"BAPAK AND THE COMING OF THE LATIHAN"... II BAPAK'S OPENING...

"BAPAK AND THE COMING OF THE LATIHAN"...  II  BAPAK'S OPENING... (Continued today 7/26/10...):-


When Bapak was a child he already experienced mysterious phenomena, or clairvoyance. Often when Bapak saw people who were quarreling or fighting he felt pain in his body, and later when Bapak had grown up and he wished to see a cinema or a stage performance, he would feel very cold and shiver.


Later, when Bapak grew up, a man suddenly appeared - yet he was not a man, as Bapak knew because it was in the middle of the night, when Bapak was asleep. Bapak was then fifteen years old. And this man awakened Bapak. Bapak awoke and saw someone of middle age or older, dressed all in black, carrying a staff. He said to me, to Bapak: 


"Remember, when you are thirty-two years old, you will be called by Almighty God".


Having said this he disappeared. Bapak could not sleep again after that, because at thirty-two Bapak would still be young. What was the use of studying, what was the use of living here any longer. Why should I trouble myself to study if I would have to die at 32, for according to Bapak's understanding to be called by God meant to die.


But later on Bapak forgot about it and Bapak then worked, and during that period Bapak worked and studied. That means, when Bapak was still young he very much liked to learn and to study. When he was about 18 years old, Bapak started to work for a railway company in Surabaja, and finally he moved to Semarang and worked for the Municipality.


When he was young, Bapak was very fond of going to elderly people, or gurus of spiritual matters, that is, of a spiritual teaching that can bring about nobility in our life after death. 


But these elderly people did not give much and they were, rather, not inclined to give anything to Bapak because they said that Bapak ought not to come to them to be taught, as he would in the end be able to Receive directly from the Grace of Almighty God.


Among the elderly people mentioned above, there was a Kiaji (guru) called Kiaji Abdurrachman, of the village of Jatirogo, in Central Java. His teaching originated from Sunan Ampel, a Wali (a man who has Received the perfect human state) who came from Mekkah. Bapak did not receive very much from Kiaji Abdurrachman. On the contrary, the late Kiaji Abdurrachman often said that Bapak ought not to come to him to be taught, because Bapak would finally be able to Receive directly from Rasul Allah (The Prophet of Allah).


This explanation of the late Kiaji Abdurrachman was heard by his disciples who were present at the time. Therefore, there were quite a number of his pupils who then approached Bapak with the aim of getting whatever Bapak had Received from the Grace of Almighty God. 


Whereas, at that time, Bapak felt that he had not Received anything yet. But fortunately not very long after this, that is in 1930, Bapak was Graced by Almighty God.