TALK BY IBU RAHAYU TO HELPERS AND MEMBERS OVER FIVE YEARS,

AT THE 10th WORLD CONGRESS, SATURDAY, 8/16/97

Brothers and Sisters whom I respect,

Good morning. It is possible that this is my last talk to you during this 10th World Congress. I hope that what I say you will be able to absorb and enjoy within yourself. I would like to say to all of you here, whatever it is you have been able to receive or experience here, you take it home with you and use it as a gift for the people in your group, in your home town, who weren't able to come here and be present at the Congress.

The main thing I want to talk about in this meeting is how to be a helper in our spiritual community. But before I start taking about that, I really need to emphasise that those of you who are working as helpers or in the committee work of the organisation, your status is exactly the same, meaning that in whatever you try to achieve for what the members need, you must work together. Then there will not be any kind of feeling of who is more important, whose work is more valuable, because you are equal, and Bapak has very clearly laid down how the two sides should do their own work, and how they should work together. Regarding the work of what we call helpers in the kejiwaan, or the dewan kejiwaan or spiritual dewan, Bapak has laid down very clearly the way which the various levels work - local, regional, national, international - and in general you have been doing that, and the whole thing is functioning, but there are still shortcomings in the way that the work is actually being carried out.

In the case of many helpers who are appointed in the various groups, there is still an element of self-interest in the way they carry out their work. And the result of this self-interest is that we are not able to develop the group which we are serving. In doing our work, the way to overcome this is surrender, and in the way in which we deal with our work we set an example which the rest of the membership can follow. (An example of this self-interested behaviour is when someone) becomes a National Helper and they fill that post from one period to another. They become permanent National Helpers. They feel that's good because they are serving Subud and they want to not let go of their work, but they are not giving an opportunity to other helpers to learn how to do that work, because the work of a helper always involves learning. We start out not knowing and we learn how to do the job. So all helpers need that experience, that opportunity.

So really the basis of how to be a helper is to be able to restrain our own will and instead to open as wide as possible a place within ourselves for the power of God to come through. There is a reality behind what I just said. I have received letters from a number of places, asking me to sort out a problem with a helper in their group or country. I can not do that because, according to the structure of Subud, it is not my responsibility to sort out problems in helper groups. I always hand the responsibility for this over to the International Helpers. They must act, because if they don't, if these things are allowed to go on - it should not become a drag on the growth of Subud, which it would otherwise do.

Now as for our own work as a helper, we have actually two responsibilities. One is to help our fellow Subud members whom we are responsible for. And the second is to develop our own latihan, our own spiritual development. Regarding the first of these two responsibilities, when we declare ourselves prepared, able and willing to become a helper, it means we are accepting that we do the work. We are in fact saying we will do the work a helper has to do, whereas I know that for some they become helpers in order to obtain respect. They feel it will give them an opportunity to do something they want to do. The reality is just the opposite. You are required to carry out the responsibilities of a helper, and not to act in ways that hurt other people.

Brothers and Sisters, the totality of the kejiwaan, or what concerns the life of our soul, is a field that embraces everything that human beings do or have done. Don't be too quick to believe or claim that you have achieved a complete understanding of the kejiwaan. Because actually the kejiwaan is so great, boundless, and that is why in the way Bapak has set up the helper work, we can not deal with all the things that are required of a helper alone. That is why Bapak has set up dewans, or groups of helpers who work together. So it is essential that helpers work together to fill in each others' shortcomings in the way they work. And for this purpose, Bapak instituted the practice of helpers doing latihan together and meeting together at regular times. The purpose is to give an opportunity to share and confront the problems of the group. Don't misuse this opportunity and bring things to this that create disharmony in the group.

As I said in my earlier talk, our development in the kejiwaan proceeds in stages, and we start in the physical stage, where we are really only aware of things in our physical body, through movement. Gradually we become aware and are able to receive through the feelings and then we proceed to another stage, the third stage, where we are able to receive wisdom directly in our being. In the fourth state, we receive through our own consciousness. Every helper has to pass through these four stages.

When you reach the stage where you receive in your consciousness, it means you will always be able to place yourself in the state you need to be in at that moment, and you will spontaneously always be in the state you need to be in to meet whatever problem arises in your life, arises around you. This you can experience for example when you are facing a problem among Subud members, and you feel there is no way to solve this problem. If you put yourself in that state where you are truly open to the power of Almighty God, you can open a place where God's power can work through you and resolve that problem. The key is to have that place open where God can work through you. But if you are not yet conscious, not yet in that state, how can God work through you to solve that problem? The result is that the problem will not be solved.

It is evident that all of us helpers are not the same. We differ in our ability and in our feelings, and that is why the helper group should always be united and one. Supposing you are a helper who has not yet reached this ability I mentioned, and you are not united in your helpers' group, your lack of ability will become very evident. You will notice there are members in your group who are not helpers, who have a deeper understanding than you do. We can not avoid this happening, that an older member may have a deeper understanding than some of the helpers in the group. And this fact often leads to complaints from the members about the helpers, and actually you are obliged to pay attention to these complaints, accept them and face up to them. They are very beneficial to you, because through them you can learn and become better helpers. All such complaints should be fully discussed in the helpers' group so you can become aware and improve your work as a helper.

We do the latihan in a state of consciousness, with our consciousness, so that we actually come back to our self and will not lose our self thanks to the latihan. Take one example. Suppose a candidate wishes to be opened. This person is facing something new, an opportunity, something that is not clear to them. They may be scared of what's going to happen to them. It's extremely important that the helpers create a really peaceful atmosphere so the new member can really feel what they are supposed to receive in the latihan. And unfortunately, it sometimes happens that during the opening this feeling of peace is shattered by one of the helpers who starts shouting in their latihan. The member is shocked to hear this shouting, and will not feel anything, will not become aware of the latihan they have received.

As helpers we have to adjust ourselves to the needs of each member. When you are doing latihan with the group, you can make as much noise as necessary, but during an opening, try to create an atmosphere, a meeting, a closeness between you and the new member who is being opened through your latihan. In an opening, you should not be trying to express something from your latihan, but do latihan for the person being opened, or instead of feeling peaceful and quiet, the person being opened will be confused and have all sorts of questions about what's going on.

This was only one example. There are innumerable examples that relate to the latihan, that concern the work of the helpers. Another which is typical - if a member has an experience, you have to be able to satisfy that member with your answer. You have to answer not from your thinking but from a place of quiet within, from your own inner feeling. If you answer from your thinking, even if the words are the same, it will not touch that member's feeling. It will not satisfy them or give them help. And this is the demand that is actually placed on the helper in respect of those members that you are guiding in your group. And when I say that, I don't mean the helper guides the jiwa in its development, I mean the helper guides the person in the carrying out of the latihan.

Based on our human nature and our human condition that we all share, it is sure that we are not perfect and we will never be perfect, and are often not able to fulfil the needs of those around us. This is OK if we remember that each Subud member is responsible for the growth and development of their own soul, so in trying to fulfil their needs and expectations you don't need to force yourself. If you are not able to answer, that's normal. Don't try to satisfy everybody - it will lead to a great burden on yourself in that it will not lead to the result you hope for or expect. And that is why I sometimes hear that there are helpers who become depressed and go into a depressed state. When that happens it is a sign you are not able to place your personality as it needs to be in facing the members, but when that moment comes that you are able to able to put yourself in the right state, you will find that the work of a helper is not a burden, because besides helping your fellow Subud members, the things you say and do will also help you and you will be able to learn from your own receiving. You will be opening the way for your own self and it becomes the way for you to make progress or go forward.

I would like to give some explanation from my own work as a helper. I get many letters with problems. Many people want names, and of course I try to satisfy as far as I can. I try to get close to the truth, meaning I can also be wrong. The truth is that giving names is not as easy as it looks. Because with each name request I ask what is the name that fits the person's nature and will be good for their life. I do a test for this, and if ten people ask for names, I have to do ten tests. I can not always do it quickly and satisfy you. I also have to check my own ability and not go beyond what I am able to do. There are times I know I am overburdened and I can not deal with the requests I have received, so I avoid them, and later, when I am relaxed, when there's no pressure, the answer comes easily. Sometimes it is easy, other times extremely difficult to find the right name, so I take this opportunity to ask for your understanding because I can not always reply with speed andby a specific date.

I also get letters with problems that are difficult to deal with, not about spiritual matters, not about the kejiwaan, but about people's lives. To answer questions in the kejiwaan is not so difficult for me, but questions in their life are much harder. The hardest are about marriage and marriage problems, because marriage problems are usually the result of two people and what they have done together over a period of time. I have learned to avoid these questions and not answer them, so maybe you have heard that Ibu Rahayu is not willing to answer these questions, and that is correct. These problems are the responsibility of these two people, both of whom are guided and have received the latihan, so why are they not able to solve for themselves the problems which their actions have created? So I assume if this is a problem for me, it's a problem for helper groups. I would not blame helpers if they don't wish to deal with those problems. Maybe it's a burden for the people themselves. Maybe what you test is right for half the couple, but it is certain to be wrong for the other half.

So through what I have just told you in facing my responsibilities as a helper, I am no different from all of you, and if I am able to do more in satisfying the needs of the members, it's because I place myself truly as a helper in confronting the requests I get from members. And what I mean, I open myself to God's power that if God will bless and guide my intention, then I will be able to do what I am asked, I will be able to fulfil the needs. If we can do that, then our helpers' work will not really be difficult. That requires us not to lie to ourselves about our own ability and to really remember as helpers we are there to help and guide people who are themselves receiving the latihan, worshipping God and being guided by Almighty God. The danger is we forget we are human beings and as human beings we know nothing. We may get the feeling we are already a wonderful helper, terrific at receiving and can be relied on to be right, and the moment we feel this, there is a self-interest that begins to stick to our being which we are probably not aware of There are helpers who have an idea they can add something to make members' latihan better, to make them go quicker, be finished sooner, and that is no longer a clean wish, no longer the purity of what we receive in the latihan, which we receive through complete surrender.

So our job is simply to open the way for the members around us who wish to worship Almighty God and we should never add anything more than that because the members actually wish to serve God through doing the latihan, so there is no need and we are not allowed to add anything beyond helping them do that. Brothers and Sisters, as you know, the latihan kejiwaan is not something you can study, learn or teach. You can not be taught to do the latihan by any helper or anyone else In the latihan your latihan will develop in accordance with what is inside you and what is needed by your own individuality, so we can not add any kind of practice, method or technique or something from other movements. At some point it will result in a confrontation in your own being, because what comes from the power of God is of a different nature than anything from another method. So the two will inevitably confront within you, and you may not be aware that besides the power of Almighty God are many other powers in this world which you do not know and are unaware of where they come from.

I really hope that what I have said today will help you all to do your work as helpers, and help in supporting your fellow Subud members and for those who have been doing the latihan for a longer time and who may one day become helpers, it may help you and give you some understanding of what the helpers' work consists of.

I also want to thank you and say goodbye to those who will be leaving for home. I wish you a good journey and we will meet again in four years' time, probably in a place and atmosphere that is somewhat different. But in the meantime, I hope you will maintain a feeling of unity between all of you.

Notes taken by Soraya Newell from the provisional translation by Sharif

Horthy