't only chase after their wants, wants that bring them stress and suffering later on. That's how it is. It is clear that the justice human beings need, which is justice according to God's will, requires them to control their desires, heart and thinking. For it is these forces that always seek immediate gratification of their wishes, without knowing their own strength.

When human beings are able to correct and restrain their greedy desires, hearts and thinking minds, they will automatically find God's instructions and commands, which are there within them as companions for their life. These instructions are like a guide - a set of rules - to show how each person should work; how they should make a living; and how they should worship God.

That is why Bapak always hopes that in the Subud latihan you will keep your heart and your thinking clean, by which he means do not think about anything. Also, do not look at others doing the latihan. Do not listen to the sounds they make: 'Yok, yok, yok'. Just leave it. The important thing now is your own self. If your seeing and hearing are always distracted by others in the latihan; if your thoughts disturb you, and you are always thinking about this and that, and wondering whether you will be able to ( receive ) or not, it means that you have not yet been able to receive this thing that Bapak is talking about - this life force that can awaken the inner feeling - which can automatically enable you to let go of the influence of your passions, heart and thinking.

Bapak is not someone who gives strength to those who are not yet strong. If he did that, it would mean that he was influencing them. Bapak doesn't do that. He surrenders everything to God's wisdom and power, so that you can be in direct contact with your creator. That is the difference between this Subud latihan and other ( ways ). This Subud latihan is man's worship of God. Not: human being, intermediary, God. No. But: human being, God.

That's it. Bapak does not strengthen you in any way, but opens the way for you, so you can go step by step according to your own strength. If Bapak ( gave people strength ) really it would be harmful. For example, if a small child can barely walk, Bapak will not force it to run. No. And he will not force a small child who is not yet able to watch a film, to go to the movies. He tells the child to do what the child is capable of doing. When it is time for the child to run, Bapak says, 'Over there!', and they run by themselves. When the time comes and the child wants to go to the movies, before Bapak can tell them, they have already been to see the film!

( Laughter )

As for those of you who wish to do a lot of latihan, to do more latihans at home in order to achieve the required level quickly: well, that is how the heart and the desires work. As Bapak said earlier, if God were to follow the wishes of people's hearts, God would get confused. One asks for rain all the time, another asks for no rain at all; another asks to become rich right away - to become a millionaire overnight. Well, if God complied with all that, the world would really be in a state of chaos. So, God provides a way for humans; God equips them with everything they need. But then God leaves it to human beings themselves: are they able to put things in order, and to work and use things harmoniously in their lives?

As Bapak always tells you: in Subud, in our worship of God, we have to surrender our desires, heart and thinking to God with patience, acceptance, and willingness to let go. That is the fundamental principle of Subud. So, if you are really being Subud towards God, you will certainly not use your desires, heart and thinking any more. If you do use them, you will not receive that which is right for you.

You may ask, 'What then? What's the point of our brain, heart and desires if we can't use them? Human beings have to use their brain, heart and desires to know what is right and what is not!' Oh, that is quite correct! Bapak agrees with that. But they are for this world, for using in the realm of things that can be thought about. However, here we are talking about the soul, and the soul was the content of the human individuality before these physical elements existed.

Clearly, the soul existed before it had clothes - the clothes being the brain, heart and desires. If you wear those clothes as if they were you, as if they were your self, that is wrong, because clothes can frequently change and be changed. So, too, can the human heart, desires and thinking mind. Today they think this, tomorrow something else: 'Now I want that, I like that; tomorrow I shall want something else.' They keep on changing, so we cannot use them to look for something that is permanent, something that in Islam they call abadi - eternal, everlasting, unchanging. Such is the power of God.

The power ( of God ) does not change; if it is green, it is forever green. God is like that. So there is a difference. You must use your thinking mind, your heart and your desires one hundred percent -or more - to go after the things of this world. But you cannot possibly work on your soul and your life after death with your mind. Only God's power, which guides you within your inner self, can do that.

So, it should be clear that the state you receive in the latihan is like the state you will eventually experience after death. What you receive in the latihan is a state beyond the understanding of the mind, heart and desires you use every day. Clearly then, you are being trained how to live after death. That is the purpose of this Subud spiritual training.

For the heart and mind this is certainly very strange. How can we train for life after death while we are still alive? Yes, but that's how it is, so that when we die we can receive and be in touch with our inner self in the life after death'. That is to say, when we retire from here ( on earth ), we will be able to hand over our work to our own self, the self who lives after death. So, we will hand over our work from our earthly life to our life after death.

About the soul: Bapak will also explain about that. The soul is the life that is the content of this visible form. ( All ) visible forms created by God - and that includes human beings - are enveloped and occupied by life forces that have been arranged by God's will: starting from the material life force, all the way up to the rabbani life force - the All High.

Bapak will illustrate this - but don't take it literally. It's like people in a country. In a country, there are levels or classes of people, from the lowest - that is to say, people with a low position like servants, peddlers, water sellers, and so on - going up all the way to the ministers, the prime minister, and the king. In such a kingdom, people who are not conscious of their life will reach a level no higher than that of a clerk. However, if a person makes intelligent and serious efforts to improve their life, that person may one day reach a high level in the country and become, say, a minister.

It is also like that in the spiritual life; there are levels or grades. Someone who cannot achieve the grades required for happiness in life has no choice but to sit in a low class, the material class, for example; whereas someone who can reach a high level will receive a high grade. This is why, in the stories of the prophets, there is a difference in level between the prophets and those who are not prophets.

The difference is that in the world, or in a country, people work with their brains, hearts and desires. In the spiritual life, however, it is the opposite: people have to be cleansed of their desires, hearts and minds.

The thinking mind, desires and heart resemble a turning wheel. When the wheel stops it is easy to see its condition. As long as the wheel is still turning, one cannot see the dirt, and the things that are wrong with it. It is like that with people and their thinking. As long as their minds, hearts and desires go on working, they will never be able to know what is going on, and what is wrong in their personality or their self. Thus, it can be useful for us to have the heart, mind and desires not working and not being used. However, when the desires and the heart and the mind stop, it means we are dead. So clearly, it is God's gift, God's grace - as people say, 'God's blessing'- that we are able to stop our mind, heart and desires while still living in this world. Ah, now this is a gift - a real grace!

About the forces, and how the forces influence the human self.' Bapak may already have explained this, but there is no harm in his repeating some of it. Even though the material force does not move - this table cannot walk by itself, it has to be moved by a person - in reality, everything that exists on this earth is alive. In order to become aware of this, human beings must not use their desires or their thinking, because it is something beyond human understanding. But it is within the understanding of the soul or of God. ( The interpreter says he does not understand. ) Bapak will repeat. About the material force: although material objects do not appear to move unless someone carries them, in reality they are alive and moving. The human thinking mind, desires and heart cannot understand this. It can only be understood by the understanding of the soul, and by the One Almighty God.

If the material force influences the personality of a human being, the unconscious activity that goes on in their heart, mind and desires - that is, their nature - will not be far from the nature of a material object. Bapak will give an example. Suppose you are always working on your car - always polishing it, handling it and driving it -you are constantly thinking of the car. Then, in the way you speak, in the way you walk, in the way you think, in the way you do everything, you will be like that car.

Someone who does a great deal of ironing will say, 'Hey, I've really ironed these things flat! They're done/' Someone who is a sharp shooter will say, 'One shot from my pistol and he's dead!' A champion boxer will say, 'Ha, one punch from me and he's finished!' So, whatever a person does habitually, day in day out, forms the nature of that person.

Bapak will give another example. Before you ladies put on a pair of large diamond earrings, you just walk like this. ( Bapak demonstrates. ) But when you have put on the earrings, which may be worth, say, half a million dollars you walk like this. ( Bapak demonstrates. Laughter. )

Clearly, material objects influence the nature and personality of humans through their desires, heart and thinking mind. That is why the human heart and mind cannot serve as instruments for obtaining the truth about the inner self they have become a highway for the low forces that are always involved in human life. If the material force has a very strong influence upon human beings, even their life and death become dependent on material things.

That is the reason why humans find it more difficult than animals to pass through the gateway of death. Take the birds: birds wear their feathers to sleep in, and to go out in, the same feathers; when they eat, they wear their feathers, too. If their feathers are green, they go on wearing green. Then in the end, when they are going to die, they wear green as well. Not so with humans. When they go out, they change their clothes. When they come home, they change clothes. When they are going to eat, they change clothes. When they are meeting someone - for instance, their young girl-friend or boy-friend - they change their clothes. If they meet four times, they change their clothes four times. Clearly, people wear too many ( different ) clothes, and therefore they also have to think about it too much.

It's different for birds. When they are about to die it is very easy, because all they ever wear to go places and do things are their feathers. So, if something happens: 'Well, all I have to let go of is these feathers, and that's it! ( Gestures. Laughter. ) With people it is not like that. They let go of their house, but then they remember: 'Hey, what about my money in the bank?' They let go of their money in the bank, but then: 'What about my shares?' It always goes like that, on and on. That's why it is necessary, not to get rid of the material force, but to put it back in its original place. Because indeed, human beings have been given instructions to enable them to put everything in its place.

The material force follows the movement of the human heart. Humans are born naked, which means that material objects only touch the skin; they do not touch the blood. If people have no clothes, but have food to eat, they will live. However, if they have clothes to wear, but no food, they die. So clearly, material things are the outermost and lowest of all.

That is how the material force influences the human individuality. The mistake people make is to let these forces enter through their heart, desires and thinking. With time, the influence goes deeper and deeper and deeper, until, for many people, it even affects their family life. Sometimes, due to material things, an elder brother shows no love or compassion for his younger brother and kills him, or a parent does not love a child and drives the child away from home.

As for the force of plants: its influence on the self of humans is such that it enters their very flesh and blood. This begins when human beings are still inside their mother's body. When a baby is still in the body of their mother, their brain, heart and desires do not work yet, so they are still linked to the mother's individuality. The evidence for this is that a woman who normally feels peaceful, once she becomes pregnant wants this and wants that, and wants to go here and to go there. These wants are not caused by her own heart, desires and thinking, but in fact come from the baby in her womb. Though the influence of plants is not yet working in the self of the baby, it is actually already at work through the mother, whose brain is already active.

The animal force, too, influences the self of a human baby in the womb through its mother, with the result that sometimes the mother's thoughts, heart and desires want this or that. Also, she feels greedy for this or that, whereas she never felt that way before. Sometimes, her passions flare up over the slightest incident, and this causes chaos in the household. For example, she may like to quarrel and fight with her husband. This is something she needs to correct and needs to realize is actually not from her own heart, but an influence from the baby in her womb.

It is similar with the jasmani force, the force of human beings themselves. When the human force influences the self of a human being who is still in the womb, the mother can feel it in her heart, desires and thinking. Sometimes she will feel the wish for wisdom and knowledge, or she feels that she is cleverer than others, and that no-one can be better than she is.

A mother carrying her baby inside her can feel the rohani force, the force of a perfect human being, at times when she really feels love and sympathy for other people. ( At those times, ) if she sees someone who does not have enough, who is poor, she has a feeling of love and compassion, and feels an impulse to do something to help her fellow human being.

We should be able to know these things. In this Subud latihan, we are beginning to learn how to recognize and be aware of the way our heart and mind work when they are totally uninfluenced by other forces, and how it is when they are influenced by other forces. After all, we are human beings. Our form is human, so it should contain the soul of a human being: a soul that is susila, that has truly human qualities; a soul that is truly budhi, and knows the power of God that accompanies its life; and also a soul that is truly dharma, and surrenders to God's greatness, with acceptance and willingness to let go. This would mean that we are truly servants of the One Almighty God.

Naturally, what your inner self wants and hopes for is that you will not disappoint it or go against it when you see, hear, or smell; or in your speaking, your feeling, or in anything you do. It is not that we have to, but we need to hold on to this, to dwell on it, to own it, until we enter the gates of that noble realm - the perfect human world. So, we really can bring ourselves to heaven. Your soul can bring you to heaven. ( The interpreter says he does not understand. ) So, for example, Anwar: your soul gets to know you - your human soul gets to know Anwar. Anwar becomes one with his human soul. That's how this spiritual way works, so that Anwar's human soul can take him to the perfect human world.

( The interpreter interprets but Bapak is not satisfied with what he says. ) To make it clear, it's like this. Take, for example, Pak Subuh. When this Pak Subuh dies, his way of feeling, seeing, hearing and so on will be no different from the way it is now. The only difference will be the place - after he has died, how he experiences living will not be as it was in this world. But everything ( else ) will be the same.

Jesus' rising from the dead to live in heaven symbolizes this. Everything that was in Jesus' individuality remained the same, it didn't change. So, before Jesus died he lived in Jerusalem, after he died he did not live in Jerusalem any more, but in... ( inaudible ). However, although he was in heaven, although he was in a realm that was different from this world, his individuality - ( Bapak whispers to the interpreter: ) you know what individuality is? It's his whole personality - did not change. So he still remembered being in the world. He remembered: 'When I was in the world, I remember I had a companion called Peter. 'Yes, he still remembered. Like Bapak, when he dies will remember: 'In such and such a year I was in New York; in such and such a year I was in Florida.' Bapak will remember it all. 'But Florida and New York are.., well, not like where I am now. What a blessing!'

When you are there you will feel God's love for human beings, God's will for human beings. God always prepares a noble place for them. So, remember God. Do not neglect your worship. Worship God, because then you will receive a place that is truly sublime for human beings. Indeed, that is your place.

That's how it is. Why, in our latihan, are we trained to walk, when we can already walk? Why are we trained to walk? It's because our walk before we began doing latihan was the walk of our desires. We were not able to walk in the way we will walk in our life after death, in heaven. For if ( these legs ) aren't trained now to walk by themselves instead of from our desires, in heaven we will have no legs, because our legs will not know the way.

Also, we are trained to swing our arms. Why do we have to do this in the latihan, when we have been able to do this since we were small? The reason is that before, we used to swing our arms on purpose. If someone was watching and we felt we weren't dashing enough, we would walk like this! ( Gestures. Laughter. ) But in the latihan it's not like that. If your ( walk ) is really like this, you will go on like this, even if someone is watching. All this is so that in this world we get used, in everything we do, to living the way we really are - so that over there, we will really be able to walk. ( To the interpreter: ) Is that too much ( to interpret )? ( Laughter )

In this way, everything in human beings - how we feel, in our speaking, in our understanding - will become complete. In reality, when Jesus was still alive, when he spoke and gave advice to many people, it was not like when you speak. No. Jesus gave advice - all kinds of advice - to his companions, not from his desires but from his soul. That is why they say he was a pure spirit, meaning that his was the life of a human inner self that is clean, not enveloped by the desires, heart and thinking, but truly an instrument of the One Almighty God.

However, if human beings forget this, and their way of life comes always from their desires and thinking, the influence of the low forces will become very strong in them. And then the low forces will eventually take the understanding of such people, along with all their passions, heart and thinking, to where these ( forces ) are. So, a former human being, when they die, may be taken to a crab hole, if a crab was in their being.

Bapak will tell you a story. It's just a story, so you do not have to believe it. In the life after death things you see with your worldly eyes - things that are lower than human beings - are often more noble than people. Take a table for example. In the life after death, someone who is sinful - that is to say, someone who does not know his own human inner self- may be below the level of material objects. Now, suppose there is a table in front of such a person, and they want to sit at the table. In the world after death, the person assumes that the table is as it was in this world, and that they can order the table around: 'You're just a table after all - I can make tables!' But no. One who has not yet realized their human nature is unable to give orders. When this sinful person wants to sit at the table, or to touch it to see what it's made of, the table will suddenly be on top of their head! And suppose the person is going to eat some bread that is in front of them. Before they can eat the bread, the bread has eaten them!

You can verify this in the latihan. That's why sometimes Bapak needs to test with you so you know the truth, because it is God's will that Bapak should not say something that has no content.

Please, just for a few minutes, Bapak would like you to sit as in latihan. Please do not stand.

( Testing )