Ibu Rahayu's Talk to Members

Kejiwaan Gathering Wisma Subud Cilandak

Talk Ref: 99 CDK 4

Provisional Translation by Raymond Lee

Brothers and sisters, as we are fasting I hope that you will take it easy. Please relax and I will take it easy too, so that we won't impose anything on ourselves that will be a burden.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters whom I respect, may the peace and blessings of Almighty God be with you. This morning we have opened this kejiwaan gathering, so it is not out of place if I give some guidance that concerns the soul and the latihan.

As for the word "gathering", it means that we come together to be united and to unite our feelings with each other and this gathering can be useful for all of us to practice what we know as this training of the soul as well as to practice the contact with our soul in our everyday lives.

Because the fact is that if we only do latihan and then just go home, it seems it is not enough for us to give substance to the content of this connection with our soul, or practice the content of the latihan in our relations with other people.

But this gathering will be of no value if we don't practice the content of this gathering. So when? When will you start to or try to practice what is willed for you in your spiritual training?

We can only do this if each one of you is willing and intends to practice what is willed for you from your latihan.

For example, at a gathering like this you are united and you resolve problems peacefully. But when it comes to your daily duties, you are not able to place yourself in the way that you did at the gathering. The result is that some of you are quick to feel others beat you, or take offence, or be flattered. This means that what you aim for or what you practice at this gathering, you cannot yet practice in your daily activities.

So this is a little supplement, brothers and sisters, about the meaning of and the need for gatherings. Particularly as this gathering is a "kejiwaan gathering" it naturally has a deep significance. This is because we have to unite the feelings of so many of you before we can reach or produce a result that is both useful and noble for you in your relations with other people and in the life of this spiritual association.

Brothers and sisters, I will now start with an explanation of the term or the word "jiwa" or soul. You have probably all heard of, or know what the soul is; but then again maybe most of you don't know yet. Even though you do latihan you don't know what the soul is.

The soul is the force of life that manifests in a nature of God. Well, because we are human beings, in our case it manifests in a nature that is human. We don't know its origin, but this essence of God is within the being of man. Every nature of God possesses a soul, so the soul is the force of life, the force of life in each of God's natures. And we know that God's natures not only take the form of human beings, but everything that God creates is a nature of God.

So the part of a human being that is still pure or holy is this essence of God. But we can no longer say that the soul is pure. Because during the growth or formation of the soul, it is affected by the influences of its environment, inherited influences, and the influences of the world. Why is it affected by the world? Because from the time the soul exists, we cannot be sure it is human, or has the nature of a human soul or that it is truly your own.

So we cannot claim "Oh, my soul is pure and complete!" If that were true, there is no need for this latihan. It is because you have a soul that is still in a process which you yourself have to complete, that we do the latihan, that we have this latihan.

The coming of this latihan began with Bapak receiving a revelation from God as to how, in relation to human development, the soul can be touched directly by the power of Almighty God.

Without the grace of Almighty God, this is impossible. This is why we must, or need to be, grateful that we have received a key or a contact, that perhaps other people cannot obtain.

This is because this latihan is not just a process to develop yourself, it is also your worship of the power of Almighty God.

Why is it "worship"? Because when you do latihan, you surrender everything to God, so that it is God that guides and leads you directly.

If we look around we see other people practice a kind of latihan or have a similar experience with the aim to draw close to God through all kinds of ways. These appear to be the same as what we practice in Subud, but maybe you don't know or cannot tell yet what the source is of the powers that come from those practices.

Because if these powers come from a person's own being, then there are many different types of power. So don't assume that these powers come from outside you, when in fact you may be drawing them from within your own self, but by doing so you use them in the wrong way.

Because this is like what you may have read in Bapak's talks, or what you may have experienced yourself or become aware of even though this is something that is difficult to absorb or hard to understand and grasp.

Let me explain here that this is why when you read Bapak's talks don't just read them once or twice and be satisfied with that. Because it may be that you are not able to grasp the full meaning of what Bapak meant.

Because it is explained there that in addition to this coarse body we also have fine bodies or lower selves that are referred to as "sukma". Maybe, if you are not attentive, you can't tell the difference between your soul and these fine bodies.

Well, the Javanese say "ajineng nyowo". "Nyowo" means the soul and "aji" means the value of the soul, which when put together means that the soul is higher than the fine bodies. Why? It is because these fine bodies referred to - and you can feel all of this for yourselves - these fine bodies or lower selves reside in the human heart where they give rise to our desires - "the nafsu". If we go into this deeper, there are five levels of lower forces. You may have read about this but perhaps you don't understand it yet!

Well, I am telling you this because some of you have read about this or even have to translate it, but you don't understand what it means.

So these fine bodies or lower selves are still manifestations of our own heart and are made from the four lower forces, the black passion, "aluamah"; the red passion, "amarah"; the yellow passion "supiah"; and the white passion "mutmainah". All of these come from or reside in your own heart where they manifest as our fine bodies.

So if a person believes in and uses these fine bodies, or lower selves, they can acquire an extraordinary power which on the surface looks like it comes from the power of God, but in fact it is not from God, it is only at the level of the sukma.

So it is as a result of developing our lower selves that we have fortune telling, hypnotism, spiritualism and so on. But, brothers and sisters, in reality what we obtain from these fine bodies is an obstacle for us to find the path to God, the path that is far, far higher than this world. We can say that if you possess some kind of power, or your experiences only come from the fine bodies, it can only be used in this world and you cannot take it higher than this world.

Even in Subud, you may meet Bapak but the Bapak you meet may still be one of Bapak's lower selves. It is a lower being. Bapak also has lower selves as this is part of being human. Even though Bapak was Bapak, he had passions. Without the passions you cannot live in the world.

Or, you may for example meet the fine body of a saint. You really believe in it because it is the lower being of a saint and you believe that this saint will guide you or bring you to God. But it can't, because it is only a lower being and it cannot go beyond this world.

So if, for example, you often meditate or practice self-denial in an isolated place and in the end a lower being contacts you, the lower self of Sultan Agung for example, then you feel very proud. "I have been approached by and conversed with Sultan Agung!" But you don't realise that what you saw there was just a lower being.

Well not to go too far from home, say it is Bapak that contacts you. You are contacted by one of Bapak's lower selves. It doesn't mean that this is the Bapak that can take you to the path of God. The Bapak that can take you there is the Bapak that is guided by God and not by the lower forces.

Well, this is a deep explanation brothers and sisters, so don't think about it. But this is a reality that you will pass through, that you will experience yourself as a Subud member who is training yourself on this spiritual path.

So for example, one of you may meet someone with a powerful lower self that gives you some kind of power. As a result, you become a fortune teller or a successful medium. This often happens. Then, naturally, you will not be able to tell whether your power is from God or from the passions of that person you met.

Because the truth is that this frequently happens. As a consequence of your development in the latihan, many of you experience things that are beyond the reach of human thought. For example, you may see this or that, or meet this person or that. Then you will ask me about what I just said.

Take for example, our brother Kadir. He has had many experiences. He says he has been visited by prophets. And so, he asked me if this was real or not. "Yes, I said, "it's real". So his experiences in latihan, his spiritual experiences were real. The meaning of 'real' is whatever you experience there.

So what should we do about it? All we can do is receive it. We receive it and there is no need to discuss it. If you talk about it and discuss it with other people who have not had this kind of experience, it becomes a fabrication; the nature of your experience will shift; it is no longer from your soul, but it becomes a fantasy of your mind.

You end up giving back what you should just receive. Because your role is that of a witness. Just a witness! You don't need to dwell on it or read meaning into it. If you take it into your mind you won't be strong enough, and you will become what other people call mad. So just receive it and surrender it to God so that it does not become a burden for you.

This is why we need this kind of gathering, so that you have a place to direct, or you can pass on what you have received to someone else, to a group of people who will listen. Praise God if one of them has had the same experience, then you will feel at ease and it will reduce the burden of your experience.

Let me go further. For example, Kadir had an experience that everything in the universe, everything that has been created, has movement. He witnessed that everything was moving. So he asked me if this was real or not. "Yes," I said. "Yes, it's true." Then he asked, "Ibu, why don't you ever talk about your experiences, and tell us all about your experiences?" Well, in truth, there is no point, because I was told, I understand that I was just a witness. And perhaps the value of them is that if somebody asks me, I can answer, because I witnessed it myself. He has had many experiences which I had too, so I can confirm that these experiences are real.

So brothers and sisters, at a gathering like this, if you have had an experience you do not neet to be reticent. You can tell your friends about your experience. Of course, I mean those people who want to listen to you, because some people don't want to listen to other people's experiences.

Then you will complain, "If I have an experience, who can I tell? Can I meet Ibu and tell her each time?" Well, I don't have the time. If I have to listen to all your experiences there wil be no end to it. So deal with it as I just explained. If we receive something, just receive it, because you are required to be a witness. Indeed this is what Bapak advised.

So those of you who witness the greatness of God through the latihan of Subud are witnesses that all that Bapak told us is not a fable and it is not only Bapak that can experience it - no! This is the reason why Bapak hoped that you would become witnesses that Subud is truly from God. So Subud is not just making movements and then when you are bored you leave Subud because you don't understand or can't make use of the latihan that you follow.

Brothers and sisters, as this talk is fairly deep and we are still fasting, I feel that it's best not to go on too long, Because we have to bear in mind, or balance our capacity.

So I hope that what I have explained today will be received by you with an open feeling. Those of you who have not received anything from the latihan yet, don't feel regret or feel sinful or that you are inadequate, because it all depends on the power of God. We leave everything to God, as to what will become part of each one of us.

That's all brothers and sisters. May the peace and blessings of Almighty God be with you and I hope you will be able to keep your fast until the time to break the fast comes.

Thank you!