EXPLANATIONS ABOUT THE LATIHAN

Respected Brothers and Sisters,

Thank you for coming today, for being here. I think we should use this opportunity to fill the time with explanations about the latihan. I would like to repeat once again something about what Subud is and the purpose of this latihan that we do. This spiritual community of ours which we call Susila Budhi Dharma is actually a symbol of each and every Subud member. Because each of these words: Susila, Budhi, and Dharma has a specific meaning that relates to the latihan of each individual member. Susila means the behavior of a person that is in accordance with God's will. Budhi is God's power or God's essence which acts within each human being. Dharma is the surrender that is experienced by a human being who begins to worship God as a result of the awakening of the inner feeling. So if we connect up these three words, the meaning is we come from God and we return to God.

And if we talk about the actual latihan, the latihan goes through a process which you can look at as three separate stages. The first of which is purification or cleansing. The second one is awakening, and the third one is preparation. The stage of purification has to do with the fact that, when we are born in this world, we are accompanied by, or God gives us, the tools to live in this world. And these are the lower forces and the human force which are parts of our being in order to enable us to live here. And this is why in our worship of Almighty God we are always awakened and brought to life in order that these lower, accessory forces that are in us should not always have power over us. Because the fact is that these lower forces are not able disturb us or to suppress us unless human beings themselves provide space for them to come in. Therefore, it is very, very important for us to do the latihan regularly in order to put these forces out of the space they are occupying within us.

And the second stage of awakening has to do with the fact that the human soul should not be something incomplete, but actually, ultimately, it is something that must possess organs or senses to be able to perceive what God gives it. So it must have eyes and ears and feelings with which, as they develop, you are able with your soul to receive from God and to actually perceive what God is giving you spiritually. So for those of you who may wonder why it is that you have been doing latihan for a long time but haven't really received anything, what that means is that there is still something missing. The senses of your soul, that is the instruments of your soul, are not yet awakened so they are not yet able to perceive what you are receiving from God.

And the final phase of preparation means that you are brought to a point where you are ready to perceive what is God's Will. This preparation does not mean preparation for death. Rather it is a preparation that involves becoming ready to let go, to surrender whatever it is that God may require you to give up. For when God gives His gift to a person, He doesn't necessarily announce it beforehand. The fact is that when the time comes God will give it, sometimes unexpectedly. And if at that moment you're not prepared, it may actually be a loss for you yourself. Therefore, in our life in Subud we have to learn to distinguish or separate our need to come closer to God and our need to live in this world. And regarding this spiritual need, what we receive is actually something original. Therefore, it is very important that when we relate to our spiritual need, the effort we put into that need to come closer to God, that we should not mix it with other things or other methods. Because it is the essential nature of Subud that what we receive is something that is truly original that it originates from God's power or God's essence that is conveyed to us in our human soul. And that is why through doing latihan this human soul which has hitherto been covered up or closed in - not just through what we put there, but also through things that we've inherited from our ancestors - is gradually freed and opened and released so that its covering is taken away enabling our true human soul to be opened and accessible for God's gift. And so through our surrender, through our letting go, God's gift can be received in our human soul.

And this of course takes time. It is a process that has to be achieved because the important thing in this is that God does not give this grace, or this gift, through for example an animal soul or something like that. Therefore, it is actually our responsibility and our duty to permit our human soul to be formed or to be freed again. In other words, we are responsible to return to a state where we are true human beings. So that is why when you do latihan it is very important that you do your latihan as well as you can. And you should ask, pray to God, in your latihan or before your latihan that He should really guide you.

And that is why it is a very big mistake if, in doing the latihan, you make use of, or you depend on, theories or methods or ideas that do not come from God but come from somewhere else. Because the effect of that will simply be to disturb or cloud the clarity of that receiving mentioned above. So we are aware that if you use a theory or a method that does not come from God's power then it comes from a power that actually originates from the human mind. And the ability of the human mind, no matter how great or how powerful it is, is limited to things in this world and cannot go beyond it. For example when you die, the power of the mind cannot follow, it cannot go with your soul wherever it is going. Whereas the power of God which is within your soul will, on the contrary, come alive at the moment you die. And I believe this is also what is taught by all the various religions, that your soul will continue to live and it will be eternal and it will not die when your physical body dies.

And what about those of you who have a particular skill that you use to earn a living which may depend on your skill in meditating or doing yoga or something like that? Perhaps you use these skills to heal others or teach them exercises and so on. What I hope is that you will keep those things as a way of earning your living and not bring them into the latihan or into Subud, but keep the two things separate. Because if you use these things as part of your ways of earning a livelihood, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. As long as you don't bring them into and disturb the latihan that you do in Subud. And for example, those of you who are helpers and who have to therefore give explanations to candidates or open new members, please don't mix into that work whatever special techniques you use in earning your livelihood if it happens to be that you're a healer. In doing your latihan and in giving explanations about Subud, please be very clean and keep it pure in whatever you're doing.

So since all of us have already committed ourselves to receive God's Grace and to worship God through Subud, it follows that we actually have to follow the guidelines that Bapak has given us. Of course, these are only general guidelines. They are broad guidelines that Bapak has given us for how we worship God in Subud. But those things we have to follow. Because it so happens that this current that we have received in Subud comes to us from Bapak. Actually, Bapak was the source, the point at which God's grace that we have received came into this world. And therefore, for as long as we are in Subud, we have to follow the principles that he laid down. And we should not lose these principles or guidelines that Bapak has given us, or put them aside. Because if we are helpers, it is very important that we should not take the attitude or give the impression that Bapak is no longer relevant to us today or that what he said does not have meaning for us anymore. Because if you were to say that, it would imply that you feel already capable of dealing with everything in the spiritual life yourself. Whereas the fact is that, in general, I can say that although you may be called helpers, you are not yet really helpers in the true kejiwaan sense of the word, meaning that you are already on top of all that is required in the spiritual life.

The fact is that we helpers are still in the process of development, meaning that we are still going through our own process, and the result is that different helpers have different capabilities. And because of these differences - the lack of uniformity in the capability of us helpers - it is very important to meld these differences into a strong unity of the helpers' group. And that is why the harmony of the helpers' group is tremendously important for the development of Subud. If the helpers' group is not harmonious and different helpers still maintain their own rightness and still cannot work together, then it leads to chaos. And it also has a very bad effect on people outside looking in at us because they think, "Oh yes,

Subud is something that can help us to come to God and to bring peace to mankind." But then they look and they see that actually far from it, the people who do the latihan are not in harmony among themselves. This is the obstacle to the spread of Subud. This is why it's still necessary for us, especially for the helpers, to read Bapak's talks and to listen to Bapak's talks. And by that I don't mean that you're supposed to study them, but simply use them to check and to corroborate what you receive in your own latihan. And this is particularly important in learning to explain Subud to new members. So when new members or applicants come to hear what Subud is about, what they hear has a certain commonality or similarity. Because otherwise what happens if each helper explains Subud in accordance with their own experience, and of course everybody's experience is totally unique, then you expect the candidates to try to put together all these totally different explanations of what Subud is. It's going to be a difficult job, especially as the likelihood then is the thing they really need to understand hasn't been explained to them clearly.

And I really hope that the helpers can put this into practice, because the fact is that to be a helper is not easy. And I hope you will not enjoy being called a helper, as you are not yet able to position yourself correctly as the kind of person a helper ought to be. So I hope you will not be the kind of helper who enjoys being called a helper, but you never spend any time helping the members. In fact, if you are a helper and you are really too busy to do the work of a helper, then there's really nothing wrong with asking to be relieved of you helper's duties. For example, supposing you are at the stage of life where you have small children to look after and so on, there is nothing wrong with asking to be temporarily inactive or whatever it is. But for those of you who want to go on with your helper's duties, you will find that actually it is not something difficult, being a helper is really not a burden. On the contrary, you will find that doing the work of a helper can actually become a way of learning for yourself.

The reason I'm talking about this is because I have received a lot of letters from Subud members who complain that they have not been able to get help from the helpers and, as a result, have left Subud. So we have to remember that Subud has existed in the world for about half a century now, and we perhaps need to look at ourselves and practice a little bit of self-correction. That the things we would like to say about Subud to the outside world should truly be reflected within Subud in the reality that they will see when they come and join Subud. Therefore, we have to make an effort that the way we work in Subud is truly orderly and well organized and reflects the reality we would like to show the world. So that we should not have the situation where people hear good things about Subud, but then when they come in they see that there is no unity and that the organization is disorganized.

So this is why I'm very much in agreement with the idea that we should have what we call kejiwaan or spiritual gatherings. And there to try to resolve issues, especially relating to helpers and the kejiwaan. But the thing we have to be careful about is that we don't try and resolve these issues with the mind, but rather through the inner feeling with the kind of feeling that is required by the kejiwaan and by the power of receiving in the latihan. And we have to learn how to do this because we are not dealing now with 10 or 20 helpers, but there are probably now already thousands of helpers. And if we don't form a strong, united group of helpers then we will not be able to achieve what we want to achieve in Subud.

I feel this is perhaps enough for tonight as tomorrow morning we have to leave very early for Mexico. So I simply want to thank you for your attention and to wish you a good night.

(With thanks to Stuart Cooke for the recording on micro-cassette and re-recording onto a regular audiocassette in the middle of the night. Thank you to Lorena Kreda for the superior speedy transcription with no typos! Thank you to Kenneth Henderson, who nudged them both ever so nicely.)

Rochanah Weissinger ===============