WHO IS BAPAK

                             THE REMARKABLE JOURNEYS OF BAPAK MUHAMMAD SUBUH : BAPAK                                                                                                                                   - by Raymond Lee

In 1957, aged 56, Bapak, boarded a plane for the first time.  Looking down from five thousand feet, he smiled.  Bapak had seen this before.  At Heathrow Airport, seekers of truth awaited.  Among them was John Bennett.  In France in 1918, Bennett was blown off his motorcycle by an exploding shell.  Lying near death in a military hospital, he left his body and floated above the mayhem.  He had been seeking ever since.  Had Bapak really received the Contact with the Creator of All Things? How could Bennett know it was true?  Bapak smiled and answered, “If you really want to know: Stand… Relax…Begin!” 

Bennett’s students had come from around the world to Coomb Springs in England.  ‘Why does our teacher have a teacher?’ they asked.  Bapak passed the Contact to them.  News spread.  Tens, hundreds, thousands came.  He passed the Contact to all who asked for it.  He journeyed for fourteen months passing the Contact to thousands more.

Born on June 22, 1901, Bapak Muhammad Subuh grew up in Kedung Jati, a village set in a teak forest in Java, then under Dutch rule.  As a teenager, he worked for the railroad, and later as a bookkeeper for the Semarang Municipality in Central Java.  But an inner restlessness pushed him to seek the truth of life, and he sought out teachers in remote places.  They told tales of the reality of life.  But none could give him proof.  Despairing of ever knowing, he focused on his work.

It was midnight. Bapak was out walking.  Night turned to day.  A light as bright as the Sun fell on him.  His chest shook like an earthquake.  He rushed home.  He lay down and got ready to die.  His body filled with light.  From the tips of his toes to the ends of his hairs, every organ, every nerve, every cell filled with a radiant light.  An inner force made him stand and perform the motions of his customary prayers.  He had received the Contact.  He was 24.  The next day, he saw the fate of each of his co-workers.  He knew how and when each would die.  Unable to bear it, he rushed home and ate furiously hoping to stop the experiences.  But that night, the inner force made him move in extraordinary ways. 

For a thousand days without sleep, night after night, he moved and danced and sang.  He realized he was being trained.  He had to know the movements and nature of every kind of creature.  It did not stop there; he experienced the characters of each race of people.  And then, of beings beyond the human level.  He experienced a state of receiving spontaneous movements and gestures that do not come from the will or mind.  He called it the latihan – “training” – of the soul.  Those movements bring the soul to life, clean it and complete it as a human soul.  Those movements stem from the great life force that permeates the universe, which connects with the life force present in all things – this is the Contact.

One night in 1933, he was told to get ready.  He lay down expecting to die.  He went on a journey… his soul did.  He went beyond the stars.  Beyond the physical universe, travelling to realms beyond imagining, at speeds beyond comprehension.  It was an experience so real that daily life pales in comparison.  As he returned, he paused to look down on the lights of Semarang.  It was dawn.  He was told that he had to pass the Contact to anyone who asked for it.  To do so, he would journey round the world.  People everywhere would receive him as a father.  But he was also told that he had to wait until after a great war was fought, and Indonesia became independent. 

For twenty-five years he waited.  War came.  The Dutch were ousted by the Japanese, then tried to return.  Bapak took another journey, walking across Java from Semarang to Jogjakarta to escape the hostilities.  Independence came.  Yet still he had no idea how he would carry out his mission. He moved to Jakarta.

Then one day, a letter came.  It was from those seekers, inviting him to England.  From 1957 until 1986, Bapak journeyed to pass on the contact, and explain what it was, and how to use it.  At a gathering of people who had received the Contact in Tokyo in 1967, old foes were reconciled.  Former oppressors sat with the once oppressed.  Once they had the Contact, they were no longer Japanese or American, but human beings.

Where did this Contact come from?  Why did we not have it before?  Bapak told them what he had been told:

The Contact is not new.  It guided the prophets and messengers of all religions.  But now humankind has fought devastating wars and created terrible weapons.  For the first time, humankind has the power to destroy itself. 

With the increasing power of the mind, the rise of materialism, many no longer believe in a Creator.

So, in this age of reality, every human being has a right to know the truth.  Every human being has a right to receive the Contact.  The Contact is the Proof.  Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, Atheist or Agnostic, everyone can experience it.  Anyone who wants to can regain their humanity, and be convinced that there is a Creator.

The message Bapak brought is simple.  We all have two duties.  But there is no need to lead lives of deprivation for the sake of spirituality.  Live and work normally.  Make money, have a family, enjoy life.   But always feel the Contact, and follow it diligently.  Learn to control material things, not be controlled by them.  Then we will not forget our closeness to the Creator.  And when our time comes to leave this world, we - our human soul - will know where to go.

On Bapak’s 86th birthday, in the early hours of the morning, surrounded by family, Bapak asked, “Are there a million members, yet?”   Just before dawn on June 23, 1987, speeding in a sky blue Mercedes through Jakarta’s empty streets, Bapak drew his last breath.

Thirty years have passed.  No one has taken Bapak’s place.  No one will.  Yet the Contact continues to spread just as Bapak first passed it to another human being.  Is it real?  Can anyone experience the Contact with the Creator of All Things?  There is one way to find out:  Stand… Relax… Begin!

 Here is a link to another take on Bapak by Simon Cherpitel, a Subud member photographer: https://subuh.com 

WHAT IS SUBUD

The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, which was said by Muhammad Subuh to represent guidance from "the Power of God" or "the Great Life Force". He claimed that Subud was not a new teaching or religion. He recommended that Subud members practise a religion but left them to make their own choice of religion. Some members have converted to Islam, but others have found their faith in and practice of Christianity and Judaism, for example, have deepened after practising the latihan.[1]

There are now Subud groups in about 83 countries, with a worldwide membership of about 10,000.

"Every person will find for himself or herself the right way towards God, and what might be the right way for one may be completely wrong for another. Therefore, you must discover your own self, and develop your inner self. You must not follow or imitate anyone else."    —Bapak Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo

The founder of Subud, Bapak Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwijojo (Bapak), explained that the latihan is a method of worshipping God that is open to all mankind and whose source is the power of God*.

The practise of the latihan involves the individual voluntarily surrendering to the power of God. This is achieved by the individual quietening themselves by releasing themselves from their thoughts and desires while making an inner intention to surrender to the power of God, which is the source of and within the latihan. Once in such a quiet state, the individual may feel spontaneous vibrations or movements that derive from divine grace. The individual then willingly follows those movements to experience a worship free of thought and desire.

Bapak explained that the movements and vibrations represented the awakening of the inner self or soul of the individual by way of the action of the latihan. Following this awakening, individuals start to become aware of their true selves and their connection with the divine grace, humanity and life in the universe. Over time, individuals may find that this enables them to live their worldly lives more in accordance with their true inner nature and in a way that benefits themself, their families and their community.

Since the latihan is unique to each individual and is guidance by the will of God for that individual, no two peoples’ latihans are the same and there are thus no teachings, rules or requirements in Subud regarding what any individual should receive or how they should move in the latihan.  This is a matter solely between the individual and the power of God which is the active force guiding the latihan.

Beginning and following the latihan is a completely voluntary act and should only be commenced following a conscious and sincere decision by the individual without any pressure from others. Individuals remain inwardly calm and conscious during the latihan and may choose to stop their exercise at any time.

It is acknowledged that the latihan may be difficult to understand or believe in simply by reading or listening to the accounts of those who follow it. The reality of the latihan can only be felt and its significance understood once it has been experienced by the individual.