Forwarded by Nathaniel.

From The Experiences of Mas Sudarto Martohudojo

(Page 17) After a visit to Bapak at Semarang, lasting 3 days, I felt a
change in my inner feeling and I could not sleep before 2 o’clock in the
night. I remembered Bapak’s advice: “If you can’t sleep, that is the
sign that your soul wants to exercise.”

(Page 26) When I was still in Jogjakarta, there was a certain period of
time, when the latihan was held in Bapak’s house, and it was after 0.00.
am at night. The members who intended to do the latihan were advised to
do latihan on their own for at least half an hour before entering the
general latihan in order that the general latihan could proceed.
smoothly. This period lasted for more than one year. I followed the
latihan regularly. Usually, it was my turn to do the latihan at about
02.00 a.m. but one time my turn was at 02.30 a.m. so that it finished
exactly just before dawn (meaning the time when the Muslims do their
morning prayer). I began to feel later on that in fact latihan after
2.00 at night gave a different effect from latihan before 12.00
midnight. When I told this to Bapak he gave me the following
explanations: “When we held the latihan before 12.00 midnight, its
pressure is heavier because there are many people who are still awake.
Usually when people have not gone to sleep, they are thinking of this and
that, and every man who is thinking is sending waves of vibrations so
that the atmosphere is filled with all sorts of thoughts, desires and
wills, and such atmosphere is really the cause of the heavy pressure.
That is why those members who hold their latihan at midnight or late at
night can feel more compared to those who do the latihan before 12.00
midnight. “Another advantage of post-twelve o’clock latihan is so as to
get used to not letting our hearts be overcome by sleep. When the Inner
Self is already strong it will be capable of keeping aside these
pressures so that it will no longer depend on time and place. That is
why Bapak regards it as still necessary for all of you to do the latihan
late at night.”

Nathaniel