Monthly Archives: March 2023

Bapak’s Last Talk in Skymont 1970

 

Photos of Bapak and Ibu at Skymont, 1970:

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

My beautiful picture

Below is the last talk Bapak gave in Skymont, Virginia in 1970.  It was sent to me because many of my photos from that event were used in the talk.  It is in the Subud Library so you need to join the library or have an account to view it.  Listening to Bapak’s talks during Ramadan is a rich experience!

https://subudlibrary.net/video/Bapak%20video/video%2056/video_56.HTM

More Info on the Ramadan Fast

Note from Rachman:  I remember Bapak telling us that for Subud members 14 hours of fasting was enough.  He suggested that from around four in the morning till six in the evening was adequate.  Countries around the equator have more consistent times of light and dark than ones farther north.  As Subud members we have the ability to receive for ourselves what is correct for us.
Explanations of the Ramadan Calendar compiled from those given by Bapak, Mas Sudarto and by Mas
Prio.
=================================================
Eve of Ramadan: The way to observe Ramadan is to take a full bath, including hair washing, and also
cutting the hair and the nails, the evening before the fast. Then, after you are clean, to state your wish
to observe Ramadan as a sincere expression of your worship of Almighty God. Then stay up at night,
preferably spending the night together with other Subud brothers and sisters, in the home of a member
who is also observing Ramadan.

(The local mosque can clarify the time to begin and the time for breaking the fast.)

To break the fast, start slowly by drinking warm tea and a light snack; you can eat your dinner about half
an hour or an hour later. Bapak also recommends no sexual union during the whole month of Ramadan.
It is also beneficial to sleep as little as possible during Ramadan, not only on the Nights of Power.
_________________________________________________
Our fasting must also include abstention from the following:
a) We must not use our ears to listen to gossip, quarrels or bad words.
b) We must not use our mouth to say
 anything wrong or unkind.
c) We must not use the emotions to reach the emotions or passions of others.
d) We must not use our eyes in a way that is not good or nice.
e) We must not use the heart and mind to imagine or think about unhappy things, fantasies or unreality.
f) We must not eat or drink or smoke anything between dawn and sunset each day.
_________________________________________________
During the month of Ramadan, we usually fast thirty days, and during the thirty days of fasting we go
through three important periods:
The first ten days:
This is a period of putting the passions in an inactive state. During this period we are made aware that
our passions become weaker and weaker day by day, and on the 10th day of fasting, it is felt that our
passions become completely inactive.
​The second ten days:
This is a period of becoming aware that in general our attitude and actions are guided by our inner-
self and the guidance day by day becomes stronger and stronger and on the 20th day of fasting our actions
are as if in a complete latihan state, but in harmony with our daily activities.
The last ten days:
This is a period of receiving the Lailatul Qodar (the Nights of Power), and this is sent by God on the 21st,
23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th nights of the fast. This Lailatul Qodar is not something that falls from above,
but it forms a certain power which can change our state.
Most of the Subud members who fasted felt, after completing the fast, there were changes to their
inner. Mostly, their spirit to worship God became stronger and also the intention of doing ‘prihatin’
became stronger.
_________________________________________________
TAK-BARAN: (30th day Ramadan):
The last day of fasting. Sundown marks the end of the month.
IDUL-FITRI: (The Night of Forgiveness):
At the end of Ramadan, we again take a full bath and put on new clothes, and then we should go to our
family and our friends and ask forgiveness for whatever sins we have committed against them. This is a

time of special celebration and thanks to Almighty God.

Note from Jim!

1.
New latihan in Kent!  So far it’s only Men, but there’s room in the building for a women’s latihan too if someone wants to represent!
Thursday at 6pm, 115 E Willis St. (Vogel’s Carpet & Flooring building).
2.
Ramadan will begin Thursday March 23rd.  Please see the previous post with Bapak’s advice.

Selamatan in Vancouver, Canada!

Dear Brothers and Sisters

You are invited to a Potluck Salamatan at the Vancouver Subud Hall on March 19th for Susilawati Bryant who passed away earlier this month.  Attendees are asked to bring an item of food together with their memories and stories about Susilawati. Further details are in the attached invitation below.  We need to know the numbers of expected guests so you plan to attend, please RSVP as soon as possible to Melanie at shycreek2@aol.com  

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Melanie Stokes – Subud Vancouver Chair

No Kedjiwaan Day Sunday March 19th

We will NOT have the entire house this coming Sunday March 19th, and no helpers have said anything about a kedjiwaan day event.

Here is what Bapak had to say about Ramadan.

Ramadan begins March 23, according to the Islamic calendar.

Bapak stated that observing Ramadan was very important.
Since I haven’t heard back from helpers except in a general way, here is something from Bapak.

Qadar and Latihan

As Bapak has said before, the power that works in the latihan kedjiwaan is also the Qadar from God, for it is present not because you will it or strive for it but only because you surrender to the One God. Only through surrendering to God are you able to receive even the outer expression, the form, the cover or skin of the Qadar.  At present you receive movement and energy. You make various kinds of movement, but not because you decide to.  That is, so to say, the outer form, the wrapping, the skin. The content is the Qadar of God.  So follow the way of the latihan, which you have received, with patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission. And you also need to practice fasting every year, so that you can receive the content of what you have received in the latihan. Bapak does not say definitely that if you keep the fast you are sure to receive it; no. But the fact is that this fast will make you able to receive it. So it was in Bapak’s own experience. Bapak’s first receiving happened to be in the month of Ramadhan, after twenty days of fasting.  Bapak says it “happened” that way because he did not know why it was so. And Bapak’s receiving stopped on the day of the feast (at the end of Ramadhan.) So after thirty days of fasting, what Bapak had received came to an end, and he later channeled it to other brothers and sisters.  Thus, as Bapak said before, what we call traditions-which are only followed as a matter of custom-have causes which we really should know.  One cannot come to know the inner, the feeling, without receiving the Qadar of God. Thus what we experience in the latihan kedjiwaan just touches the outside, the skin. It does not yet reach the content. The content is what we need, and the content is the Qadar of Almighty God . Plainly, brothers and sisters you are still a long way from this in your latihan kedjiwaan; and you need to go on doing the latihan, because its content-the Qadar-is from Almighty God. So beside doing your latihan faithfully you need also to fast.

Tjilandak 11/71

This is how it is, brothers and sisters, and so it is very useful for people to do this fast. And it really is right to take as an example and it really is right to follow what has been said by those who have received, the people who have been able to receive the Qadar from God.

Well, brothers and sisters, these are the benefits and the results of the fast you have been doing. It does not matter if you have not yet been aware of its benefits or results. For probably the fast you have been doing cannot yet be counted as a hundred per cent fast, but is still just ten per cent or five percent. Thus the Qadar is still slight.

But even so, brothers and sisters, don’t think that if that is all it amounts to, that it would be better not to fast. Don’t be like that. Little by little we add to it. If we add five percent to five per cent, and do that ten times, it comes to fifty per cent. that is and example of how it may be. That may be hoped for.

Brothers and Sisters, the fact of the matter is that development is always going on, and we must have it in us. If a thing lacks development, then it is something that will not change, for this something is characterized by apathy. It is like a stone that is always there, year after year. If it is like that, it means that the course of the era comes to a halt.

So as time goes on, as this century goes by and for the centuries to come, there must always be development, and we must keep pace with it. That is how it is, brothers and sisters; and this building up is no new thing, but is really a necessity for mankind. For God never stops building. If God stops building, there would be no progress. Because of this, brothers and sisters, don’t fall back. We must go forward. We must develop; develop everything needed for our life in this world.

So, clearly then, brothers and sisters, this developing is a quality of the human self, if people will put it into practice and really put their inner feeling to the test. And the way to put it to the test and to put it into practice is, for the people of Islam, the fast.

Thus this fast, brothers and sisters, truly is to test us, truly is to be put into practice, so that we may be able to receive and feel what we ought to do, and also what is that foundation of our inner feeling that is usually called one’s talent. One will not be able to discover one’s talent, or be able to know what it is, if one does not carry out or make any practical test of one’s own self. The way to test one’s self, as Bapak repeats once more, is through the fast.

Like a Rusty Knife

Thus the fast is something important for your lives, for our lives-meaning that prihatin is important for life.  Avoiding the fast, avoiding prihatin means that we are like a knife that we never sharpen, or like clothes that we never wash. It is just like that. Thus after a while the clothes actually smell, smell bad; after a time the knife rusts. Once the clothes smell or the knife is rusty then no-one else, and not even oneself, will want to use them, will want to posses them. This is how it is, brothers and sisters.

Hence many people become irritated and fed up with themselves, and resentful about, for instance, how business is always bad, how the cooking is never any good, how they can never look nice, hard though they try-that sort of thing.

Why is this? Because of what has just been said. They never put themselves to the test, never give their inner feeling any practice. And the way to give the inner feeling practice and to test it is the way Bapak has just been speaking about-through fasting and prihatin.

That is how it is, brothers and sisters; so we already have something like an instinct that we are, as it were, obliged to fast every Ramadhan; and this is a lesson, a reminder, that is not only important but truly useful for our lives.

But, brothers and sisters, as Bapak has just said, don’t then just fast for fasting’s sake, which means you think you are fasting so long as you do not eat or drink-but that you can have a drink if you are thirsty. Don’t do that. The fast must be done properly, even though it is not done, say, for the whole of the thirty days. Yes, it may be for ten days, but it must be a proper fast. Thus if you do fast you will feel it, you will feel it. Bapak will show you a little about this later on, brothers and sisters.

Bapak uses the words puasa (fast) and prihatin (self-denial.) Puasa and prihatin mean the same. Only, to fast every Monday and Thursday by way of prihatin is called a minor prihatin, whereas to fast in the month of Ramadhan is a major prihatin. That means fasting for the whole month, the full thirty days.

The will of God for mankind, as it has been decreed, is that it is enough if people do their prihatin-that is, the fast-for one month in the year. Thus out of the twelve months, one is used for prihatin. That is enough.

So God wills that people should not force themselves by fasting and really doing prihatin all the time, by the seashore or in the mountains or on top of a mountain. It is enough if people fast for one month in the year. Just that.