FIRST TALK BY IBU RAHAYU

AT THE TENTH SUBUD WORLD CONGRESS

IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9th, 1997 - OFFICIAL TRANSLATION

Subud brothers and sisters, whom I respect and whom I love: before I start my talk I would like to say something. Because this meeting concerns the life of the soul, it is actually just for those who have been opened or who already follow the latihan of Subud. My talk will be mostly about the latihan, so I think that maybe those who haven't done the latihan yet will not understand it, and there is also a certain risk that it will cause something like a confrontation within their being. So I hope that those of you who are not yet opened will not stay for this talk. Thank you.

Those who are opened and do this Subud latihan are touched by the power of God by way of their soul. Although this starts from within, that is, from what we call as the power of God or the zat Allah, this contact will first of all be received by our outer body, which we describe as the physical body.

Since one can say that this world consists of matter and our physical or coarse bodies are also material, we are most familiar with our physical part for understanding or receiving what is in this world. It is for that reason that when we receive our opening in the latihan what we feel is our physical part - the movements of our coarse body.

After receiving the latihan for a long time, our growth and development becomes deeper and deeper until we not only make and feel physical movements, but can increasingly feel something that arises in our feelings and our emotions. And as this development goes still deeper, it will reach your wisdom, meaning that you will be able to receive a feeling in your wisdom. It will then go even deeper and eventually reach your self-awareness.

From this you can see that our spiritual growth requires patience and surrender, the extent of which depends on your individual inner state. So - given that the growth of our inner self progresses from stage to stage - the truth is that even though you have all been opened and done the latihan, the nature of your receiving is not be the same for all of you. This means that if you are still only able to be aware of whatever is close to you - that is, you are only aware of this world - then your receiving is not yet one that can have any meaning.

But later on, when your latihan has become deeper and deeper and reached the point I referred to - that is, when the growth of your soul has reached the stage of self-awareness - you will not need to ask anyone else about the significance of whatever awareness you receive. So your self-awareness will be there as a basis for making whatever decisions you need to make.

But of course we can't postpone all our decisions until we reach that stage, and a problem sometimes needs to be solved right away. So we are advised to solve all such problems and take decisions through testing together.

What this means is that when somebody receives something, we agree to receive together and weigh up together the correctness or otherwise of what that person has received. I need to say this here because there are many members who feel that they can already receive and consider it essential that everyone else should agree with what they have received. They feel upset if others don't agree with them. Therefore there need to be helpers who are capable of dealing with such cases - capable of receiving clearly enough to weigh up the various receivings of people in Subud.

We can see that this is because we are not yet perfect human beings. So what we receive is not certain to be true. Truth is in God's hands, and when we test together it doesn't mean that we will always get it right - we are simply trying to approach the truth that is willed by God. Therefore when we test together as helpers we need to cooperate and help each-other, rather then maintain our own rightness. Then what we receive will be clean and free of our self-interest.

Why is it that we are sometimes affected by this self-interest, which adheres to the human self? It is because, although we live in this world by God's will, we are aware that we are accompanied by the lower forces. These are in fact willed by God to be our companions for our life in this world.

But why did God give us these lower forces, if they are going to make it difficult for us to live as human beings? Of course there is a reason, which is that we would not be able to live in the world without them. And these are not bad forces. We call them lower forces because they are below the human force.

And these lower forces, which we can read about in the books of Bapak's talks, are the material, the vegetable and the animal force. Although you were not aware of it, these lower forces have accompanied your growth in this world from the time you were born. And after you are opened, when you re-establish your contact with the Power that created you, all that is within you including the lower forces will of course develop and grow together, along with your own growth.

And of course each of these forces has its own characteristics in the way it develops. There are those that hold you back, those that give energy, and those that push you to be active in your life. And because your being can be compared to a household, God expects you as the master of your own house to organize all that exists and all that happens within your own being.

And if you do all this by way of the Subud latihan with really full surrender to God, it won't be you who has to sort out all that is going on within your being. God's guidance will lead you towards the truth, and you won't be trapped in one of the worlds that is not really your world. But if you are not able to take your true place as the human force within your being, then other forces will take charge of your self. And the strength that comes from these lower forces can be felt and can give rise to particular kinds of self will, or nafsu, which may be an obstacle to your progress. Sometimes these nafsu, or desires that come from the lower forces, can become so strong that you are no longer aware of what power is acting within your being.

It will be just the opposite if you can follow this Subud latihan and follow what has already been received and pioneered by Bapak. What I mean is: follow what you receive - it doesn't have to be like what Bapak received - but follow it in the way that Bapak demonstrated and explained to us. That is why it is in fact really necessary for you to read or listen to Bapak's talks.

Do not think of Bapak's explanations as a teaching, because it isn't. Even if you try to study what he said you won't be able to understand it if it is not accompanied by an awareness from within yourself. So do not imagine that when you do latihan, God will personally come and show you how to do it. As I said earlier, we are facing a process that goes step by step, stage by stage. You as a mere human being will certainly not be able to continue unaided what God wills for you.

Sometimes you read something Bapak explained three or four times and you still don't understand it. But another time after you have been able to apply yourself more and surrender more, suddenly you are able to feel what it was that Bapak was describing. And once you can feel it you will not forget it for as long as you live.

Perhaps many of you feel that you have a block, because when you read Bapak you quickly get bored. Sometimes you say to yourself, 'It's just the same old stuff.' But although you say that, it is not certain that have understood what Bapak intended.

For example, over and over again Bapak explains what Subud is. But then someone asks you 'What is Subud?' and you feel nervous because you don't know what to say. So it is clear from this that you have not yet understood or assimilated the path that you yourself are following. This is just a simple example. If someone asks about Subud, certainly every Subud member ought to be able to explain what Subud is. Yet it is clear that many cannot.

This is just an example to try and show that in the latihan or in Subud there is still a long way for us to go and a great deal that we still have to experience. So let us not quickly get the feeling, 'Hey, I'm good at this, I've mastered the spiritual path,' because it is hard to measure your ability in the spiritual realm.

This is because it all depends on the will and the power of God. It can happen that someone just opened can feel and bear witness to the greatness of God. Clearly this is not the result of the development that has taken place in that person's soul, but it may be that God willed that that person in his or her surrender should become a witness who would be able to describe the extent of the greatness of the One Almighty God. But there are other cases where it is only after doing the latihan for some considerable time that a person will receive God's grace regarding the reality that we are seeking.

I believe there are already many members - maybe among those who have done latihan for a long time - who are able to bear witness, not from hearsay or from someone else. They have experienced it fully and received God's grace so that they are able to bear witness of the truth of this Subud, and of the truth of this latihan.

And this kind of witnessing can take many forms, in accordance with the state of each one of you. Therefore, if somebody is telling of his or her spiritual experience, it is not wrong to listen but don't try to follow it. Because each member will receive their own experience which may not be the same, but the meaning of their experience will be the same.

In the same way, your receiving will certainly not be the same as Bapak's. So do not be too quick to say that you have received something like what Bapak received.

I am saying all this to keep things straight and help you not to get tied up in your own interpretations of what you experience. Because I often hear for example that there is this or that person who has received something similar to what Bapak received. But the fact is that they then do things which are contrary to what is required in the spiritual life.

Well, brothers and sisters, I feel I've explained enough tonight about the spiritual path. Because our purpose here concerns not only the spiritual side but also to make all the decisions that are needed for the next phase of the development of Subud. So I would like to end my talk tonight and ask your forgiveness if there was anything wrong in what I said or in my advice. Thank you.

(Please note that this is the official translation, replacing the provisional one that has been circulated.)