sv march 09 web - subud library/subudvoice/svolmar09...were a few questions and answers such as...

16
including 4 women. At first Roland had placed the chairs and a desk just like at school whilst the ladies were armed with pens and papers. We soon re-organised everything and everyone so that we were now sitting in a circle. We asked our “audience” to just listen. They soon started to yawn which we viewed with encouragement! Each one of us IHs, in turn, started to explain what Subud was, each following from the other in his/her explanation so that it flowed from one to the next as one. The atmosphere became calm as the words flowed naturally giving a comprehensive pic- ture of what Subud is. When we broke off, there were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the Bible in Subud?’, ‘How does one spread Subud and give expla- nations about it when you hardly have any experience?, ‘How do you explain Subud to the priest in our church?’, ‘Is there a danger that Subud will be thought of as a cult?’ We proceeded to give explanations with sincerity and openness to give re-assurance. Roland and Musa Ittiso had previously received from the IHs some explanations about Subud and they had already read some literature on the internet prior to our arrival. By the afternoon, many were ready to be opened. Roland, our host had a particularly powerful receiving, PAGE 1 MARCH 2009 A Fertile Soil International Helpers Hamidah Jelman, Heloise Jackson, Jorge Guerin and Andrew Holloway report on their visit to Tanzania in December 2008… We made our way towards the baggage hall at Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania, on the evening of Wednesday 10th December 2008. The airport was orderly as we proceeded without hassle to retrieve our luggage. We were met by Lateef Dada Bashua, zonal co-ordinator for the African countries. Also there were Captain Musa Ittiso from Kenya, who had been waiting to receive the Subud contact since the 90’s and had agreed to meet us in Tanzania, and of course Roland, our host, who had discovered Subud via the internet a couple of years before and had been in corre- spondence with us ever since. We were led towards a small 10-seater bus and driven to the Mandela Inn hotel, where Roland had reserved some rooms for us. The main road was cov- ered in tarmac at first and we were speeding fairly fast before turning into an unmade road with greenery, flashing by on either side of us. We were steadily climbing, being within proximity of the Kilimanjaro mountain range. The air was cooler and we final- ly arrived in complete darkness, after 2am the next morning. Explanation with Flow Roland introduced us the next day to some 10 people International helpers travel in style in Tanzania Like the fertile volcanic soils of the area, this is a perfect place for the Subud seed to grow SUBUD VOICE ® SUBUDVOICE cont on p2 >

Upload: others

Post on 18-Apr-2020

3 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

including 4 women. At first Roland had placed the chairsand a desk just like at school whilst the ladies were armedwith pens and papers.

We soon re-organised everything and everyone so that wewere now sitting in a circle. We asked our “audience” to justlisten. They soon started to yawn which we viewed withencouragement!

Each one of us IHs, in turn, started to explainwhat Subud was, each following from the otherin his/her explanation so that it flowed from oneto the next as one.

The atmosphere became calm as the wordsflowed naturally giving a comprehensive pic-ture of what Subud is. When we broke off, therewere a few questions and answers such as ‘Whydo men and women not do latihan together?’‘Why is there no book like the Bible in Subud?’,‘How does one spread Subud and give expla-nations about it when you hardly have anyexperience?, ‘How do you explain Subud to the

priest in our church?’, ‘Is there a danger that Subud will bethought of as a cult?’

We proceeded to give explanations with sincerity andopenness to give re-assurance. Roland and Musa Ittiso hadpreviously received from the IHs some explanations aboutSubud and they had already read some literature on theinternet prior to our arrival.

By the afternoon, many were ready to be opened. Roland,our host had a particularly powerful receiving,

PAGE 1

MARCH 2009

A Fertile Soil

International Helpers Hamidah Jelman, Heloise Jackson,Jorge Guerin and Andrew Holloway report on their visit toTanzania in December 2008…

We made our way towards the baggage hall at Kilimanjaroairport, Tanzania, on the evening of Wednesday 10thDecember 2008.

The airport was orderly as we proceeded withouthassle to retrieve our luggage. We were met byLateef Dada Bashua, zonal co-ordinator for theAfrican countries.

Also there were Captain Musa Ittiso from Kenya,who had been waiting to receive the Subudcontact since the 90’s and had agreed to meetus in Tanzania, and of course Roland, our host,who had discovered Subud via the internet acouple of years before and had been in corre-spondence with us ever since.

We were led towards a small 10-seater bus anddriven to the Mandela Inn hotel, where Rolandhad reserved some rooms for us. The main road was cov-ered in tarmac at first and we were speeding fairly fastbefore turning into an unmade road with greenery, flashingby on either side of us.

We were steadily climbing, being within proximity of theKilimanjaro mountain range. The air was cooler and we final-ly arrived in complete darkness, after 2am the next morning.

Explanation with FlowRoland introduced us the next day to some 10 people

International helpers travel in style in Tanzania

Like the fertilevolcanic soils ofthe area, this is aperfect place forthe Subud seed

to grow

SUBUDVOICE®

SUBUDVOICE

cont on p2 >

Page 2: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 2 MAR 09

cont on p3 >

three of the four ladies present were opened. We proceed-ed to give more explanations and more latihans followed.

Over the next few days, no other ladies wished to beopened but a couple more men expressed their wish tobecome Subud members. They were opened and itbecame clear that the men, particularly, were very sincerein their wish to be opened and practice the latihan.

A Pillar in his SocietyThroughout the next few days, Roland introduced us to hisfamily, his work and his church. We realised that he was a pil-lar in his society, trying to set up an orphanage for the 150 or sochildren and youngsters who had lost parents through AIDS.

Many families were touched by this dreadful disease andmany couples ended up raising the children of theirdeceased relatives or neighbours, Roland and his youngwife, Neema, were bringing up five youngsters besides theirown two very young sons.

Roland is a lay preacher and is very involved not only in hischurch, but in the community too. He is a very enterprisingyoung man who has started a sort of ‘micro-credit’ clubcalled Chakarika (which means ‘let’s get busy’, in Swahili),where about 80 people attend once a month.

He also has a smallholding where he grows his own vegeta-bles and his parents have three or four farm animals. He runsa communications workshop where people can do photo-copies, make/copy CDs, send e-mails etc. He also runs asmall sewing workshop making school uniforms etc.

We were invited to attend the church service on Sunday. Itwas very moving with all members of the congregation par-ticipating in songs and prayers. Roland, a pillar of the churchand member of the choir, joined the others to sing God’spraises in a swinging rhythm such as only Africa can produce.

There were several baptisms during the service which lastedtwo hours. Roland led us in front of the congregation wherewe introduced ourselves by just giving our names and wherewe had come from.

As we left the church, we were asked to wait outside whilean auction of everything from clothes to plants was offeredfor sale to produce funds towards the orphanage.

We then visited a small co-operative run by the church:there was a small corn milling workshop run by women, anda small dairy producing yogurt, which was most delicious.

Piling into the back of a small van again, we arrived back atour hotel among much laughter having been shaken to bits,by the numerous potholes in the unmade road.

Emergency HelperWe spent every day doing latihan, giving more explanationsand testing with the new members. The women becameless confident to practice the latihan and we realised that itwas more important for the men to practice the latihan reg-ularly before the women would feel at ease with their ownpractice. Hamidah and Heloise accepted this and did a lati-han on their own many times.

Roland, being such a sincere and dedicated member of hiscommunity was made an emergency helper so he couldsustain and give explanations about Subud to whoeverwished to know what Subud was. The IHs gave him and the

group some literature: Vol. 1 of Bapak’s talks, a helper’shandbook and several other books donated by SPI.

It was an awesome experience to realise how God hadchosen one young person who not only was much respect-ed in his community for his work in his church but who wasalso so very sincere and with very fine qualities. Like the fer-tile volcanic soils of the area this is a perfect place for theSubud seed to grow.

We all felt this visit had been harmonious, very deep and yeteasy. Among the brouhaha of the market days, the con-stant loud music and the general business of the village,God had provided a haven of peace just for us.

The hotel had a spare unfurnished room which the ownershad put at our disposal where we could eat and where themen could do latihan without being disturbed.

Hamidah and Heloise also had a room large enough forthem to do latihan. All this was offered to us without asking.We were in awe at God’s generosity towards our needs andtowards the needs of Subud.

How Was It For Tanzania?At the end of our stay, we tested ‘How was it for this part ofTanzania before Subud had arrived?’ The receiving feltheavy and sad with head bowed towards the ground.

And ‘how was it now, after the openings of those few mem-bers?’ The burden was lighter, heads and arms were higher,turned towards Almighty God.

The 80 people anticipated never materialised, but thosethat were opened were just the right ones to “lift” their com-munity through the practice of Subud.

We are deeply grateful to have been part of such animmense gift that is to bring Subud to a country. Thank youGod, thank you Roland for your kindness and generosity dur-ing our stay and thank you to all the members who havebecome such warm friends. We hope to see you again soon.

With love to all of you, Hamidah and Heloise, Andrew, Jorge.

Andrew Holloway, International Helper, writes…

This is the final edited version of Roland Maanga’s storyfollowing our visit to Tanzania in December. It as a tale ofthe incredible grace of the latihan.

I know that to some rational minds this will just look likecoincidence. However one thing has become increas-ingly clear to me and our team as we travel to the variouscountries within our area, and this is that the hand of Godis in all things if you have eyes to see.

Roland has given us his permission to tell this tale…

IntroductionDuring our visit to Tanzania in December 08 theInternational Helpers met Roland Maanga and several ofhis circle of acquaintances. He and some of the otherswere opened and did latihan and testing with us over thefollowing 6 days.

After we had left, he wrote this account of an experienceof the latihan. It is a remarkable story and

Surrounded by Fire

Page 3: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

a man who was having some drinks in the bar nearthe road.

He asked me to stop and he came straight tome saying, ”Roland, last night, me and threeother men came to your house. We thoughtwe would rob you and sneak away with theelectronics equipment you have in there.

“When we came closer, we found that yourhouse was all surrounded by fire. It was shiningfrom a real far distance, and as we came clos-er we found that it was even giving brighter

light and sound.

“So we thought that God was giving you protection andso we didn’t want to hurt you and steal anything fromyour house. So I am telling you this because we were surethat God who protects you will also show you who wasgoing to steal in your house!

“We are asking for forgiveness and please don’t take anylegal action against us as we promise we will never dorobbery anymore - and let us know what kind of God youworship so we can join you.”

I was speechless and was doing a little latihan in my spiritas I was talking to him. He then brought the other threeguys and they all repented and asked for forgiveness andsaid that they will never ever repeat stealing.

I said nothing but as I was coming home I saw the firethese guys were talking about. It was not real fire and hadnothing magical in it. Remember the tape Derrickdestroyed? He had put the tape around the fence withthe bougainvillia hedge, that goes right round my house.

It was very windy so it was making a funny noiseand when the wind comes it reflects the light of mysecurity lights from my house and shines like glass…that is all!!

Lessons to be LearnedI sat down to think a little while of a few things:

1. If I had punished Derrick the other day, maybe hewould have shown me where the tape was and I wouldhave gone to pick it up and destroyed the security thatGod had given me already in a vision!

2. If at all I was going to be harsh, I would have forgottento even have time for latihan and to ask silence from Godfor my soul and mind.

3. So, God does things in different ways, as He wants, andthere is nothing we can do to change it.

For this reason my dear Hamidah and Heloise, I am wit-nessing that this is a very special sign of a miracle God hasshown me within a few days of doing latihan and I agreewith you 102% that you are lucky to have this experiencefor such a long time. Thanks for coming into my life andbringing these changes.

I am happy that you are home safe and that you like thenew dresses. Neema (Roland’s wife) made them for you andas she has little time, she couldn’t do the right finishing, so ifyou want, and if you have enough time, you can still work onthe finishing. Please pass my greetings to your family.

PAGE 3SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

one which we thought might be of interest tothe members.

Roland is an outstanding young man. He isvery active within the local Lutheran Church,runs a self help group called Chakarika –which means ‘let’s get busy’ in Swahili, has 5young orphans living in his home along withhis wife and two children, runs an internetbusiness, edits video tapes and producesmusic.

Furthermore, his wife and he help run a tailor-ing business, and the family runs a small hold-ing with goats, cows, bananas, coffee and soon. I have edited his text slightly to improve the compre-hension, since Swahili is Roland’s first language. In doingso I have tried not to lose the freshness of his language.

Roland Writes…Dear Hamidah, Dear Heloise, I finally find time to checkand reply to my emails since you left. I have been doinga lot of work catching up since you were here. I amhappy that you liked your visit and it was a great blessingto me and to the rest who were opened.

We met last night and did a lot of talking including whereto meet to do latihan and the time. People are so movedand touched with the latihan and Subud, and it is still mygreat pleasure to share information from the books youleft. God is working in us in a very wonderful way.

I have a wonderful story to tell and I am sure that this is the firstanswer from my latihan practice last Friday. I was away forthe day at my office. I left a video tape of a graduation dayat school for a customer that was waiting for my editing.

I left it in the machine I used to transfer it to the comput-er for editing and left home. My younger child Derrick likesto play videos, recorded on my computer. When I camehome in the evening I found that he had taken the videotape inner roll out of the cassette.

I was very much shocked to see that he had opened the cas-sette in this way, because you know how it is if you have alreadybeen paid for a job and there is no other way you can rewindthe thing which you video-taped, like a party or occasion...

So I decided to go to bed quickly to try to cool down andto think what I should do and what to say to the customerwho had paid me. I was sick down to the stomach! I laiddown for a while and the latihan came into my mind.

“Why don’t I do latihan and let God show me what is theright thing to do?” So I woke up and went into my livingroom, started latihan for about an hour and then went tobed in peace. My heart was very clear and settled.

I slept very well and woke up early too. I wanted to listento music so I said, “Let me switch on the PC and listen tomusic.”

Gosssh! I found that the child had recorded the wholevideo on the computer desk top before he took away thevideo for playing. I was about to punish him last night andnow finally found that it was just a matter of patience.

Surrounded by FireIn the afternoon while I was walking to my office in Mwika, I met •

Roland Maanga had a trulyamazing experience just

after being opened

Page 4: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

The evolutionary process will happen, I believe, regardlessof the normal human state acknowledging it or not, andthere are probably numerous ways in which God is guid-ing the plan.

The latihan, for example, this incredible gift we have beenblessed with, could be compared to one of the keys thatcan unlock the door to the world of complete humanbeings; yet, if we choose to unlock it, and how far weopen it is completely up to each one of us. The choice isours alone and, I dare say, nothing anyone else can do orsay (whether positive or negative) can take that ultimatechoice away from us.

So, what can I choose to do or not?In the latihan, I can choose to open myself in readinessand willingness, with the deepest surrender of which I amcapable. In other words, I can make an intention to allowmyself to be touched by the grace that comes frombeyond my heart and mind, without expectation orimaginings, and with deep humility and absolute trust inwhatever may come. I can choose to do this regularly,with courage and commitment.

Or I can choose not to; or I can choose to doit when it suits my convenience; or I canchoose to do it when I'm in the mood, or havenothing better to do.

I might also choose to go regularly to latihanand make a routine of it, getting into a groovethat feels comfy and safe; or, I might choose tostep fearlessly into the unknown.

As I said, the choice is up to each of us and, asfar as I'm concerned, every choice is perfect-ly fine. I can honestly say that I do not feel I

have to worry about other people's choices, because, atthe end of the day, I trust in the grand divine plan.

What About My Daily Life?So, what about my daily life, my work, my writing, my rela-tionships, the meetings I attend, the gatherings I enjoy?

Well, in a sense, I have the same choice. In this world Ihave been given some excellent tools with which to work,and the different forces to serve me. I choose, however,to acknowledge that I have more than just these tools: Ihave an opportunity to open up a space for the guid-ance that may arise from beyond my heart and mind,giving an added, unexpected and new dimension toeverything I do.

By its nature, I cannot pre-empt it, I cannot imagine orexpect it to be this way or that. At best I may get a senseof something but, until it manifests itself, there is nothing Ican do but continue my work in a state of inner quiet,patience and alertness.

It is, however, fundamental for me to acknowledge thatthis fifth dimension exists, that I can step back from myego, expectations and desires to grant it space, and thatit is in the process of manifesting itself in the world. It is notan exclusivity of Subud. My aspiration, if I can call it that,is to allow a marriage between my normal human selfand the higher force to take place.

I invite any who feel moved to do so, to join me in prepar-ing ourselves for all the activities we will be

WSA Chairlady, Osanna Vaughn, shares her thoughts for 2009…

As 2009 begins and we move towards the World Congressin New Zealand, I would like to share a feeling that hasbeen growing within me. It is a feeling of confidence andabsolute trust that all is unfolding in accordance with adivine plan that is much grander than anything I can con-ceive of.

When I joined Subud at nineteen, I was struck by the con-cept that there is the level of the normal human being(the fourth level enveloping the animal, vegetable andmaterial), and then there is the fifth level of the completehuman being, where the element of inner guidance frombeyond the heart and mind is added to the more practi-cal tools of the normal human being.

In fact, it was the recognition that I could not worshipGod exclusively through the efforts of my heart and mind,that added the final impulse to my joining Subud in thefirst place. Here was, I believed, the missing element.

Two years ago, in Bangalore, I asked IbuRahayu about this fifth level, the Roh Rohani,as Bapak used to call it. She said, “Yes, this iswhat we hope to be touched by during thelatihan,” or so I understood her to say. Then Iasked: and when we meet, when we worktogether? “Yes. It can also be there.”

Her words contained an important messagefor me. While it may be possible, it may notalways be the case that my latihan istouched by this higher force. Obviously, thesame applies for testing (something bothBapak reminded us of continuously, as does Ibu). Thisrecognition puts another spin on the words, “I received...”

Unfortunately, it's not necessarily obvious where my'receiving' is coming from. My rule of thumb then, is toshare what I may feel to the best of my abilities, and trustthat if there is any value to what I say, it will reach whoev-er it needs to reach.

If something I say causes major discord or upset, my ten-dency is to assume that either what I'm saying or how I'msaying it is coming from one of the other forces – not theforce of a complete human being –, or that I am unableto communicate it yet, so the timing simply isn't right.Consequently, I won't try to push the idea through: ratherI'll try and let it go. It is in this spirit that I write now...

An Evolutionary ProcessSo, here is what I want to share in relationship to what I saidin the first paragraph. My sense is that humanity is part ofan evolutionary process that is unfolding according toGod's plan. The evolutionary step that is in front of us is thestep to becoming complete human beings, and, bynature, the outcome of such a step is beyond the scope ofthe previous state to really understand or conceive of.

In other words, I am incapable at this time of conceivingof what it might be like to live as a complete humanbeing, because a whole dimension of that state comesfrom beyond the heart and mind. At best I may be ableto sense something beyond words and ideas.

PAGE 4 SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

cont on p5 >

The Fifth Dimension

My sense is thathumanity is part of an

evolutionaryprocess,

unfolding toGod’s plan

Page 5: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

Subud Melbourne and had notsaid anything to Sophia who wasvice chairlady of Subud Australia. I should not have worried -she waswonderful and understood that itwas a spontaneous gesture. At ournext meeting in Gunnebah inAustralia, she pressed into myhand, her generous donation forMarion's travel expenses.

A Bridge Between UsMy concern was that I had invited a non Subud local fromKalimantan. I was made aware of this after I had invitedhim. The thought that the Dayak community would bewaiting and watching to see if Subud honoured its com-mitment to one of its own, weighed heavily on me. I wasconvinced that this was a bridge between us in RunganSari and the outside community. I was sure it would beblessed and I would get the help I needed.

On returning to Melbourne, I was faced with having toraise funds for bringing Marion over. 'Friends of SusilaDharma' were wonderful. Wherever I went, people woulddonate a little bit here and a little bit there. Renee Goetz,my old buddie, came forward with a large donation fromSusila Dharma. After all this, we suddenly found thatnobody knew where Marion lived. For months we couldnot contact him in Kalimantan.

I was in touch with Mustafa as I felt maybe he could helpus out. Then of course, a miraclehappened. One day, I heardfrom Mustafa. He said that hewent to the bank and suddenlyfound Marion at the same bank!He told him that Australia waswanting to know his address sothat we could send him a spon-sorship letter to come toMelbourne. Sophia Blake wasextremely helpful in sending himan invitation immediately.

Marion was moving house, and itwas another two weeks beforeMustafa could track down hisnew address. Taking matters intohis own hands, Mustafa man-aged to get Marion a visa tocome to Australia. He emailedme a week later to say that hehad bought him tickets onGaruda to come to Melbourne. Iwas really bowled over. All thishappened within two weeks of

our National Congress in January.

Guitar Over His ShoulderWhen Marion arrived in Melbourne with his guitar slungover his shoulder, I could have wept at seeing him actu-ally here in Australia. He told us that he was stopped atImmigration at the airport for an hour, and grilled overwhere he was going to stay, and if he had any contactshere – of course, he had brought nothing with him,except sensibly, the sponsorship letter from SubudAustralia. When he eventually appeared, he found therewas no one to meet him at arrivals. As there were twoexits, he was at one, and our Indonesian

PAGE 5SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

His song wasabout Subud,Bapak and the

events inKalimantan

The Dayak Troubador

carrying out this year and culminating with the WorldCongress, by acknowledging the possibility of creatingthis space for grace to imbue and envelop all we do, asindividuals but also together, and putting our trust in thatgrace while also making the best use possible of our nor-mal working tools.

I pray this new year will be full of blessings for all.

With love, Osanna [email protected] •Rohana Fraval writes from Melbourne, Australia…

In March last year, the World Subud Association and ISCorganised a global Kalimantan Visioning gathering inRungan Sari, our exotic oasis in the desert. Passionate anddedicated members, lovers of Kalimantan, arrived fromall over the world. We had two solid weeks of latihans,testing, meetings and bonding together.

One of the processes put into action was called OpenSpace Technology – a new way of involving each andevery member to voice his or her opinion and not be leftout. It was global participation. As we all sat in a circle,there was no beginning and no end, no leader, but wewere all the same. It was complete and exciting. At theend of this meeting, we formed what is known as theClosing Circle as we had come to the end of our gather-ing.

As part of the closing ceremony,the organisers had invited anIndonesian local KalimantanDayak to sing a farewell song.Strumming the guitar, MarionHendry, the Dayak, gave a rendi-tion which touched all ourhearts. He is a poet and a musi-cian who writes the lyrics and themusic. His song was aboutSubud, Bapak and the events inKalimantan. He thanked the MCprofusely for being given theopportunity to sing in front of thisillustrious crowd of internationalpeople. Whilst he reeled off thenames of the countries that wererepresented, he said that hisdream was to visit Australia.

We were all mesmerised by hissong, and were very touched byhis words. After many weeks oflatihans every morning and every evening, I was in a verysensitive state. My skin tingled and I got up wanting to saysomething. Sahlan, who was across on the other side ofthe circle, rushed up and said "Rohana invite him"! Iwalked quietly to Mustafa, who was the MC and asked ifI could say a few words, as it needed translation.

I found myself spontaneously inviting Marion Hendry toAustralia to participate at the National Australia Congressbeing held in Melbourne 2009. I was quite stunned andshocked at the enormity of what I had done. I was veryaware that everybody present was very touched. I wasalso a little embarrassed that I was only the chairlady of cont on p6 >

Marion Hendry, the Dayak troubadour

Page 6: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

speaking member, Jayadi, was at the other.

Something made Jayadi move to the other end of thepassage, and he found Marion and recognised him from his passport photograph. Marionwas most relieved. He later told us that he was on theverge of calling his travel agent back in Kalimantan to saythat he was very distraught and wanted to return on thenext flight. Jayadi introduced himself and brought himsafely to the congress venue, where I was waiting for him.

Although Jayadi and Frederika had invited Marion to staywith them, I felt it was important for Marion to soak in theatmosphere of congress, and for the people to get toknow him. That night, Marion was introduced to the con-gress gathering. He got his guitar out and sang a coupleof ballads. He thanked Australia for inviting him. He min-gled with the crowd and became his animated self whenwith all the Indonesians with whom he could converse.

Every evening from then on, whenever there was enter-tainment in the marquee, Marion was there either singingor dancing till the wee hours in the morning. It was a joyfor all of us to see how delighted he was to take a bus tripwith the other Subud people into town to do a bit of shop-ping for his family.

Rahaju Morris was extremely kind to keep an eye on himso that he did not squander his money at the famousVictoria Market. Everybody embraced Marion as part ofthe congress crowd, although he was not a Subud mem-ber. Jayadi and Frederika took him home a few nights. Hewas very happy with the Indonesian speaking couple.

Soon it was time for Congress to come to a close. On thelast night of celebrations, Marion was singing, playing hisguitar and dancing away. He once again thankedAustralia for making it possible for his dream to come true.He said he could never ever forget this experience.

I was truly touched by his love of being with all of us. Hesaid he never believed that his dream to visit Australiawould come true. Seeing him playing his guitar and rub-bing shoulders with all the Subud people at congress withsuch ease, was delightful.

At the airport, as Marion was standing in the queue, I was soamazed to hear him talk about his visit to the SubudCongress. When a lady asked him what Subud was, he said"Susila Budhi Dharma" and "Bapak". I somehow feel that this isnot the last we will see of Marion. Maybe some day, anothercountry will invite him to their congress so that he could singto the people and bring Kalimantan to them?

PAGE 6 SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

cont on p7 >

SUBUD LIBRARY WEB SITE The Subud Library contains over a 1,700 talks (manypreviously unpublished), audio tapes, books and arti-cles by Bapak, Ibu Rahayu, and others with transla-tions in English, Indonesian, Spanish, German,Portuguese, French, Russian, and Farsi. The site hasRECENTLY been revamped. by Vernon Contessa whospent a long time re-doing it; for one thing so thatmore videos can be uploaded, and there are alsoother changes..

Go to www.subudlibrary.net •

25TH NIGHT OF RAMADAN Ibu Rahayu's Talk on the 24th September, 2008, at WismaSubud, CilandakRecording 08 CDK 4. Final Translation by Raymond Lee

Copyright (c) 2008 the World Subud Association. All rights reserved.Authorized Translation For Subud Members Only This talk was given for people practising the spiritual exercise known as theSubud Latihan. For those not practising this exercise, reading the followingtalk is not recommended as it could be misunderstood.

Brothers and sisters whom I respect and love, I wish youthe peace and blessings of Almighty God. It does not feellike it, brothers and sisters, but we have fasted for twentyfive, or twenty four days; and praise God, our fast hasgone well and I hope we can complete it.

Brothers and sisters, as in previous years, on the twenty-something nights, in other words the odd-numberednights of the last ten days of Ramadan, we will have atalk. We are holding this event because we know thatthese evenings which we have been longing for, areblessed nights when God bestows God's grace on peo-ple who have fasted. And I pray that we too will share inthe gifts God will bestow on humankind, through our lati-han – the spiritual training of Subud.

Of course, these gifts will not simply fall out of the sky, butGod knows exactly who will receive these gifts and whereto find them. And for us, for Subud members, a gift fromGod is not unfamiliar to us, because we now know andwe have experienced that we are one of God's creatureswho have received a gift from God – the spiritual trainingof Subud.

I say that because, with the latihan, we are taken back toa time long ago, perhaps to the time of the Prophets,when the contact between human beings and the Onewho created them was extremely close. But as the ageswent by, with the march of time, human beings distancedthemselves from what God had given to them as Godhas placed in all God's creatures an essence of life; it isthe essence of Almighty God which manifests in humanbeings.

So, God did not forsake human beings; human beingshave gone far from God. And what led us far from Godare our hearts and minds – we have been preoccupiedby the life forces of this world. But, once someone isopened, they will recall or re-experience that in this lifethere is another life, a life which we have long forgotten.

Because people live life governed by their hearts andminds, they have forgotten about the essence of lifewhich is inside them. This means that, in fact, Subud hasalways existed, but perhaps it is God's will that Subud hasre-emerged in today's modern age – humankind hasbeen reintroduced to the essence of life which is inhuman beings.

Ibu Rahayu

Talk

Page 7: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

PAGE 7SUBUDVOICE

cont on p8 >

MAR 09

As such, brothers and sisters, have no doubts. I know that,even though you have done latihan for years and years,sometimes you still have doubts. When you have a badexperience or face a disappointment, doubts come: isSubud really the way to God?

But, brothers and sisters, while Subud does not always gosmoothly, we have a conviction, which grows and lives ineach of us out of witnessing the real experiences whichwe have received or felt, that unless Subudhad come about by the will of God, it wouldhave been impossible for this contact wehave received, to have spread to all of youand to Subud members everywhere.

This means that Subud is something real – agift given by Almighty God to God's crea-tures. Because Almighty God is all loving,because God feels that all of us, all God'screatures, contain part of God, God doesnot want to see God's creatures forget Godwho created them.

We can read or hear in Bapak's talks howmuch Almighty God loves humankind. Godknew that human beings were one of God'snatures which were weak – they get sick, they suffer, andthey die. What would happen to them if Almighty Goddid not pay specific attention to them?

That being so – as the story goes – to make sure that Godwould not lose contact with any creature God had cre-ated, God placed God's will in every individual humanbeing, as well as in all the other natures of God; not onlyin human beings, but in animals and plants, and so on.

God did that because God realised at that time that ifhuman beings were to return to God they would have topass through all the heavens... if you read Bapak's talks,you would know this. This is why we need to read and lis-ten to Bapak's talks, so that we will understand our path,so that you will not think that Subud is just an illusion, butthat it is a reality with a long history.

The Distance to HeavenIt is told that God created the heavens – seven heavens.Now even an angel travelling from Earth to the seventhheaven takes 50 years. To return to Earth takes another 50years. So an angel's journey to the seventh heaven andback takes 100 years. And so, because it is too far for youto go to get to the throne of God, God placed theessence of God in each of you instead. Even though youhave been told that the essence of God is present in everyhuman being, some people still do not believe in God.

And here is the proof that God is Almighty. Even thoughan angel takes 100 years to make the return journey tothe throne of God, but if God wills, such as when Godsummoned Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, tocome to the throne, the journey took only a few hours –perhaps eight or nine hours. This proves that if God wills, ifGod grants it, even a human being can receive a graceand travel to the throne of God in just a few hours, where-as an angel takes 100 years to make that journey.

And Bapak experienced this too, even though Bapak isnot a prophet. Indeed, it was told that after ProphetMuhammad, peace be upon him, there would not beanother; no more prophets would be sent here. That is a

fact. So, how could Bapak, an ordinary man calledMuhammad Subuh, receive God's grace and make thatjourney, departing after the evening prayers and return-ing to Earth at 4:30 a.m.?

You can read Bapak's account of this in his autobiogra-phy. It was a grace of God. God's grace can bebestowed on anyone at any time and anywhere. Maybesome of you have experienced this too. Well, perhaps

you did not get as far as [the throne of God],but you were given a chance to witness thatwhat we receive in this latihan is real.

This shows that the latihan is not just makingmovements. Well, some of you who havedone latihan for years and years [still say],‘Why do I move like this and what does itmean?' Well, even though this is a gift fromGod which is dependent on God's will, ashuman beings you must still make an effort.

You have been created in this world, whichmeans you have been given a chance toput right and improve your self. Therefore, donot assume that you will still be able to do soover there, in the next world. If you try to do

so in the next world, but you did not make any prepara-tions while you were here, I think you will find it will be toolate.

That is because the movements that you make in latihan,even though they appear pointless, they bring your sens-es to life, so that all your senses and every part of yourbody will be alive. When I say ‘alive’ I refer to what I saidearlier – that in this life there is another life.

Many of you only focus on your outer life, but you ignorethe life inside you. That life inside you is filled by your soul;it is a life which is eternal. You will take that life with you tothe realm which you will occupy forever.

Even if you do latihan for 70 years or even 100 years here, itwill not be enough for what you are going to need there,because there is no death or rest there. Because of that,brothers and sisters, I am going to explain some more aboutthis, as the fact is that many members here and abroad donot understand the point of this spiritual training.

The Point of his Spiritual TrainingAs this spiritual training cannot be studied, and there is noway to teach it, your latihan will develop depending onhow you are. How you are means how you behave, theefforts you make, and your acceptance. That means thatthe one who evaluates those factors is not another per-son, it is God who evaluates them.

Here is a story to illustrate. Of course, this is from a letter amember wrote to me. This member had done latihan forperhaps 20 years. He said, 'When I test, only my handmoves,' but he did not know what that meant. So hebegan to lose confidence in [his receiving], and hethought he was fooling himself.

So I want to tell you why only his hand moved – well, his handwas the only part of him that could move! Perhaps he thoughtthat God would speak to him when he tested, 'You have todo this, you have to do that.' That is not so.

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that what

The nature ofreceiving in

Subud is notlike talking to

God

Page 8: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

from your soul, there are low forces too, which reside inyour heart and mind. Which will you obey?

For that reason, as creatures of God, we can surmountevery problem by calling God's name, so that we will beprotected from anything that could endanger us or leadus astray. You should do that because, while we still dothe latihan in this world, you can get help from others, butlater you will be alone – there will be no one to help you

there. You will be solely responsible for yourlife there.

When You TestTherefore, when you test in the testing ses-sion to come, if it takes place, I urge you tofeel: Is the movement you make genuinelycoming from inside? What I mean is, do notcopy those around you, and do not movefor the sake of moving out of wanting toavoid embarrassment. Do not do that. Thepoint of this testing is for you to find out: AmI touched by the question asked?

So, do not let yourself get to a point whereyou start to think that you are fooling your-self. Well, if you copy those around you, youwill be fooling yourself, and you will end up

full of sadness. You will feel sadness because you will think,'Oh, [I couldn't feel the test] because I am too sinful.' Donot think like that. Testing begins in a small way; it is some-thing you have to get used to doing. That is why we dotesting.

Well, the fact is that testing is not just for testing what is rightfor you or for your personal problems, no. The truth is thattesting is for awakening, for activating your inner feeling.Therefore, have faith in yourself. If you keep thinking, 'Is thisright?' it means you doubt yourself. If you doubt yourself,how will you decide what is right or not? You will keepbouncing back and forth: is it right or not? When you test,just receive what you receive. If it turns out to be wrong, it isokay. It just means that you are not right yet, that you can-not receive it yet. Only God is right, and only God knows.

And do not think, ‘When I test, [my receiving] must beright, the others are wrong.' If you think like that you willcreate problems. Well, take helpers, as an example, rela-tions between helpers. One says he is right, the other sayshe is right, but neither makes any attempt to find a reso-lution. They both hold to what they think is right, and in theend the helpers cannot get along.

Well, if helpers cannot get along, the members will lose con-fidence in them. That has happened everywhere. In truth, itis a great concern that, after more than 50 years of Subud,there is still a lack of cooperation or harmony in helper work.

Well, of course, helper work must be based on together-ness – there is no one to say who is right, or who is correct.In fact, [helpers] are supposed to be an example to themembers. You should have authority, not so that you canget your own way, no. It is so that you will be respected,so that you will be appreciated by the members.

Well, brothers and sisters, as human beings, as creaturesof God, we have two duties. Our first duty is to worshipGod so that we can be guided by the will of God to beable to return to God. But we also have a duty in thisworld to look after ourselves, to be well, to

we receive in a test will be right, because only God holdsthe truth. All you can do is try to get close to the truth. Youmay already be better at that than most people,because you can feel and test.

So, the nature of receiving in Subud is not like talking toGod. Perhaps some of you imagine that is what happens.Someone even asked me, 'Ibu, when you go to Bapak'sgrave, do you talk to Bapak?' 'Of course not,' I said, 'theonly reason I go to Bapak's grave is to pray.'He thought I could talk to Bapak. He thoughtI could talk to God too.

This means, brothers and sisters, that this spir-itual training will not only bring your physicalbody to life, but the whole of you. The wholeof you includes your feelings, your thinking –all of you. Then your thinking will not containjust thoughts from your mind, it will also con-tain the power of God.

That happens because God wants you, asyou are a human being, to turn yourself intoa complete human being. When the timecomes for you to go back, go back as acomplete human being, because God cre-ated you to be a human being.

Why do some people go back without a completehuman nature? The reason is that throughout their lives,they were driven solely by their mind and emotions, bythe low forces which we cannot take with us when wedie. That is because the ability which comes from yourheart and mind, when your heart and mind stop, it stopstoo; you leave it behind in this world. If your soul is not'alive', if it has not 'emerged', if it is incomplete, how areyou going to live in the next world?

You are going to leave your heart and your mind behindin this world. This is why you need to give priority to andhave faith in your soul which hosts the essence of life, theessence of God which God has given to you. The factthat you live in this world means that you have thatessence of God – that is what you will take with you whenyou go home to your place of origin.

And because this spiritual training of Subud is not a teach-ing – you cannot make progress by studying how to do itor by getting help from someone else – you have to put[your latihan] into practice in the way you behave and inyour faith in yourself. So, you do not need a teacher; theTeacher is inside you.

And hopefully, by doing this fast, which is one way for aperson to make an effort, we can improve, or receive agrace from God. Because if we are not prepared, if we donot know how to receive, how can God give something toyou? Suppose God wants to give something to you byplacing it in your hand, but you do not know, 'Where is myhand?' How are you going to receive God's gift?

That is why you need to do latihan; it is so that yoursoul can grow and penetrate every part of you, andthen every part of you will be filled by the essence ofGod. Once you realise that, I am sure that you will nolonger be willing to act wrongly, to do things which goagainst God's will, because every part of you will beguided from within. But when I say you will guided fromwithin, do not make the wrong choices. Inside you, apart

PAGE 8 SUBUDVOICE

cont on p9 >

MAR 09

If your soul isnot ‘alive’, isnot complete,how are you

going to live inthe nextworld?

Page 9: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

THE NATURE OF GUIDANCEThe following extracts are the first of a series which willreplace Rozak Tatebe's remarkable stories, which werepublished in IV over the past few months. The whole book,Subud My Spiritual Journey, is now available at £10 (plusp&p) from Amazon or from SPI. Ilaine Lennard also has afew copies for UK only. Her new phone no: 01242 707701.

What follows in this issue is drawn from a new source –Emmanuel Elliott's book, LATIHAN, published in 1992 butnow out of print. This first selection is by way of a prelude tothe author's account of a profound crisis and a series ofpowerful experiences to be published in future issues of IV.Speaking of this period today, Emmanuel says, "It culminat-ed in a 'knowledge,' an awareness, that has always stayedwith me: a moment-to-moment sense of the illusion andfrailty of being a separate 'self.' In time, this vulnerabilitybegan to give way – I don't know any other way to char-acterise it – to an emerging oneness at the deepest levelwith what reveals Itself within as the Identity we call God, asubtle and delicate transition that continues to this day."

At the time, Ibu Rahayu commented to Emmanuel: “Youbecame a tool of the Power of the One Almighty God,meaning you were able to make use of your power ofobservation which was filled by the Power of God . . . sothat you could be a witness to how great is the Power ofGod and how small we as human beings are."

Both Bapak and Ibu Rahayu have constantly urged us toshare our experiences in Subud, but to share so openly,Emmanuel must have needed much courage.Nevertheless, those of you with a more rational turn ofmind may dismiss what he writes, saying "one has toremember that Emmanuel was for much of the time in cri-sis, so maybe some or all his stories should be discounted".Well – that's up to the reader. – Ed.

Emmanuel writes..For me, and for many other Subud people as well, a cer-tain kind of clear dream became an increasingly mean-ingful way of receiving inner indications and guidance,other than during the latihan itself.

Bapak recognised that many dreams are only a projectionof a person’s ideas and imagination, and that clear receiv-ing dreams are rarely experienced by people whosehearts and minds are still full of thoughts and emotions.

I can only say that through much of my years of follow-ing the latihan, it has been quite commonplace toreceive invaluable counsel in the form of dreams; to beshown in dreams the reality of my own state and that ofother people and situations; and to dream of futureevents either just before or sometimes long before theyoccur. In fact I have been blessed with so

PAGE 9SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

cont on p10>

Inner Voice welcomes stories and letters. Please send to IlainaLennard, NEW E-MAIL [email protected] (Ilaine for the e-mail) can be contacted at her NEWADDRESS: 8 Sissinghurst Grove, Up Hatherley, Cheltenham,Glos. GL51 3FA UK NEW TEL NO: (+44) (0)1242 707 701

I N N E RV O I C E

keep healthy, and to maintain the body that we use.

Even if your soul can do all kinds of things, but if your bodyis sick, you will not be happy. In this world, you need both.So, do not neglect your health. You have to make aneffort – if you get sick, seek treatment. Do not just say, 'IfI'm sick, I'm sick! I am surrendered.' You are not surren-dered – you have given up.

What is Surrender?To say what surrender is – well, there is no way to define it.The attitude of surrender that God expects and your atti-tude of surrender are not the same. The problem is thatwhen you say that you surrender, you are only saying it.But when you face the fact, you try to put it off; you try tonegotiate [with God].

But if for sure, regardless of whether you like it or not, youare surrendered, that is the state of surrender that Godlooks for. If you are in that state of surrender, [a way] willopen up. Your surrender is going to be tested over there.I will not test you, you will be tested there – how far canyou surrender?

This is all, brothers and sisters. I think this is enough fortonight. This is enough, and tomorrow we will have a test-ing session – oh, it is not tomorrow, but the day aftertomorrow – so that all of you, especially the new mem-bers who have never experienced testing, will be able tounderstand and feel, 'Why do I need to do latihan?' In thetesting you will be able to check why for yourself, 'Fancythat, my hand is always moving in latihan, and now it turnsout that in the testing my hand is alive – there is a move-ment inside it.'

And as I said earlier, when it comes to your duty to worshipGod, assuming you want to return to God, follow your soul. Donot try to accelerate or speed up your progress to God byusing anything else, by adding this method or that method. Ifyou do, you will only confuse yourself – really you will!

This is all. I hope my brief talk will help you to be more dili-gent in your latihan. The latihan is not something whichyou are forced to do. You need a willingness, a desire todo latihan. Then, when you do latihan, it will feel like youare feeding your soul. Just see how you feel if you do notdo latihan for a long time; you will feel awful.

Well, you may ask, 'How can Ibu Rahayu give thisadvice?''Well, I can talk because I have been taught how.''Who taught you?''Someone did... my soul taught me.'

Although Bapak said that Subud is a reality, we still have towitness it. We cannot say, 'It's a reality!' and yet we Subudmembers have not witnessed that reality. That would bestrange. No one would believe us. So if you have faults,work to put them right, you have to do it yourself.

For instance, you say to me, 'Please pray for me.' Why areyou asking someone else to pray for you? You have topray for yourself too; you have to activate your soul. If Ipray for you, but you do not make an effort, the prayerwill not be heard.

That's all brothers and sisters. Thank you and may thepeace and blessings of God be with you.

Page 10: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

Many herds have a percentage of troublemak-ers, who are of course well known to the herds-man. Towards these he will be especially cau-tious in view of his extreme vulnerability in thewell of the parlour. In this particular herd, how-ever, there were few such problem cases, andcertainly never amongst the first thirty or so ani-mals. These would make their way eagerly intothe parlour in almost the same order every day,relaxed and looking forward to a good feed.

Dignity V was typical of this easygoing category.On the day in question she was, as usual, in thefirst group to enter the parlour, second only toRosina, the acknowledged leader of the herd.

All seemed normal, and I fed the first four priorto washing their udders, a far from delicate pro-cedure if one was to remove the dirt and mud

picked up from a night in the field. It was also the sort oftask one tended to carry out on automatic pilot and,having attended to Rosina, I reached out casuallytowards Dignity.

My hand was within a few inches of her udder when agreat voice echoed through the parlour, seemingly bothwithin and outside of me: ‘Be careful of this one.’ Strangely,I didn’t think to question the fact of the voice itself. All thatregistered was its strong, commanding quality.

I froze and took a hard look at Dignity. Seeing nothingwrong, I flattened myself against cow number three and,using her body as a shield, reached out and very gentlytouched one of Dignity’s teats. She responded instantlywith the most ferocious kick imaginable, cleaving the airin deadly fashion precisely where my head would havebeen, but for that warning voice.

Subsequent examination revealed a horrible wound tothe far side of the teat I had touched, an injury complete-ly invisible from my position in the well of the parlour, andin a place that in the normal course of events I wouldhave grasped with some vigour.

As it was, her response, even to the gentlest of touches,was such that I would never have survived that kick.

Outer EndeavourI soon discovered that if I followed Bapak’s advice andchannelled my heart and mind towards the things of thisworld, instead of towards spiritual matters, then my lati-han, left to itself, became much lighter and stronger,clearly benefiting from a non-interference of thoughtsand feelings.

At around the age of thirty I began to take Bapak's guid-ance about standing on our own feet very much to heart.From then on I have always been self-employed.

I invariably chose tough start up situations calling for ahigh degree of commitment. I seemed to need a verychallenging life style that made enormous demandsupon my time and resources, leaving me little time foranything else. Typical of these was an early venture intothe wine business, challenging enough for a teetotallerwho knew absolutely nothing about wine.

But, using the telephone I set up wine tastings at homesand businesses all over town. And within a

much convincing personal experience of inner guid-ance manifesting through dreams that I have cometo take the phenomenon somewhat for granted.

Much later in my latihan experience, guidancebegan to manifest itself in the form of visionsbut from relatively early on indications arose inthe form of insight or intuitive knowledge, or asa spontaneous awareness of another’s state. Atypical or uncomfortable instance of the latteroccurred when I opened a colleague’s doorand stepped into his office and almost dou-bled over with a sudden, sharp pain in myabdomen. ‘That’s funny’ he said, ‘I’ve beenhaving excruciating stomach pains all after-noon.’

The function of this inner antenna is not alwaysso seemingly pointless. On one occasion I wasdriving a car crowded with our young family when I sud-denly realised that just ahead was a snarl up caused byan ambulance that had been forced to halt right acrossour path. I had been driving too fast and not paying fullattention. It was too late to brake effectively and I couldsee no way through. A serious accident seemedinevitable, and my mind went blank.

In that instant the latihan took over my whole being. Iwatched in amazement while my hands and feet camealive and juggled with steering wheel, brake and gearchange. I was astonished as, with unerring judgementand an extraordinary delicacy of touch, I piloted ourhurtling vehicle through an unexpected gap in the trafficwith inches to spare. Except that ‘I’ had nothing to dowith it! Years later I asked my eldest daughter if sheremembered the incident. ‘How could I ever forget it?’she laughed. ‘I couldn't believe it when you just took yourhands off the wheel!’

Examples of such interaction between the miraculousand the mundane are legion among Subud members:like the story of a train passenger who was suddenlyimpelled for no discernible reason to vacate her seat andmove to the one behind her. Seconds later a rockcrashed through the window exactly where she had pre-viously been sitting. Although showered with splinters ofglass, she was completely unharmed.

An Inner VoiceReceiving by way of an inner voice seems to be anincreasingly common source of guidance for many peo-ple long established in the latihan. This phenomenon hasbeen a natural and integral part of my own life for so longthat it is perhaps appropriate at this point to recount thestriking circumstances in which my own inner voice firstmade itself heard.

At the time I was working as a herdsman on a dairy farmtaking something of a sabbatical from my usual more com-mercial pursuits. I looked after a Guernsey herd of aboutsixty milkers, and each day began with the chore of puttingmy charges through a 4 x 4 herringbone milking parlour.

A herringbone parlour accommodates an equal number ofcows, in this case four, one each side of the herdsman, whoworks from a central well between them. (This arrangementputs his head at the level of the upper part of the cow’s legsand so allows him easy access to her udder).

PAGE 10 SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

Examples ofinteraction

between themiraculous andthe mundane

are legionamong Subud

members

cont on p11>

Page 11: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

PAGE 11SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

cont on p12>

•The Nitty Gritty of CentralAmerica

arrived on the 20th. Ihad the name of thecontact member, StacySeecharan, who wasopened in 1986 inLondon

He was also living inNew York for a whileand is now living inTrinidad working as alecturer at the Universityof the West Indies.

Since Stacy was notable to pick me up atthe airport he sentLateef Westmaas to doso. It was great meetinghim and we went toStacy’s place where Iwas staying.

Lateef is an Imam whowas opened in 1979 at

the World Congress. He was living outside Trinidad for a whileand is the only helper at Trinidad. There were no meetings atall between the Subud members in Trinidad before MattheusKaslan (International Helper from Suriname) was there.

He opened the way for me and Lateef to meet more Subudmembers in Trinidad. I was very surprised the first evening tomeet with two other members besides Lateef and Stacy.

One of them is Abu Bakr Abdul Haseed who was opened inSuriname in 1982 and the other one was Rasheed Ali,opened in 2006 by Lateef. There is another Subud memberwhom I did not met. He is a Medical Doctor and his name isRienci Moteeram and he joined Subud in 2000.

Since Lateef is an Imam we did the latihan and testing in themosque. The next day I found out that Lateef’s wife is also aSubud member and I asked her to start doing the latihanagain on Tuesday and Thursday at home, while the men aredoing it at the mosque.

JamaicaSo it was the 22nd of October when I left Trinidad on my wayto Jamaica. I arrived at twelve noon at the Manley airportwhich is situated five hours from Joanna Brown’s place.

Joanna was present at the airport with two men one ofwhom was opened by me. About eight o’ clock in theevening we were at Joanna’s place, where I met her hus-band, Keith Brown, who has also been a Subud member for22 years. I started telling Subud stories about Suriname andTrinidad until late at night.

The next day I was invited by Carol (a Subud member) andBarry Riley to stay at their place during the day, and at nightCarol and I shared our experiences.

Before I went to bed that night I did my latihan and askedGod to bless their house. The next day I was again at Joannaand Keith’s and we did the latihan, testing and sharing. Therewere two men probationers for whom Keith and I did theOpening Ceremony on my 60th birthday on the 25th ofOctober . So by now Keith is a candidate helper.

Keith and Joanna prepared a nice birthday dinnerJamaican style for me which was great. During my staying inJamaica, I discussed the latihan space with Keith since wehave added two more members along with

few months I had created a lucrative network of private cus-tomers to whom I would sell large consignments of qualitywines by the case.

Before long I was able to buy a shop with ample livingaccommodation, from which my wife Suzanna ran a retailsales department. Our next move was to lease a warehouseand begin to service the local restaurant trade. By this time Iwas also travelling the country, training others in our modusoperandi and helping to set up similar operations.

My motto had become, ‘Work as if it all depends on you;pray as if it all depends on God.’ Observing the Ramadanfast had also become an increasingly valuable and mean-ingful way of maintaining that balance.

The Ramadan of 1982 was of particular importance for me,developing into something of a personal retreat after a gru-elling eleven years in the direct sales business. Although Icontinued to work during Ramadan, this time I resolved to letgo completely, confident that a new direction would openup for me.

‘When one door closes another opens’ was one of mymother’s favourite expressions. The maxim certainly heldtrue at the end of that Ramadan, when Andrew Bromleyoffered me a partnership in a printing company he hadstarted a few years earlier. The business was doing fine butwas still quite small and needed a sales boost. The offer wasright up my street.

We prospered and within a year we had launched anotherenterprise, an advertising and marketing agency in partner-ship with designer Marcus Bolt, another old friend. Beforelong we had set up a third venture, a typesetting company,joined by yet another old friend, Leonard Hurd. To house ourgrowing group of companies we bought a medium sizedcommercial building.

My own role still encompassed the generation of new busi-ness, but a flair for copy writing, and the more creativeaspects of marketing, had emerged and these aspectsbegan to make more and more demands on my time. EvenSundays were usually given over to brainstorming our clients’advertising campaigns.

By the mid eighties we were making a good living andwere able to contribute financially both to Subud and to afew charities. Moreover, the experience of working close-ly with other Subud members, all subject to our respectivepurification processes, added a valuable new dimensionthat was sometimes beautiful, sometimes difficult, butalways enriching. (To be continued)

Hillary Marica, the men’s Kejiwaan Councillor for Suriname,recently visited countries in the region giving a taste of thenitty-gritty of life there. We have kept the flavour of his colour-ful English…

It is now time to tellFrom October 20th until November 3rd I went on my first K.C.Caribbean Tour, visiting Trinidad, Jamaica and Mexico.

It was my plan to leave Suriname on the night of 18thOctober, but when I arrived at the airport I noticed that I hadleft my passport and ticket at home.

Hihihihi...so I left on the night of 19th October for Trinidad and

Hillary Marica, Kejiwaan Councillor fromSuriname, and Joanna Brown from Jamaica

Page 12: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

VOCATIONAL TRAINING WITH MASTIn 2008, YUM was approached by MAST Industries, oneof the world’s largest contract manufacturers, importers, anddistributors of men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel toLimited Brands, and asked to submit a proposal to them forvocational training.

After reviewing YUM’s proposal, MAST Industries awardedYUM a US$45,000 grant to initiate the vocational training proj-ect. Funding will enable the old TB clinic adjacent to theChildren’s Village, YUM’s orphanage in Cipanas, West Java,to be converted into a training facility to enable youth tolearn valuable skills that will increase their chances of gainingemployment in a highly competitive job market.

Following successful completion of the course, the Children’sVillage residents will also have the opportunity to undertakework experience.

This grant launches an initial 18-month pilot project beginningJuly 2009 for over 100 qualifying youth (minimum agerequired) who reside at the Village as well as a selected num-ber of young people completing their senior year of highschool from outside the community.

In the pilot, MAST and YUM will work closely together to pro-vide work experience and employment opportunities for par-ticipants of the skills training program.

New Relationships with IndustryYUM will also seek to develop new relationships with privateindustry in the fields in which training is to be offered, so as tocreate greater employment pathways for graduates of theprogram. Depending on the success of the pilot program,the project can later be expanded.

In 2007, an independent evaluation of the Children’s Villagesponsored by Susila Dharma International Association andconducted by Daisy MacDonald, recommended that YUMdevelop new programs aimed at assisting Village residentsand YUM-sponsored children from outside the Village, as wellas young people from the nearby community, in the transi-tion from formal education into the workforce.

One of the key issues identified in this evaluation was whathappened to the young people once they had finished theirtime at the Village. At present, once the young people finishat SMU (senior high school) or SMK (vocational trainingschool) they leave the Village in search of work.

This pilot project addresses this issue as it provides youngpeople with:1. Additional training and experience to provide them with acompetitive advantage when seeking employment; and2. Improved pathways between formal educationand the workplace. After consultation with the local schoolsand community, five courses have been

Keith and his son who also is aSubud member.

In the yard of Keith’s house there ishalf a building of about 30m2which they can use as a latihanspace, but it need to be fixed up,and there is another womanSubud member living in Kingston. Idid not meet her in person, due tothe distance between GreatValley, and where I was staying inKingston, but we talked on thephone

MexicoOn the 26th of October I set off on my tour to Mexico.Mariamah Flores (Zone 7 Representative) was not able tomeet me at the airport but her mother did and she offeredfor me to stay at her place.

It was very nice that late night to hear Mariamah singing abirthday song to me because Patrick , the Chair of Suriname,could not keep a secret and he put my birth date at theZone 7 mailboxes.

The next day, I was on the bus to Peublo where I met thePeublo Subud members. It was a very great night for mebecause after latihan, testing and sharing there was a birth-day party again.

I talked a lot with Rasjidah, the woman K.C. of Mexico, andwith Fernando the Chair of Mexico, who is energetic. I alsovisit Tlaxcala and met with the members there.

The last day in Mexico-City, I met with the men K.C.,Sebastiaan, and some other male members. We did a lot oftesting that night and also shared and solved some problemsthey had.

At about two o’clock in the morning I finally met withMariamah and gave her a brief report about my crossingborders activity in Trinidad, Jamaica and Mexico, and lateron the 31st of October at seven o’clock in the morning I tooka plane to Miami and from there I went back to Trinidad.

Trinidad AgainBack in Trinidad I talked to Stacy and Lateef about gettingSubud more organized. They do the latihan in the mosque asa group on Tuesday and Thursday. We did latihan and per-sonal testing and sharing.

On the 1st of November Lateef ask me to visit a Subud mem-ber who is in crisis. His name is Maxwell Marajh and he joinedSubud in 1977. We met him on the street and took him homeand did latihan and testing with him. The next day we did itagain and noticed some change.

He told me that he had been in Suriname and had stayed inRachman and Edme Jatin’s place and helped with the con-struction of the first Subud House in Paramaribo. Oh, it waswonderful for me to hear that.

My feelings were very happy inside me on the 2nd ofNovember when Stacy and Lateef took me to the airport.Stacy is the coordinator of the Subud group in Trinidad andLateef is the men’s helper. There is no woman helper andHamidah is doing her latihan at home. There are two womenprobationers and they need to be opened.

The Follow-upTrinidad and Jamaica need a follow – up because of therevival of Subud in the Caribbean. As a Zone we have to

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 12 MAR 09

News from YUM

cont on p13>

think about this. f it is God’s will I will go back again at the endof February next year.

As a zone we also have to think about the latihan space inJamaica to get them together.

The tour to the Caribbean was really a happy birthday for meand I thank God for that. I also thank you all for your supportas a zone. It really was unity and continuity.

Special thanks to Julia Hurd for her words before I crossed the bor-ders. They really encouraged me. I wish you all in the Zone 7 everyjoy that adds up to the best of good things with Gods will.

The revival of Subud

in the Carribean

Page 13: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

port also in Central Kalimantan, JNCSW for the continuedsupport of our community centre in Aceh, MAST Industries toinitiate a CHECK.

Over the last couple of months YUM has been working onupdating our website so that we can provide more informa-tion to you. As part of this work we have changed our webaddress to www.yumindonesia.org.

Please keep an eye on www.yumindonesia.org over thecoming months for a new look website complete with moreinformation, photos and even video on our projects.

ANOTHER YUM SUCCESS STORYMaking a difference and giving back…the story of EmanSuleiman…

Most alumni from the Children’s Village (“DAA”) now havefamilies and children of their own, and what was learned whilstliving at DAA has played an important part in their success:

Eman Suleiman (nicknamed ‘Komeng’) could be consideredas one DAA’s greatest success stories. Komeng, who spentmore than nine years at DAA, has proven that anyone canmake their dreams come true by really putting their mindsand hearts into it – despite whatever background they maycome from; the sky is the limit!

Komeng’s early life was difficult without the presence of hisparents. Komeng, along with his two sisters (Esih & JujuZubaidah), joined the orphanage many years ago. LittleKomeng was a diligent and hardworking boy, not to mentiona spunky one too.

After graduating from DAA, Komeng experienced his shareof hardship, loss, and bittersweet moments testing his luck inthe “real world” – but thanks to the education and nurturingprovided during his years at DAA he was able to persevereand endure the tough and trying times.

Komeng is now enjoying the fruits of his hard work and, inaddition, is now able to help others in need, including ‘adopt-ing’ several students currently at the Children’s Village.

Komeng now lives comfortably through the successful run-ning of his own business – several cellphone outlets locatedon the strategic ground floor of the ITC Roxy Mas BusinessCenter, in Grogol, West Jakarta.

Through this business Komeng achieved his ‘victory’: inde-pendence, self-reliance, and prosperity. His key to achievinghis goals were simply honesty, perseverance, faith in thehigher power, willingness to go above and beyond, andfocus (keeping your eyes on the prize) – and it is these attrib-utes he is communicating to the children at DAA.

Komeng now employs 20 staff members (4 have beenrecruited from DAA), owns 5 cellphone kiosks, and nets aprofit of more than Rp 20 million (US$2,000) per month.Komeng knows where he is going and remembers where hecame from. Komeng is now ‘giving back’ to the orphanagewho helped make him the man he is today, by acting as adonor who is willing to share what he has earned & learnedwith his ‘extended family’ – the children & staff of theChildren’s Village.

These and many other inspiring stories are to be found in theYUM Newsletter published twice yearly by: Foundation forNoble Work ‘Yayasan Usaha Mulia’.

To receive the newsletter or for any other enquiries contactInes at [email protected]

identified to be offered: English Club;Basic Computer Skills Short Course; BasicSewing Skills Short Course; AdvancedTourism Services Course to complementthe Tourism Services Course beingoffered through a local high school; andJob Seeking Skills Workshop.

Unemployment is a situation that mil-lions of Indonesians face daily and thecircumstances of those who reside atthe Children’s Village are no different.A recent World Bank study found thatclose to 60 per cent of Indonesians

aged between 18-24 are unemployed. The greatest chal-lenge to gaining employment is a lack of experience and alack of access to employment possibilities. YUM looks forwardto working closely with MAST

RENOVATING THE CHILDREN’S VILLAGEThanks to funding from the Priscilla Hall Memorial Foundation(PHMF), the Children’s Village facilities get much needed repairs.

At the beginning of 2008, on a visit to YUM’s Children’s Villageorphanage (“DAA”), PHMF representative David Adams wasimpressed with the project, and shortly thereafter, PHMF gen-erously agreed to commit US$ 16,000 for needed renovationsto benefit the children’s facilities.

Work began in June and already the boys’ dormitory andone of the girls’ dormitories have been completed. All reno-vations should be completed by end of January 2009.Besides renovations of two dormitories, this funding also cov-ers renovation of the multi-function hall (to be used as libraryand study hall), and the dining room.

The Priscilla Hall Memorial Foundation is pleased to supportthe YUM orphanage – as the Foundation is a tribute to a veryspecial woman who tragically died in an air crash inIndonesia. Priscilla Hall loved children and adored Indonesia,so her family and friends created this fund in honor of her lifeand memory, to benefit disadvantaged children in Indonesia.

The children at our orphanage feel extremely happybecause they are now sleeping in neater and fresher bed-rooms, using computers in a more spacious room, and relax-ing in a TV lounge that is more comfortable to be in – all ofwhich makes a healthier environment for the children.

With the improved condition of the dining room and thestudy hall, the children are more keen and eager to learn,especially with the now available music area.

Once again, we thank the Priscilla Hall Memorial Foundationfor their generosity which will benefit the kids and the sur-rounding community for years to come.

COMPOSTING MACHINE Thanks to excellent relations between the Children’sVillage (“DAA”) and Cianjur local government, DAAwas recently given an organic wastedecomposer/defiler to assist with composting process-es. DAA is currently implementing a WasteManagement program together with an OrganicFarming & Plantation project, and composting is a keycomponent to the success of both programs.

NEW ONLINE HOME!Olivia Reksodipoetro, Chair of YUM, writes…

2008 was a very good year for YUM thanks to fundingreceived from Germany for our Malaria Control Project inCentral Kalimantan, Barclays Corporate for educational sup-

PAGE 13SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

Komeng is nowgiving back tothe orphanage

that helpedmake him the

man he is today

Page 14: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

Garrett Thomson, ISC Chair, writes on behalf of Simon andAdiela Rivas, Calle 35-21-22, Calarca, Quindio, Colombia…

In 1991, when Amanecer was starting, Subud members fromaround Colombia used to sleep on the floor of the house of Simonand Adiela Rivas, some 40 minutes from Amanecer. I rememberthe house being full of persons sleeping in every corner.

Eight years later, in 1999, the earthquake that shook theregion destroyed the house. In all this time, Simon andAdiela have been living in other people's houses, for a whilein Amanecer, and now in a sister's apartment in Armenia[about half hour from Amanecer].

For some reason, when there was an international collectionto help Subud members in need after the earthquake,Simon and Adiela were left out. In 2008, however, $1.5 mil-lion pesos (roughly USD 900) were collected in Cali andArmenia to help with the rebuilding of their house.

With this money and other funds, they were able to com-plete the outside or front of the house. They were also ableto buy some materials and they have built the columns forthe house with metal rods to reinforce them against furtherearthquakes.

Previously the house had two floors, but now the couple isplanning only to complete one floor.

The reconstruction of the house will cost approximately $10millions, which is roughly USD $6,500. Materials: bricks,cement, gravel, sand, electric cords, water pipes: $7m.Labour: $3m. If you would like to support this family, pleasewould you send an earmarked contribution to the WSA.Contact [email protected] for questions.

HOW TO DONATE TO SIMON AND ADIELA RIVAS FUNDContributions for Simon and Adiela Rivas are most welcomeand can be made by check, online with a credit card, or bywire transfer. Please notify Leonard van Willenswaard, WSAaccountant, of your donation by writing to [email protected]. We thank you in advance.

(1) CHEQUE: Make out cheques to ‘International SubudCommittee’ and earmark the check ‘Rivas Fund’.

On Sunday, January 4th, 2009, an article by Laurence Shorterappeared in the Sunday supplement of The Independent, aUK newspaper, talking about his new book: The Optimist (duein stores on January 22nd).

Cheer up, says Laurence Shorter, it might never...OK, so it ishappening, but is the worst that the world can throw at usreally so bad, after all? He agrees with the original definitionof optimism, coined by Leibniz, that we live in the best possi-ble world.

Some extracts…Collapsing house prices, global recession, environmental dis-aster – have you heard anyone say they feel "optimistic"recently? It would sound vaguely ridiculous, like a nostalgicnotion from some bygone age. It's a word that conjures upthoughts of well-meaning fools – Don Quixote or Candide;though lately it carries darker connotations – images ofboom and bust, dotcom arrogance and worse still, obliviousbankers spending their way to disaster. Optimism! It's hardlythe rallying cry we need to get us through the next century. Or isit, in fact – with a bit of modernisation – exactly what we need?

It was time for a counter-revolution: I decided to write a bookand started talking to real-life optimists. It took three years; Ilost a kilo of hair and came face-to-face with fears and inse-curities I didn't even know I had. But it was worth it.

I did some historical research. Very few people knew theoriginal meaning of the word – which has nothing to do witha bright side, or half-fullness, or clouds with linings. It comesfrom the word "optimum", meaning "the best possible", andwas first coined by Leibniz, the 18th-century philosopher, tosignify the perfection of the universe as it exists. In otherwords, optimism was nothing to do with the future – rather itwas a description of reality now. The world and the universeis already "optimal", it couldn't be any better.

Don't worry, be happy: An optimism manifestoNew optimists see all events as positive, not because theyare bound to turn out well but because everything that hap-pens gives us an opportunity to experience a previouslyrepressed or resisted feeling, the true "silver lining".

It is not events – losing our job, nuclear war, repossession – weare afraid of, but our reactions to them:we're afraid of our own feelings. When weunderstand that, then anything that canhappen to us is OK because it simply allowsus to experience another feeling in our body.

If we don't resist them, feelings have their ownlife cycle – they come and go without doingharm. If we can allow these emotions to arise,no matter how scared we are of them, then

we can be free from fear.

Happiness is a decision. We can have it now, or we can waitfor it to "happen" to us some time in the future when the condi-tions are right. The most successful optimists have all made thesame discovery: we can decide to be happy. And it works.

PAGE 14 SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

cont on p15>

Rivas Appeal

Thank You

““Happinessis a

decision

WORLD CONGRESS ONLINEThe World Congress website where all information about thecongress will be found is now online at:

www.subudworldcongress2010.comWe hope and trust that many will come to Christchurch to joinin the latihans as well as express their ideas and visions for thefuture through workshops, forums and dialogue. Plus IbuRahayu has confirmed her hope to come.

The Camaguey group in Cuba writes…

“We always will be very much obliged to you by your helpand solidarity with our damages for the hurricanes.”

The Camaguey group says “Thank you” for help after the hurricanes

Page 15: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

Mail to: Leonard van WillenswaardP.O. Box 8571 3009 AN Rotterdam Netherlands(2) ONLINE: Using a credit card to donate, visit theMuhammad Subuh Foundation website http://www.msubuh-foundation.org. From the donation page click on“Contributing,” specify in the note area ‘Rivas Fund’ and fol-low the prompts. (3) WIRE TRANSFER: Bank: ABN AMRO Bank Location:Duikerlaan, Capelle-Yssel, Netherlands SWIFT/BIC: ABNANL2AAccount name: World Subud Association; re InternationalSubud Committee (ISC) Account numbers: 42.91.00.418 ($US)42.91.22.993 (GBP) 42.90.15.100 (EURO)These are the IBAN-numbers for the WSA accounts inRotterdam:USD account: NL33ABNA0429100418GBP account: NL56ABNA0429122993 Euro account:NL63ABNA0429015100

PAGE 15SUBUDVOICE MAR 09

ISTIHAROH GLASGOWIstiharoh Glasgow, who was opened fifty years ago onJanuary 17, passed away in Los Angeles on Sunday,January 18th, at 11:20 local time, after her health sudden-ly deteriorated a week earlier. Her passing was peacefuland blessed with the presence of three of her children:Ra’uf, Istimah and Mutahar.

Istiharoh was devoted to Subud (since the World Councilmeeting in Ascot in 2007 she was on the SubudInternational Cultural Association board) and to the non-profit organization that she helped start – MyNeighborhood International. My Neighborhood is a SusilaDharma project with the mission of ‘Empowering YouthThrough the Arts’.

In lieu of flowers, Istiharoh's family encourages donationsto My Neighborhood International so that the work theirmother believed in will flourish. Cheques can be made outto My Neighborhood International and sent to the follow-ing address: My Neighborhood International, c/o MutaharGlasgow, 126 Lomita Drive Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA.

We encourage you to go to the website below, to read Istiharoh’spoetry, to contact her family, to share your comments:www.istiharoh.com

Emmanuel Williams wrote this poem…I slept a while– old man in his chairbook droppedsun below the trees –and in my sleepdreamt you were still alivetelling me you wouldn't gountil we'd talked once more.So talk we didand there it was againthe feeling that you knew methat you took my words, the thoughtsand feelings they expressed, the man I amwith scars and fears, with dreams and joys and tearsand held me in your soul's deep warmthconsidering, accepting me, and loving me."You know me as no other knows me," I told you"And in particular you know the best in meand take but little notice of the rest.I'm still learning how to love like that."

You smiled.Such a smile.

Later, I awoke, and remembered.Cold and dark, the ending of a day.We'll talk again.There will be more to say. •

WORLD CONGRESS PROJECTBring some fabric to WorldCongress…Help create a fabulous WallHanging… And raise money for the“Kalimantan Sewing Project”

This is a fun creative project to enjoyduring Congress. It will also providefunds for the YUM Kalimantan SewingProject (teaching village womensewing skills so they can earn moneyfor their families).

Together we can review the piecesof fabric we have all brought, anddecide on a theme for our ‘wallhanging’…….so try to bring somefabric you love, or which is traditionalin your country. We will also needsequins, braid and other decoration.

The finished work will be auc-tioned at Congress and a

cheque presented to YUM.

This is an initiative of Isti Jenkins. Isti started the sewing projectin Kalimantan and has also organised lots of similar wall-hanging projects at Rungan Sari and at National and WorldCongresses. You can contact Isti at [email protected]

BED AND BREAKFAST REGISTERJoin the Susila Dharma Bed & Breakfast Register and donateto Susila Dharma!

You probably have, many times, had brothers & sisters stay-ing over at your house. How about, next time they come,asking them to make a donation to Susila Dharma for the ‘B& B’ fund?

Subud France and Spain thought up this idea a couple ofyears ago They called it Susila Dharma Bed & Breakfast andvoilà, the Fund is growing!

Hedley & Monica Bennett are now updating the Register.It will be held centrally by a Registrar who will try to connecthost and travellers. Would you like to join? You can eitherput your name down as a host to offer accommodation, orput your name down as a traveller who would like to visit(worldwide!). Why not be host and guest as and when it suitsyou and your family?

Hedley and Monica are offering a ‘Subud in the Dordogne’(France) experience to all our brothers & sisters worldwide.

Come and visit. Come and strengthen our practice. Let ustogether spread the Latihan throughout the Dordogne. And,of course, at the same time, we will together contribute to

CHANGE OF NAMEI would like it to be known that I have changed my name fromRoselind to Myrna Jelman.

Isti Jenkins invites you tojoin her in a fabric designproject at World Congress.Here she is with “The Treeof Life” a previous project.These projects also help vil-lage women in Kalimantan

Susila Dharma B&B Fund. Do join the Register, and hope to seeyou soon! Link to b&b site and forms:http://blog.susiladharma.org/fundraising/sd-bb/ •

To find the corresponding time in your part of the world go towww.timeanddate.com/worldclock

WORLD LATIHAN

A P R I L 4 / 5 0 3 . 0 0 G M T o n t h e 5 t h

M A R C H 0 7 2 0 . 0 0 G M T

Page 16: SV MARCH 09 WEB - Subud Library/SubudVoice/SVOLMar09...were a few questions and answers such as ‘Why do men and women not do latihan together?’ ‘Why is there no book like the

PAGE 16

A d v e r t i s e m e n t s

ARTICLES & PHOTOS:Send to Harris Smart, Editor Subud Voice,

preferably by email to [email protected] or by post to:

22 Holland Ave, Dingley, VIC, 3172, Australia. Tel: + 61 3 95118122

SUBSCRIPTIONS:Bradford Temple, PO Box 311,Dapto, NSW, 2530, Australia

Email: [email protected]: +61 2 42615566

Fax: + 61 2 42621725RATES WORLDWIDE per 12 issues:

Groups AUD$70* (incl mailing)Individuals AUD$80* (incl mailing)

OnLine AUD$50**10% discount for pensioners over 60

PAYMENTS: (Australian Dollars only) preferably by Credit Card – please provideyour name, address, card number, card

expiry date and your signature as on card and fax to the

subscription fax above. International BankDrafts and Money Orders should be madepayable to SUBUD VOICE and sent to the

subscription address above.ADVERTISEMENTS: 50 cents a word.

Minimum charge AUD$15.00. (Third World countries – no charge).

SUBMISSIONS MAY BE EDITED:Submissions to Subud Voice may be

edited for a variety of reasons includingthe need to shorten them or improveexpression. If you do not want your submission to be edited in any way,

please mark it clearly NOT TO BE EDITED.

MUSIC BY SUBUD ARTISTS• Yamba Yamba Orchestra

Rainstorm £11.00• Robert Millard

Piano Recital 2 (Chopin) £11.00• Adrienne Thomas

Speaking In Tongues £11.00• Harlan Cockburn

Ship Without Rudder £11.00• Leonard Paice

The Ashgrove £11.00Prices include postage anywhere.(Credit Card option on website)

DJC Records104 Constitution Hill,

Norwich, NR34 BB UK.

[email protected]

www.djcrecords.co.uk

www.subudvoice.net

SUBUDVOICEis published monthly.

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE:

31 MARCH 2009

B A P A K ’ S T A L K S

VOLUMENN OO WW AA VV AA II LL AA BB LL EEPRICES (Incl p&p) UK £13 • Europe £14

• Other £16

18Pay by UK bank cheque or Credit CardSubud Publications InternationalLoudwater Farm, Loudwater LaneRickmansworthHerts WD3 4HGtel: +44 (0) 1727 762210fax: +44 (0) 1727 858080

e-mail: [email protected]

SS PP II

SubudPublicationsInternational

The opinions expressed in the various articles are thesole responsibility of their authors and can not be seen asrepresenting the opinion of the World Subud Association.

The name Subud ® and the Seven Circles Symbol areregistered marks of the World Subud Association.

MAR 09

NEW! www.subudbooks.net

REMINISCENCES OF BAPAK AND OF MY LIFEArthur Abdullah Pope. Third edition with 20extra pages of text now available from [email protected] or after 1stMarch from Amazon.comAlso Salamah Pope’s book on Bapak’s cosmo-logical ideas, THE PATTERN OF THE WORLD, isnow available from www.amazon.com

ILAINA LOOKING FOR WORKIlaina Lennard, former editor of SUBUDVOICE, is looking for paid work, proof read-ing / editing. Reasonable rates, excellentreferences. NEW TEL NO: (+44) (0)1242 707 701NEW E-MAIL [email protected]

SUBUDVOICE

The Vestavind hostel and activity centerwas founded by Hugo Flem who diedlast year, and his widow Maja took overas manager on a temporary basis. Wenow seek a suitable person or couple torun this Subud enterprise permanently. Itis not a fulltime job, but it is necessary tolive on the premises.

Vestavind is located in beautiful sur-roundings on the west coast of Norway,on Vigra island near Alesund. The localairport is nearby and flight passengersform the basis market for the bed &breakfast hotel, see www.vestavindgjestehus.no

There have been stories aboutVestavind in SWN (www.subudworld-news.com) before and Hugo had a

vision for the activity center to be used forsocial events by e.g. Subud youth groupsin future.

The operation is still in the start-upphase and the manager’s salary willdepend on reaching a sufficientturnover. A modern flat is provided,including utilities, at no cost. Experiencefrom the hospitality business would bepreferable, but we envisage the posi-tion could be suitable for an artist orsomeone working via internet, as sideactivity. Or a retired couple in goodhealth? As practically all Norwegiansunderstand English, the language shouldbe no problem.

For more information send an e-mail [email protected] (board chair).

SUBUD PUBLICATIONS ONLINESubud Publications have established two web-sites for the purchase of Subud books:

www.subudbooks.net This site is dedicated tothe promotion and sale of talks (printed, audio &video) by Bapak and Ibu Rahayu.

www.subudbooks.com This site promotes thesale of other Subud member's writings – com-pilations, memoirs, experiences etc.

If you would like to promote your book on thissite, visit 'Display on this site' for more details.

The main purpose of this website is to provide ashop window for Subud authors with books forsale. Not just for books about Subud, thoughthat is the content of most of the books on thissite at this time, but for all those novels andpoems by authors who also happen to beSubud members.

We then realised that there was also a lot ofSubud talent in the music field and there arequite a few CD's available for purchase. So weadded music to the list. But what about the filmand video makers? I hear you ask. Well OK wehave a slot for them too.

Oh, and also to make a bit of money for SPI byselling or advertising these works. All in the causeof the important aim of SPI which is: to retran-scribe, retranslate, publish and distribute thecomplete writings and recorded talks ofMuhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo.

Please get news of this site out to all the mem-bers you know who have published books, CDsor videos for sale.

Orders for Subud books can also be placed bye-mail, fax, mail:Subud Publications InternationalLoudwater Farm, Loudwater Lane,Rickmansworth, Herts. WD3 4HGe-mail: [email protected]:+44 1727 762210 Fax:+44 1727 858080

MANAGER FOR VESTAVIND PROJECT

MANAGER FOR KALIMANTAN GALLERYI am an American living and working in Jakartafor 40 years. I have my eyes now set onKalimantan and am looking for a Subud mem-ber, also hoping to live/work in Kalimantan,with an entrepreneurial spirit to run a gallery ofIndonesian gemstones, jewelry and antiques(we have a large Dayak i.e. Kalimantan collec-tion), perhaps in Palangkaraya airport. Youshould have business acumen and loveart/antiques/jewelry. I would also like to be intouch with Subud members in these fields —and would also be interested in doing exhibi-tions in upmarket galleries anywhere in theworld. Irwan Williams-Holmes. Email: [email protected]