Subud Publications International

Second edition – reprinted 2008
Movements and sounds made by a young baby are not the product of will-power or thought, but spring spontaneously from an inner life. As the baby grows and the heart and mind develop, this life is overlaid, and can be lost. But it can be rediscovered, so that within the fully developed life of a man or a woman this other life can start to flourish, a life within a life.
It was an Indonesian, known as Bapak, who was shown a way in to this other life which he called Subud. This book consists of passages taken from the talks he has delivered over the past twenty-five years in countries all over the world.
This book was written at the suggestion of Muhammad Subuh. It is primarily for Subud members but, in the words of Bapak when giving approval for its publication, ‘If it is read by someone who is not in Subud that does not matter.

1. If you find the book enjoyable and interesting, read on, but not too much at a time: it is a rich diet.
2. If you find yourself becoming perplexed, lay it aside until the perplexity has cleared.
3. If the book irritates you, put it aside for ever – or until you find yourself drawn back to it.

I have no doubt that these talks of Bapak will interest many people outside Subud: those who have had intimations of the existence of a higher power; those who have been followers of a religion but have not found what they hoped for; those who still are regular followers but feel that there must be more in it; those who have tried some of the many spiritual ways that are available and have ended up in what T. S. Eliot, after some years of studying Eastern philosophy and religion, called ‘a state of enlightened mystification’; or even those who have found enlightenment in them; and, I hope, confirmed believers.
I want particularly to draw the attention of certain categories of reader to certain passages, though they may find the occasional word incomprehensible if they have not read the book consecutively:
For all brides and bridegrooms: ‘The Harmonious Marriage’ [page 175].
For husbands and wives: ‘Marriage and the act of love’ [page 179].
For Jews: the passage about Abraham and Isaac [page 135-6].
For Muslims: the chapter on fasting [page 53].
For Jews and Muslims: the account of Muhammad’s ascension and his meeting with the Prophet Abraham [page 132].
For Christians: the talk about the childlike state and the feeding of the five thousand [pages 222-4].
For Buddhists: the extract about the significance of Buddha [page 134].

CONTENTS
The founder of Subud
1 Bapak and the origins of Subud
2 The talks

Aspects of worship in Subud
3 The latihan
4 Testing
5 Fasting
6 Change of name
7 Difficulties and faults

God and the nature of man
8 Concerning God
9 The life forces and the nafsu [passions]
10 Birth and death
11 The chain of ancestry

Relations with other forms of worship
12 Subud and the religions
13 Subud and the cults

Our lives
14 Love, marriage and sex
15 Work and enterprises
16 The organization of Subud
17 The achievable state

How to join Subud