An Introduction to Subud

• Susila means to be able to live according to the Will of God as a really true human being.
• Budhi indicates that in every creature of God, including man, there is a divine power which works within him as well as outside him.
• Dharma means the possibility for every creature, including man, to surrender completely to the Will of God, of whom man is only a creation and has, therefore, inevitably to submit to the Will of his Creator.
• Susila Budhi Dharma means to follow the Will of God with the help of the Divine Power that works both within us and without, by the way of surrendering oneself to the Will of Almighty God.

The latihan is different for each person, and even for the same person takes different forms at different times. Sometimes people experience an inner vibration or a sensation like electricity running through their body. The latihan initiates a process of purification. At the same time you receive what is necessary for your life. Most people feel a sense of relaxation and well-being after doing the latihan. Over a period of time, people report beneficial effects such as improved physical health, the eradication of character defects and the emergence of new talents and capacities. Some people have had remarkable healings, and others have been blessed with visions, voices and other mystical phenomena.

Because it has no dogma, Subud is open to people of all religions, as well as to those of no particular religious belief. It is the essence of the experience that lies at the heart of all religions, a direct contact with the power of God. It enables people to come to a deeper understanding of their chosen religion.

It proposes no moral or ethical system of its own, believing that these have already been given through existing religions and philosophies. What people need now is the help to live up to these codes.

There is no priesthood on Subud. There are people called "helpers", but their function is strictly limited. They are experienced members responsible for meeting new members, witnessing their opening, timing the general latihan and answering questions and problems when required.

Subud is not tied to any culture or nationality. It has no Javanese or Indonesian content. There is no recommended lifestyle. You follow whatever is normal on your particular country. Subud should help each person to develop his or her own individuality and national culture.

Bapak never claimed to be a priest or a guru, only an ordinary man who was the first to receive this particular way of worshipping God. He insisted that he was not the teacher. God is the teacher. Bapak gave talks, but these were explanations, not prescriptions. He advised people to approach Subud in the spirit of a scientific experiment. Try it for a year and see of it has any reality.

Subud should bring proof. It is a new dispensation suited to this scientific age, when people will only believe what they have experienced directly for themselves. It comes. like past revelations from God, at a moment of peril for humanity, when the technology we have created seems to have outstripped our capacity to control it. The latihan has been given to restore the balance between our minds and our inner feelings.

There is no charge for joining Subud, no membership fees. People contribute to costs such as renting latihan premises, according to ability and inclination. There is absolutely no compulsion.

Men and women do latihan separately. The nature of receiving is very different for men and women. Also you need to be completely free to follow whatever arises in the latihan, and the presence of the opposite sex could be an inhibiting factor.

Children are not allowed to join Subud until the age of seventeen. They are not opened until they are capable of making a responsible choice. Every one who applies to join Subud (unless they over sixty or the children of Subud parents) is asked to wait for three months before being opened.

People in Subud sometimes change their names. Bapak gave these during his lifetime and they can now be requested from his daughter, Ibu Rahayu. A new name can symbolize a change in life or describe one's inner nature. The sound of the name itself, especially the first syllable, is also felt to be significant.

As well as the general latihan, there is a special use of the latihan known as testing. Testing means to ask a question by submitting it to God, and then to receive an answer through the movements of the latihan.

There are many uses of testing. Typically Subud members may use it to solve a personal problem, or when are facing an important decision in life. Where should I live? What is my right work in life? These are some of the questions that are asked. Spiritual questions, such as the meaning or validity of dreams and latihan experiences, are also tested.

Testing is also used in collective situations. For instance, the chairman of a Subud group is usually selected by testing. Several candidates are asked to show through the movements of their latihan their suitability to hold the position. A Subud group may also test about the rightness of purchasing a new place to do latihan, for example.

In personal testing, the one with the question will generally get together with two or three helpers. The question is asked and then all considerations of the heart and mind put aside as far as possible in order to be able to receive an answer from inside. The answer will come in the form of the sounds and movements usual in each person's latihan. Sometimes the answer is very clear. Sometimes a series of questions may need to be asked in order get clarification. Of course it is very difficult to have a "pure" receiving, so the answer will often be influenced by the thinking and wishing of those participating. Sometimes the answer will be much the same as what would have been dictated by common sense. At other times it may be quite unexpected.

Testing is not fortune telling. It should be a way of tapping a source of knowledge and understanding that is uninfluenced by the heart and mind. Like anything else it can be open to abuse. It should not be used to test every trivial matter. It also calls for sincerity in following out the results of the testing even when these may go against your inclinations.

Bapak gave many talks in which he explained the benefits to be gained from doing the Islamic fast of Ramadhan. This fast is an obligation for Muslims, but Bapak suggested that those who are not Muslims could also benefit from it. Of course it is in no way compulsory for Subud members, but over the years many people have chosen to follow Bapak's advice. Ramadhan is an annual period of thirty days fasting. You refrain from eating, drinking and smoking between sunrise and sunset.

The clarity and simplicity of the fast has been one of its attractions for Subud members . Its demands are not so heavy that the ordinary person in the everyday world cannot fulfill them. On the other hand, they represent a tangible sacrifice which produces effects at every level of being. The aim of the fast for Subud members is not to strengthen the will or develop "self-control". It is more an act of surrender. It is as if there is some special grace available during this month.

Fasting serves to separate us from our usual desires and cravings. One of its first benefits is to enable us to become aware of the extent to which we are subject to our own passions and to gain some measure of freedom from them. Many Subud members report beneficial experiences especially during the last ten days of Ramadhan, traditionally known as the nights of power, when God's grace is said to rain down upon the earth. At the end of the fast, people may receive an indication that is useful for their lives. The need for a new direction in their careers or something like that. Bapak often said that the result of the fast should be an awakening of love for our fellow man which is symbolized by the traditional giving of alms.

The experience of many Subud members, both Muslims and non-Muslims, is that doing this fast as sincerely as possible, produces direct, perceptible results. The month before Ramadhan is known as "The Month of the Ancestors" and Subud members have experienced during this month that they are called to recollect or pray for members of their family who have passed away, to visit their graves and so on. Subud members who are Christians have reported receiving similar benefits from doing Lent and Bapak has said that the two fasts are the same.

Bapak often said that it was good to practice a religion as well as doing the latihan. Religion could act as a vessel, an outer form, for what was received in the latihan. Some Subud members find their faith renewed in the religion they were brought up in. Others adopt a new religion.

Subud groups join together into national organizations and these participate in the World Subud Council which meets every four years when a World Congress is held. Seven Congresses have been held, in Britain, USA, Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Canada and Australia. An attempt has recently been made to give an international legal form to Subud through the Subud Brotherhood International Foundation, a foundation registered in Geneva.

The day-to-day administration of Subud's affairs is carried out by the executive body, the International Subud Committee (ISC) which moves from country to country between Congresses. There are also branches of the organization to promote cultural, welfare, enterprise and youth activities. The structure of Subud within each country simply follows the legal form customary in that country.

Bapak many times stated that the purpose of Subud in the world is to improve the well-being of mankind and he urged Subud members to become active in social welfare. "It is essential for us to undertake social activities. It is essential for Subud to undertake projects like schools for neglected children, hospitals for sick people, homes for elderly people who are neglected by their families."

Subud has initiated many such projects around the world which have received funding from Subud as well as from organizations like Oxfam, Terre des Hommes and Norad (Norway). In Indonesia, a charitable foundation, Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM), was set up in 1975 to act as the umbrella organization for all the projects run by Subud in that country. The YUM projects include a children's village, a vocational training centre, a tuberculosis hospital and clinics which dispense health care to the poorest of the poor in Jakarta.

Welfare projects in other countries include:

• The Alfragide Project, a pre-school and community development project for refugees in Portugal.
• The Pestalozzi Schools in Ecuador which provide education for poor Indian children and training for Indian teachers.
• Morningside CARE in Brisbane, Australia, which has run a retirement home and rehabilitation centre.
• Soleil Community Services in Dapto, Australia, which has run a pre-school, a home for children at risk, a holiday-care programme, and a teenage refuge.
• Fountain Housing Association in the United Kingdom. Its projects include a retirement home and sheltered accommodation for mentally handicapped adults and mentally and physically handicapped children.
• Suhada Welfare Project in Sri Lanka which provides infant and child, care, pre-school and food supplements in the slums of Colombo.

Bapak also recommended that Subud members should set up enterprises.

One purpose of this is to make money in order to help support the Subud organization and welfare projects. Subud enterprises are urged to contribute 25% of their profits for this purpose.

But there are other reasons too. Enterprises are seen as a form of worship. Doing your right work can actually be a way of worshipping God every minute of the day. It is a way of developing your inner self, a way of receiving God's guidance in the midst of everyday life. Enterprise is also a way for the strong to help the weak. Those with entrepreneurial capacity were urged to set up businesses. It was estimated in 1983 that there were more than two hundred enterprises operated by Subud members around the world with an annual turnover of US$34 million.

The concept of enterprise is derived from the Indonesian word "usaha" or effort and therefore encompasses all forms of human activity, not just business in the narrow sense. Enterprise is the expression of the talent that develops through the latihan and so can embrace artists, professional people, in fact any form of human endeavour. Housework, the care of children, all are ways of receiving the guidance of God in everyday life.

At other times, Bapak defined enterprise in a more specific way. He really hoped that Subud members would set up large, profitable businesses, employing many people. like large-scale manufacturing, food processing, building construction and real estate development.

In the 1970's, he began to provide some examples of what he meant. In 1971, at the Subud World Congress in Indonesia, Bapak announced that he wanted to set up an international bank, the purpose of which would be to provide the funding to boost the development of Subud enterprises. About US$1.5 million was collected and in 1974 Bank Susila Bakti (BSB) was established with an office in Jakarta. Several more projects followed such as: The S. Widjojo Centre, a fourteen-storey office building in downtown Jakarta, was built for a cost of US$14 million and opened in 1980. Anugraha, which was opened near Windsor England in 1984, was intended to be an International Subud Centre as well as a "state of the art" conference venue.

Other large projects around the world include a plan to build a five-star hotel in Jakarta; Project Sunrise, the re-development of the derelict wharf area in Sydney; and the most ambitious of all, the Kalimantan Project which proposed agricultural, mining and tourist ventures, including the building of a complete township, in Central Kalimantan.

Not all these projects developed as hoped. The Project Sunrise did not go ahead. In Kalimantan only the mineral exploration has proved successful to this point. In 1986 Bank Susila Bakti was sold. The S. Widjojo Centre and Anugraha continue, with but with financial problems. For some Subud members the failure of some of these endeavours have been profoundly disillusioning. Others see the progress of Subud in the world as a unique experiment to combine the spiritual and the material which must necessarily involve encountering problems and difficulties.

In a talk, Bapak once referred to these enterprises as "doing the impossible". He said that it is not difficult to do a million dollar enterprise, if you already have a million dollars. It is precisely by attempting the impossible, that proof comes of the reality of Almighty God. That is of course, if you're on the right track. If you're on the wrong track, you prove the reality of your own mistakes and inadequacies.