Origins

In 1925 in Java, Indonesia, a 24-year-old man named Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo was on an evening walk when he received a series of profound and electrifying spiritual experiences that gave him an inner contact with the spiritual energy from a Higher Power. 

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By the 1930s, he became aware that it was his task to transmit to others this spiritual energy, which he called latihan kejiwaan (or "inner training"). In 1947, he formed Subud as a formal organization. The name comes from three Sanskrit words: Susila,  Budhi and Dharma. Together, they can be read to mean "to nurture good character, guided by inner wisdom, and living in harmony with a higher purpose."

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1956, Bapak (as he became to be called; the word is Indonesian for respected father) was invited to England where many Westerners joined Subud. He was then asked to go to other countries such as the United States and Australia. In this way, Subud spread rapidly around the world.

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Bapak died in 1987 at the age of 86, leaving many talks on tape, video and in print to guide the organization he founded. The contact with the spiritual energy that he first received remains as simple to transmit, and as real and strong to each Subud member, as it has always been.​​