Knowing Who It Is That Occupies Your Being..

..As you heard Bapak say in his talk last night, in order to become aware of which life forces have made their home within your self you will need to go through the first phase, which is the reawakening of the whole body. This is because the awakening of your whole body shakes, purifies, and releases the grip - the pressure - of the lower forces that normally tie up, restrict and oppress your whole body and your whole inner feeling.

The thinking mind, the heart, and the feelings cannot possibly discover who or what occupies our self, because the brain, the heart and the rest are all newcomers. They only arrived after the new being was created, after the soul had entered into the human being when it was still in the form of water. So the reality is that the soul knows the body better. And the body won't know the soul until it has been cleansed of all the worldly influences it experienced from the time it was small until it grew up and reached adulthood.

If, for example, a person has an animal soul, since it has been provided with a human nature - meaning, with a brain, with a heart, with feelings, with a complete human body - it will of course act in the way a person does. On the other hand, an animal body, for example a dog, even if it contains a human soul, will of course act like a dog - no more and no less.

It's like a piano: a piano can make sounds like - ting, tong, do, re, mi. If a small child strikes the keys, it will go - do, re, mi. If it is an adult who knows how to play the piano, it will still go - do, re, mi. It's just the same. While if the piano is broken and the notes can no longer be played, it just goes thud, thud, thud. Even if a composer plays it, it will still not play the notes, because it is broken. That's how it is. So even if a soul is human, in an animal body it will act like an animal; and an animal soul in a human body will act human.

This is why things that relate to the soul cannot be fathomed, or thought about, using the brain, the heart and the desires. Because the brain, heart, desires, and the will - and the whole of this body - are nothing more than tools of the soul that is within us. But with the latihan you are doing, and will continue to do, eventually you will be able to feel, and to know, who it is that is occupying your being. What is wrong will spontaneously change for the better, until your being will truly be occupied by a human soul.

Being raised to heaven

So, let's just suppose that with your thinking mind, your heart and your desires you are raised to heaven through the grace of God. You would assume that 'I, the human being' have gone to heaven; but you would be mistaken, for, in fact, what has gone is 'I, the animal.' Because all the holy books concur that it's not only human beings who go to heaven; so do material objects, plants and animals. But that is certainly not what you want - what you wish for of course is to go to heaven as human beings.

It's clear then, that the realm of the soul is utterly different from the realm that is understood by the mind, the heart, the will, and the desires. So it was no mistake that the prophets - in your case Jesus in particular - always taught that human beings ought to fulfil their promises to God by truly surrendering, trusting and submitting, and loving God and God's greatness and power. That kind of attitude and sincerity of the human feelings is necessary in order to reduce our greed - that which within us always gives in to our desires, to our anger and to our unreasonable wishes, and wants to have more than we need, and so on. In this way, the working of the brain - meaning the thinking mind - and the heart with its desires will gradually become more and more peaceful. Finally, they will truly be at peace, and be capable of receiving a contact with the life force that can truly guide us and truly be our counsellor within our inner feeling.

It's lucky for you, and for Bapak as well, that now, once our heart is at peace and has stopped working, we are able to receive the contact we need - [a contact] no different from the one Bapak described that is the result of human effort. So it's clear that Subud is something really beneficial for people today. Because God has given this to human beings in this present century, it has become easy for them to worship God. So all you have to do - all Subud members have to do - is receive. Don't think about it any more. Don't go on looking for the right way, or wonder how it will go and how you will progress. There's no need to look for that. That is God's gift to us - that we can stop searching and just receive. If you look back, meaning if you look outside of Subud, you will see people

being told by the Muslim teachers, or by whoever they trust in the church: 'If you recite this, you will go to heaven.' Just from that, there are a lot of people who believe, who are convinced in their hearts, that they will go to heaven. But in your case, you are not being told by a person but by God, who is within your own being. It comes from the power of God, which is already present within your own selves, and which gives indications to each of you.

Trust yourself

So you ought to trust yourself rather than the words of others. It may well be that the person talking has not yet personally experienced what heaven and hell are really like. So, if they are asked, 'Is that really true?' they'll answer, 'So, what the holy book says, and if the holy book says it, it must be true.'

Of course what the holy books say is true. But don't forget that what it says in the Quran, and what it says in the Bible, is between Muhammad and God, and between Jesus and God. It's not God talking to you, or to others. What it says in the Quran is really true, but it's directed to Muhammad, for Muhammad could understand, be deeply conscious of, and receive the words of God. It's the same with the Bible. Jesus was able to receive the words of God. But they were for Jesus, not for others who are not yet like him [inaudible].

That's why they say that the only ones who know angels, who know and understand them, are the angels. Those who know the bidadari [female angels] are also the bidadari. Those who know heaven are those who dwell there. Let Bapak illustrate: certainly, most of the people who mingle with the rich are other rich people. Those who socialise with royalty are, of course, royalty. It's not possible for you to mix with kings, to go strolling about with kings. It's not; that's the reality of it. And that's why in Subud all of you are constantly guided by God to become one with the stage, with the level, to which you belong.

So if you - this is just an example, Bapak isn't saying it's true of you, it is just as an example - let's say you had an animal soul: of course it wouldn't be able to associate with human souls. Yes, it would associate with other animal souls; and its heaven would also be the animal heaven, not the human one.

This is why you must continue with your latihan, so you may rise to the human level, which is what you wish for. And Bapak hopes that you will not use your minds in this, since in the spiritual realm the mind is an obstacle to progress.

Take Jesus for instance - he wasn't a learned man. No. He was a person with a perfect human soul, whose feelings were pure and clean. In pictures, and sometimes in films, Jesus is pictured as walking like this [gesture], and looking up. People who aren't of the same level as Jesus may ask, 'What can he see, doing that?' and many people imitate it. But actually when Jesus did that, and was looking up, he could really see what was up there. So clearly, they are only imitating his actions instead of actually experiencing his state. It is like looking at rich people - all you can do is imitate their behaviour, because you yourself are not rich yet. So, clearly, you won't be able to follow Jesus to heaven as long as you are not yet the same as him - the one you believe in. In the same way, you will really feel what it is like to be a doctor only if you study medicine right to the end, right up to the moment when you get your diploma. That's why the prophets said, 'Don't be people who just imitate instead of doing what is right.' And why in Islam it is said, 'Don't just talk - you must do good deeds.'

To be published in Bapak's Talks Volume 4, available in March 1999 from Subud Publications International.

£12.50 UK. £13.00 Europe. £16.00 Other