Why Enterprise

12 Apr Why Enterprise

Learn to stand on our own feet

This is why, Brothers and Sisters, Bapak advises you to do enterprises, so that you can learn to stand on your own feet. You can learn to find your own way, and in your enterprises you will find that truly you can do it, truly you can do your enterprise. When you come to a point where you meet with a difficulty, God’s help will come to you and will show you the way, so that you will be able to solve the problems as you come to them. But if you don’t try, if you don’t make a start, then you will not succeed.[78 MEB 2]

Proof of the latihan in our outer life

That is why, in Subud, to the latihan Bapak has added enterprises. Because, Bapak said, the results of the kejiwaan, of just doing the latihan, are for the next world and you only feel them in the next world, you can’t enjoy them here. They do not fit with what exists in this world . . . Thus Bapak has added enterprises. Because in enterprises you can have results. You can obtain results because, having received the latihan and then doing enterprises, you develop your own talent; and the way this develops, or what guides its development, is the kejiwaan. In enterprises the kejiwaan provides or forms guidance and education. Thereby, through enterprises, the kejiwaan produces results which we can feel – unlike the results which come purely in the kejiwaan which we can’t see outwardly. In this way within 5 or 10 years we are aware of having achieved something in our life. [82 CDK 10]

To learn how to live guided and protected by the latihan

Now why does Bapak need to emphasize or advertise or promote this idea, this concept of enterprise, to you and to all Subud members, something that Bapak has done for a long time? Actually we need to do enterprises in Subud something that has come up repeatedly in our World Congresses – in order that Subud members can begin in their work to stay close to the guidance which they receive from their jiwa; that in their work they do not lose touch with the worship of Almighty God. This is the content of what Bapak means when he talks about enterprises to all of you. Wherever the opportunity and whatever form it may take, whatever you may be doing in your ordinary life, you do not neglect and you do not set aside your worship.

This is something that you have experienced in the latihan kejiwaan. For example, in your latihan kejiwaan you experience that you walk, but that walk is not your normal walk. It is a walk which, if the content of the walking were expressed in words, it would be as if you were saying “Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah.” In other words, the content of that walk is worship of God. As you walk, in the very act of walking, you are praying to Almighty God for His guidance, for His blessing, for His protection. That is the proof; that it is possible to move and it is possible to act at the same time as you worship Almighty God. So in fact, once you are able to experience this, it means that you become aware in your everyday life of the Power of God that envelops you inwardly as well as outwardly . . .

What Bapak means by enterprise, which he mentioned earlier, is an opportunity for you to once again get used to living your life in a way that is constantly in contact with the action and the guidance of God’s Power . . .

The latihan kejiwaan is God’s instruction, God’s teaching for yourself, for your life in this world; in other words, how you must deal with all the things in this world. And in order that you may become aware of this teaching, little by little, Bapak always promotes the idea of enterprises. Because God’s guidance can guide you and everything you do, no matter what form your work takes. Even if you happen to be a film star, when you are on the set, God’s guidance can be there, in the middle of what you do, in your movements, in the way you act . . .

That is our ability to separate the heart, mind, nafsu and our ordinary will from this guidance that comes from within. Bapak frequently tests with you when Bapak asks someone to walk with the heart and mind, walk with the will and then walk not with the will but with the latihan. Of course, many of you who do this test are not able to feel it, but many of you are able to feel it. That is why in order to feel more clearly that separation or that distinction, Bapak always pushes you toward the idea of undertaking enterprises, because that is what Bapak means by enterprises – that in your enterprises, in the work that you do, you make it possible, you set up conditions whereby you can become aware of the interplay between the influence of the nafsu and that of the inner guidance.

So in your enterprise, in your everyday life, what you do is then in line with that guidance. In your everyday life, in your everyday work, you will not do things which harm other people, or which restrict the freedom of other people or in some way infringe on other people’s rights or other people’s freedom and happiness. It is very important that you should not be people who receive the latihan on the one hand, and still go on living lives totally influenced by the nafsu, totally unable to work together, unable to cooperate with others and unable to bring the benefit of your latihan to what you do and to your ordinary life.

If you are truly attentive within yourself, you will be guided towards what is right. You will be shown the way that is right and you will be shown the distinction between what is right and what is wrong. You will be reminded when you forget. Your life will really bear fruit in a way you will like. So brothers and sisters, the reason Bapak encourages you to do enterprises is to train you to always remain close to God’s Power and always to be in touch with God, no matter where you are or what you are doing . . .

Many of you still have a suspicion or still have a prejudice that maybe doing enterprises will somehow restrict or obstruct your receiving of the latihan and the progress and development of your inner self and your inner understanding. Actually, nothing is further from the truth. It is just the other way round . . . [83 LON 3]

So why then do we do business, why then do we engage in commerce in Subud? This is what Bapak says is rather strange: and the reason why is because in Subud we are trained and we are taught to worship God in our everyday life. In other words, we are trained to worship God in the normal state, in the state we are in when we work, when we do our business, and so on. So no matter what it is that we do, in our work, in our everyday life, we are taught to worship God Almighty – and that is the content of Subud. For the farmer who is sowing his land, that is his worship of God. For the architect or for the engineer, when he is building a big building, it’s that that is his worship of God. For the lawyer who is defending a case, that is his worship of God. That means that when he defends his case, when he is working as a lawyer, because that is his worship of God, because he is guided by his jiwa, he will know how not to let the regulations and the laws manipulate him to go wrong. On the contrary, he will know and understand the real content and the essence of the law, so that he can determine the case. He can solve the case in a way that is right, in a way that the result is truly just and truly right, and is not just a manipulation of the law in order to produce a result that is wrong or harmful

Similarly for an architect or a builder. When he builds a building, that is his worship of God, the result of which is that he doesn’t build that building to extort money or to oppress the person who will buy it from him, or the person who will occupy it. On the contrary, he will build it in such a way that it will help and bring happiness to the person who will live in it.

If we own properties, we will not set our rents so as to cause suffering and hardship to the people who will live there – on the contrary, we will strive and work and arrange things in such a way that we can fix the rent at such a level that those who live there will benefit from it; that by living there their lives will improve. Through living in our building, the people who live there will find that things open out for them, that they are able to do more than they were able to do before. So, as their lives develop and they become more and more successful, they will truly remember and praise the owner of their house. Maybe, later, when they are better off, they will come to the owner of the house and say: ‘Why don’t you put the rent up? Isn’t it time that you put the rent up?’ – because they will feel so grateful to him. But the owner of the house, because for him this is the worship of God and he is guided by his jiwa to decide something that is truly correct and just according to God’s will, will say: ‘No, profit is profit, but I have already decided that this is the amount that I am going to take – and for the rest, that is as it should be and this is the rent which I have decided.’

So in everything that we do there will be a balance. When we sell something it will not just benefit the seller, it will also benefit the buyer, so that both the buyer and the seller will be happy and be benefited by what we do. This is the fruit that we can look forward to – the guidance that comes from the jiwa which is always close to the power of God. The result of that, or the direction in which it takes us, is a society which is harmonious, united and prosperous, where people are close to each other and where they take responsibility together for everything that happens. [77 SFO 2]

This, Brothers and Sisters, is why Bapak advises you to do enterprises. Now you shouldn’t misunderstand. By enterprises Bapak doesn’t mean to say that you all have to become traders or businessmen or something like that, or if you happen to be working somewhere that you have then to leave your job and start up on your own in some kind of business. You can continue what you are doing as long as you can bring to it, or fill it with, the influence and guidance of the power of God Almighty – as when you are doing the latihan. So that through your latihan, through doing enterprises, you will be able to do your latihan to receive the guidance of the power of God more often than is laid down by your Subud group. In other words, they have maybe laid down that there are latihans twice or three times a week.

If you do enterprises, you will be able to feel, to receive, latihan more often, to worship God more often than just twice or three times a week. Your everyday activity, your work, will be filled with the Latihan Kejiwaan and you will be able to feel and sense all the time the interplay and the change between being under the influence of the power of God and being under the influence of your own will. You will be able to distinguish, like when Bapak tests with you: ‘How is it when you walk with your own will? How is it when you are made to walk by the power of God?’ And you will feel also when you are writing in your office, the difference between: ‘Now I am writing with my own will – now I am being made to write by the power of God.’ As Bapak just tested with you in the latihan: ‘How is it when you work in an office as a secretary? How is it when you work as a carpenter?’ and so on, so that you understand now that you can receive the guidance of God, you can receive the latihan, not only in your Latihan Kejiwaan that you do twice a week in the Subud hall or wherever it is, but you can receive it during your everyday life. If you can do enterprises and really practice this, it is sure that you will receive more than if you only do your latihan two or three times a week. [Perth, 15 February, 1981]

To support the operation of Subud

The purpose or the aim of enterprises is that from the result or from the profit, or from the material fruits of these enterprises of our work, a portion should also flow to Subud . . . If we always continue to rely on contributions, voluntary contributions from the membership, we will never achieve what we want. We will never have latihan halls of our own. We will never have guest houses where we can put up Subud members who come from a long way to visit us . . . We won’t always have to do like you do now – that you have to rent here, you have to rent there. We will really be able to stand on our own feet. It is the will of God that in regard to what we need for our life in this world we should be able to stand on our own feet and not be dependent on other people. But really stand on our own feet in respect of all things we need . . . It is right that we should stand on our own feet. It is right that we should furnish our own funds with our own work and then do these various things that Bapak has said. That way, if you can really put this idea of enterprises into practice, you will certainly have your own latihan halls, your own guest houses and have something left over for social work and social undertakings. [78 PER 3]

One thing important for Bapak to emphasize is the major responsibility of the organization to foster the setting up of enterprises: Subud people working together to make profitable business enterprises. This is a basic requirement in our brotherhood because if we only rely on voluntary contributions from the membership to fulfil our financial requirements then it will never be sufficient and we’ll never be in a position to do the things that we really need to do. So one of the major responsibilities of the organization is to ensure that we have comfortable sufficiency for everything we need, that we really have more than enough to do these things that we need.

If helpers in their work are really doing their job, they need to travel to visit isolated members who are sick and ask to have latihan done with them in their homes. They have to travel to visit distant groups to give them support and advice. Now you’re all aware of these things. It is not at all correct, or it is completely out of place if we expect these helpers to fund all this effort from their own pockets as a kind of charitable gesture to Subud. It is absolutely necessary that they should at least have their expenses reimbursed and be supported in this work in a financial way by the organization. Money is something that is essential for man in all his activities in this world. You should understand that there is nothing that man can do in this life without money. Money is really a very great strength without which we cannot function at all. So you have to be aware that without enterprises our organization cannot really function. [81 NYC 5]

As time passes the economic pressure we face increases, so it is time for the committee to reawaken enterprises to fund Subud’s activities. It is true that enterprise is hard to do and in the past created trauma in Subud circles. But when are we going to start again? Even if we pray all the time, we will achieve nothing without effort, as it is only then that God will provide the way. [Ibu Siti Rahayu Wiryohudoyo, Pamulang, 14th June 2010, Letter to the USA National Congress]

To create work and opportunities for other Subud members

Therefore, by doing enterprises we will also be able to find a place for our own people, to find a sphere of work for our own people . . . [78 PER 3]

Why should it be necessary to set up large enterprises? It is so that we can provide work for Subud members who have not got work and who do not yet know how to work. It is so that besides finding a place for those of our brothers and sisters who have no work, we shall also guide them to know and understand the way to work and to earn a good living. [72 CPT 2]

It is only through the execution of enterprises, and the setting up of enterprises, that we will be able to put into practice and to achieve the aims and objects which we have adopted in our brotherhood, as an international brotherhood consisting of all nations of the world and all races of the world. That is, to be able to put up something that is in the nature of a humanitarian undertaking . . . in addition to providing fields of work for Subud members who do not yet have any work, or who have not yet found their right way of work. [76 LON 1]

To fund social projects and for the welfare of mankind

I will now set out what is needed to complete my history of the development of the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. Ever since the second International Congress in New York, I have explained the purpose and the necessity for all of you Subud brothers and sisters to carry out enterprises in Subud. It is vital to concern ourselves with this because it has an extremely important connection with our aspirations to carry out social work, for example to build schools, orphanages, handicapped children’s homes, old people’s homes, hospitals and so on.

It is simply not possible to meet the needs for all of this if we just wait for contributions from the membership. So, to be able to fulfil our hopes, we need to carry out enterprises in whatever field we are capable of working in. The contributions needed for our social projects will come from the enterprises that you run. The amount to be set aside for social projects will be at most 25 percent, but not less than 15 percent, of the net profit of an enterprise. These contributions can be distributed according to your own assessment of needs. If worldwide, within the Subud community, there are 30 or 40 groups running enterprises, then the income for social projects will be significant. [taken from ‘In Conclusion’ in Bapak’s Autobiography]

The purpose of such enterprises is that, when you succeed in making a profit, when you become rich through your enterprising, you will then know what to do with your wealth. The purpose of enterprises is not at all to build up great fortunes for your selves. On the contrary, the purpose is to fulfil the needs of society, the needs of those around you, those who need taking care of. [81 SAO 1]

So if you ask ‘what is the use of enterprises for Subud’, the answer is Subud really needs them because we still need to make Subud into an association, into a meeting place, for human beings which will bring welfare to the life of man. We need to create homes for old people who have no families, we need to provide places where children who want to learn but are handicapped can be taught and we still need to create hospitals.

You may say, well, but the state will do that. But isn’t the state the same as ourselves? And therefore, if we can do that, it means that we also join in and also help and assist the state. If in our association we are able to do that in every place then governments will be open to us and we will not meet with any obstacles. Why? Because we have rendered service to society and to the government. This is it, brothers and sisters, why enterprises are extremely important for us as for society in general. Certainly we can do social work but social work which is not supported by resources will get stuck half way. Certainly we are charitable but we have to find the means whereby we can perform charity. Those who must be given help are those who truly need it such as people who are handicapped, old people who have no families, those who are sick, children who have been neglected and so on, they are the ones who have the need and to those we can give. But to give we must have money and the money is the fruit of our work. [83 CDK 4]

Brothers, if you work in an enterprise which arises from the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, you are always close to your receiving, which is beyond the heart and mind. So, if you become rich, your wealth will be of real benefit for your life and for society, and you will prosper. The aim of these enterprises which Bapak advocates is not to get rich at the expense of one’s fellow men. It is to be able really to experience our lives together as human beings, so that the gulf between rich and poor will automatically disappear, and the world’s inhabitants may live together in harmony, and this world may become a holy place, a place where man worships Almighty God. This, essentially, is the use of an enterprise which arises out of the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. It is not for getting rich. The enterprises that have been started in Subud will eventually serve to guarantee human welfare. [83 LON 16]

So mankind can see the proof of Subud and the latihan.

So brothers and sisters, it’s really necessary that you should prepare yourselves now, and really Bapak hopes that you will not avoid this at this point. Prepare yourselves to start doing enterprises, because eventually these enterprises will not be only an example to mankind in a small way, or will not just be something very small or local, but truly your enterprises will be an example to the whole world. And the reason why is because you will become rich, but your wealth will not have been earned by our nafsu, and therefore you will not deal with this in the way that is usual; you will use it for the welfare of those around you, and you will give to those who need it, and you will use it for the welfare of mankind. [76 YYZ 3]

So brothers and sisters, I think it’s clear what Bapak is trying to say, that once you are able to practice this, in other words, to work in the world, to use your heart and mind according to the guidance of God’s power, then it will be possible for people outside Subud, for society in general to begin to understand what Subud is. Because they will see the reality, they will see the evidence of what Subud is in your actions, in the way we run our businesses, in the way we look after other people. They will see that we run our businesses different from what is normal; they will see that in our schools, children who were a bit disturbed have become quiet. So it is easy for people to understand what Subud is. [76 SFO 4]

For the spread of the latihan and the growth of Subud

Brothers and sisters, indeed it is not necessary to tell a lot of stories, in fact, what Bapak is trying to explain to you is simply this: that the situation in the world today is such that the latihan kejiwaan is really needed by mankind because, in seeing the chaos in the world or the power of the nafsu in the world, Bapak has drawn the conclusion that is only the latihan kejiwaan that can bring peace and harmony back to mankind. From this it is clear that the latihan kejiwaan is supposed to spread to the majority of mankind.

The latihan kejiwaan is not just for a small group of people like us. It is really something which is supposed to go beyond just us here. This is why it is really important that we understand our responsibility in this matter. To bring this latihan to mankind in general a lot needs to be done. And what needs to be done requires money. It requires funds and the ability to bring about and to do things that must be done. But this cannot be accomplished unless you are able to carry ‘out Bapak’s advice in relation to enterprises.

It is essential for us to be able to use the funds that we generate through our enterprises for the benefit of humanity beyond Subud . . . It is really essential that we really take this to heart. Bapak would really like us to understand the scope of what we have to do because it is necessary and the Will of God that Subud should not just be the property of a small group of people. It should be possessed by people in general. [81 LAX 3]

Ibu Siti Rahayu

Brothers and sisters of Subud USA and guests to the Congress whom I respect . . .

As time passes the economic pressure we face increases, so it is time for the committee to reawaken enterprises to fund Subud’s activities.

It is true that enterprise is hard to do and in the past created trauma in Subud circles. But when are we going to start again? Even if we pray all the time, we will achieve nothing without effort, as it is only then that God will provide the way.

Ibu Siti Rahayu Wiryohudoyo

Pamulang, 14th June 2010