“If there are still some of you who are unable to receive, or who are oblivious of, this movement which resides within your own life, that is only because you have neglected to practice this. In other words you have used your brain and your mind all the time and have never paid attention to practicing or to becoming aware of this movement within your own being, within your life – this movement which we have received in the latihan kejiwaan. For in fact this movement, this power, actually manifests in every action that we make during our everyday lives, no matter whether we are working, whether we are sitting, whether we are sleeping, whether we are writing, whether we are talking. Always this power of God, this power of life, is there within us. If we train ourselves to be attentive to this, and to feel it for as much of our life as possible, then gradually the power that moves you within the latihan will also begin to envelop and to be present in all your actions throughout your business, throughout your life, in your everyday life.

And because of this, because you will then be accompanied by this power, you will experience something like a guide or a teacher within you which will lead you and give you understanding of all your various activities. It will be as though you will become aware that within you, you are followed by something like a teacher or an advisor, so that you will never be far from guidance and advice for your everyday life. And automatically, then, your life will not stray far from what is right. In other words you will not go far from actions which are excellent and the best possible.”

Bapak’s Talk, Bristol, England. The fruits of the latihan
June 29, 1977. Code Number : 77 BRS 4

Excerpt from statement by Varindra Vittachi to the World Subud Congress at Amanecer, Columbia.

“Once Bapak told us a fantastic story which has stuck in my heart, and my head – everywhere. He said, “Before the universe was created, there was only a mass of energy, and God created the light. And this light was the primary vibration of the universe. And this primary vibration, when it vibrated, it, in turn created the water, the air, the fire and the earth. So materiality was created then.

So now this materiality has its own vibrations, which Bapak called the ’secondary vibrations.’ And you must be careful to learn in Subud, in the latihan, to distinguish between the primary and the secondary vibrations, the material vibrations. He said, “It’s not very difficult; just be attentive to the coarse vibrations, because the primary vibration is very gentle. Ya.” he said, “If you worship the secondary vibration, you will destroy all spiritual possibilities for your future.”

I must confess to you brothers and sisters, that recently I have come across a few Subud members like this, in the latihan, who are worshiping the material vibration. But they must realize it; I can’t do anything about it. O.K. Bapak said, “When this vibration goes out, it creates materiality in lumps, lumps of energy.” The English word “lumps” has a wonderful ugly sound. And he said, “You, Varindra, are a small, two-legged lump walking about saying:’This lump is my country, so I’m a patriot of this lump.’ And you say this little lump is your property.” Whereas the whole point of the exercise is to surrender this lump in us so that you become more and more refined, to rejoin the force of energy that will take you back to your origin.

I thought I would be very clever, so I said, “Bapak, what is the origin?” He said, “Varindra, what is the origin of a circle?”

About ten months ago, the greatest story since creation occurred, and only two newspapers in the whole world understood the significance of this story,Le Monde in Paris and The Independent in London. The Independent was fantastic. They were reporting a space probe that had detected a flash from the ’big bang’, in other words, from these vibrations, these original primary vibrations. And they think this thing they call the ’big bang’ all happened in one billionth of a second! Well, I don’t happen to believe it, that’s all, you know. Now they call it ’ripples,’ not vibrations, ripples, which then, they say now, created material lumps. They used the word ’lumps’. Like stars and planets, they call them lumps.

Now, brothers and sisters, that is why on the first day here I made a very strong point. But you cannot improve the primary vibration, you can’t reach it, you can’t improve it. But let me explain my own position about this.

Everybody’s entitled to their own explanation of the universe, as long as they do not interfere or intervene with the latihan. I personally don’t mind whatever they do. Unfortunately, some of our helpers, they don’t come out in the open like this and give an opportunity for those who practice something different, some other therapy, to explain themselves. So I’m simply suggesting to you that if somebody wants to practice ’Asagioli Psycho-Synthesis, ’welcome’. My daughter is one of them. And there are many versions of this. It is nothing to do with us, as long as they know, these practitioners know, that what they are doing has nothing to do with Subud.”

“What has been received in the latihan is a flow of spiritual power from God to Man, not to Mr. A, Mr. B or Mrs. C, but to Man! 

If you are still like a separate individual in the latihan you will not be able to receive rightly.

Your nature in the latihan should be that of man in general. 

It is essential that your inner feelings be as wide as this world, so that you can receive various things which are for man and not just for yourself.”

~ Pak Subuh

From talk at Briarcliff, N.Y. 25 July, 1963

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Brothers & Sisters,

“Of course by now it is familiar to you that the latihan, this spiritual training of Subud, is a training that truly is not influenced by your heart, mind or desires. This is a because during the latihan, and before it, you surrender everything to the greatness of God, so that what you receive within depends solely on the love and the gift of the One God.”

Bapak

 

“Bapak explained about the influence of the desires, which is always an obstacle to your worship of the One Almighty God. This influence resides in your heart.

Broadly speaking, there are four kinds of desires. The first is the desire of greed. This desire wants to be the best, the richest, to understand better and to be cleverer than anyone else. In short, it wants to be better than others. The second is the desire of arrogance. Arrogance is the desire that wants to quarrel, to blame others, to make trouble for others; it wants to be comfortable and always to be in the right. Also, it is continually looking for an opportunity to quarrel, looking for an adversary or an enemy. The third is the desire of wanting or wishing. This means wanting all kinds of things, and wanting to possess all kinds of things. The desire of wanting is usually very close to the desires of arrogance and greed.

The fourth is the desire of wanting to do the right thing. The desire of wanting to do the right thing is the one that is willing to give way; it likes to give, and to worship the One God. That is why sometimes a person will remember and feel the wish to worship God. However, such a wish is very easily overwhelmed by the desires of wanting, arrogance and greed, so that the wish to worship God is weakened.

All these desires are always connected with the forces that are lower than human; that is, the material force, the forces of plants and animals, and the physical human force. Consequently, if people use their heart and mind in the worship of God they are sure to be hindered at every step by these low forces, which use the four desires as their tools.”

Excerpt from Bapak’s Talk: Perth, 25 February 1963

“Indeed, the best and only condition for worshipping God, in order to find reality and understand your life, is simply to surrender to God patiently, putting yourselves in God’s hands and letting go of everything. So, it is clear to you that with the latihan God is watching over you from both behind and in front, and God’s power guides your life in its entirety. Therefore there is no need for you to have a heart and feelings that are doubtful, anxious or worried about what you have received.”

 

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