Wisma Subud Jakarta, Indonesia - January 7, 1979

The fact is that Bapak is only a pioneer in Subud. Bapak is not the one with authority. The only one with authority over you and in your lives is God Almighty who can bring you to heaven. And Bapak has set up this dewan of helpers so that gradually they can learn to feel the certainty and the conviction of their own relationship with Almighty God and their own guidance that they receive from Almighty God.

Bapak is here with you now to give you advice and so on. But you have to understand that Bapak is a human being and although now Bapak is fresh and healthy and strong, nevertheless Bapak is a human being like all of us, so that one of these days, after some years, Bapak will no longer be with us. And if by that time we have still not learned to stand on our own feet, how to look after, how to receive for ourselves and how to express in reality what we have received from Almighty God, then Subud will be limited to Bapak's own life span, then Subud will begin and end with Bapak.

But that is not the will of God Almighty. The will of God Almighty is only that Bapak should be a pioneer, that Bapak should bring to us something which will bring us into contact with God's power. And once we have received this, once Bapak has brought us face to face with this, then we can carry it on ourselves.


 So if the helpers can carry out their duties, if the helpers can put into practice what Bapak has told you, then Bapak has received that Subud will last for 800 years, and only after 800 years will there be some change, will it turn in some different direction. This Subud that Bapak has brought will only last that long, provided that during Bapak's lifetime the helpers have begun to feel for themselves the reality of what they have received through the pioneering of Bapak.


So this, brothers and sisters, is the reason why Bapak still takes the trouble to travel around the world, to go on long, long journeys, even though, as you know, Bapak is already an old man: Bapak is in fact 80 years old by the Javanese calendar. So when Bapak goes traveling around the world, Bapak is not doing this for fun, because at that age to travel long distances is a great burden, it is something that causes inconvenience.


But Bapak still goes on because this is Bapak's duty, this is Bapak's responsibility from Almighty God: to explain to us, to warn us, to remind us all the time about the latihan kejiwaan. But you have to remember that one day there will be no-one to remind us. If in the meantime we have not learned to stand on our own feet and to put into practice what we have received then, as Bapak said, Subud will be limited by Bapak's own lifetime.

The above is an extract from: 
http://www.pewarta.us/talks/79cdk1.html