Meeting the King an account by Sharifruddin Harris of an extraordinary dream experience…

Many years ago, I used to spend a lot of time at John Cooke’s house in the Carmel Highlands, California, where I had been opened and where the group did latihan. I became one of a close-knit circle of members there, who sometimes experimented with Ouija boards. During one of these nights with the Ouija board, the contacted “spirits”, or what we might assume was our own subconscious – started asking us questions. One of these – which was directed to any of us – was “Who will take a message to the King?” I said “I will take the message, what is it?”

The answer was, “You will know when the time is right.”

I forgot all about it till about eleven years later, just after I had married Sulfiati. It was then that I had a very strong clear dream. In this dream I was part of a small village that was suffering from intense poverty and the elders had called a meeting to see if they could find someone willing to take a message to the King, who would surely send help if he knew our predicament. In the dream I was only about eleven years old, but I hollered out that I would take the message to the King. The response was just laughter, and they said that if the men were unwilling to risk the journey  they would not let me try. Then, just as everyone was going off to bed, an elderly grandmother came up to me quietly and said, “It is correct for you to go, so take this pack of supplies that I have prepared for you and leave now so no one will miss you till morning and by then it will be too late to find you.”

As dawn appeared I noticed a wolf watching me, but my fear of being attacked and eaten subsided when I remembered that I had a pack of food, so I opened it and threw some towards him. He came over and ate it, then moved closer to me again. My fear seemed to have vanished and he just lay down next to me. He became my traveling companion and protector and helped us both find food.

After searching for about a week with no clue as to where we might find the King, we came over a hill and were looking into a valley with many campfires. As we met the people gathered at these camps we discovered that they were all looking for the King and no one had a clue as to where to look next. In a few days we were all asked to gather together and were told, “The King knows that you are here and why, so he will be sending a guide to bring you to him.” Everyone was very excited and started making plans as to how they would approach the King with their needs.

On the day the guide arrived I was surprised, yet not surprised, to find that he was Bapak Mohammed Subuh. He made a motion with his hand that we should follow him and just said, “Come.” Then many of us just followed down the path he had taken, while others scurried around to get their belongings or find their family members, or to find someone to take care of their affairs while they were gone.

At the end of the path was a huge wooden building, and Bapak opened the door and said, “Come in.” As I approached the door, I said, “Bapak, there are still many others wanting to come” – but he said, “Don’t worry, they will come on another trip,” and he ushered us all in and shut the door. I realized that we were going to do latihan and then I noticed that the room contained not only men, but women and children as well. Since women do not do latihan together with men, and children don’t do latihan at all, I asked Bapak, “What are we doing?” and he said, “Ya, ya… just surrender.”

Then I understood that this was necessary so I just closed my eyes and tried to surrender all of my concerns.

After a while I heard beautiful music like angels singing and felt compelled to sway and dance to this music. Then I felt moved to begin leaping higher and higher, and I felt like there was diminished gravity. I had to open my eyes to see if others were being affected and I noticed that even Bapak was leaping into the air, like the rest of us. So I asked, “Bapak, what is going on?” and he just said, “Ya, ya, just surrender.” So again, I closed my eyes and tried to give up all my concerns.

As time went on the movements got slower and the singing got quieter, but the intensity of the vibrations got stronger and stronger. Soon I had to open my eyes again and I noticed that the building had disappeared and we were dancing and swaying in a beautiful sunlit meadow with flowers and birds and butterflies, so I turned to Bapak again and asked, “What is going on Bapak?” and again he said, “Ya, ya, just surrender.”

Since I knew him to be a benevolent guide, I closed my eyes again and asked to be free of my concerns. This time the movements almost stopped and the music became very faint, but the intensity of the vibrations became much stronger, and after a while I just had to open my eyes again. I saw then that the earth under us had disappeared and we were suspended in space amongst the stars.

I could feel the presence of those around me doing latihan, but I could not see anyone except for Bapak, so I asked, “What does this mean, what’s happening?” and of course he repeated, “Ya, ya, just surrender.” He is the boss, so again I obeyed.

This time the silence was like thunder and the vibrations were very fine but intense beyond anything experienced by me. Again I felt I must ask Bapak what to do , so I opened my eyes and saw that this time there were no stars, just total blackness. I was scared and looked for Bapak. When I saw him he was as if made of glass, but alive and moving.

I had to ask, “Where are we, how can this be?” And even as I asked I began to understand that I had been given a gift far beyond what I could expect or even imagine. I burst into tears of gratitude and asked for forgiveness. Again Bapak said, “Ya, ya, just surrender.”

Again I tried but everything went blank as if I had passed out. There was just nothing. After a while, I have no idea how long, I started to feel some awareness of where I had been and felt that I was floating back to earth. Then I started to wonder why I had gone on this visit and it occurred to me that I had forgotten to tell the King about my village and its poverty. But before I could finish the thought came that the answer was there; the King knew more about my village than I did and understood its needs completely. So I relaxed and continued to float down until I envisioned myself arriving back at my village and pondering what I would say to them.

But before I could even finish that thought, the answer was there inside me. Their poverty would only last as long as they continued to hold onto it. The dream went on a bit longer. However that was the message I was intended to retrieve, so I will stop here.

Some time later I was visiting Bapak’s grave and was invited, along with busloads of brothers and sisters, to have lunch at Ibu Rahayu’s house nearby. After returning my dishes to the kitchen I noticed that Ibu was sitting alone outside in the middle of her patio and I understood that she was sitting there to be available so that anyone who was moved could feel free to come and speak with her. Knowing that I might never have such an opportunity again, I went over and sat down next to her. I asked her if I might share the vision with her that I have just described. She said “Yes, please tell me.”

As I did so, she would nod to show that she was listening. And when I mentioned the last message – about holding onto poverty – she looked up at me and said “That is right.” Then she thanked me for sharing my vision and I thanked her for listening and we parted and went on with our day. I felt that she had really listened and understood completely.

Reprinted from CONTENTS California – with thanks to the editor, Emmanuel Williams