Yatno Moyo

A human should not satisfied and feel relieved before mastering true knowledge (Kawruh Sejati). Someone holding this truth should always accomplish noble deeds. In fact, it is a heavy duty, because his/her concerns are only the safety and well-beings of the world with all its contents and true perfectness (Kasampurnan sejati)

Yatno means remember; Moyo means bright, (spiritually means brightness of true life, experienced only by those who are in harmonious relation with Gusti) someone with knowledge of truth should always remember what he/she has to do to reach perfect life. What are the noble deeds (langkah kautaman) ? There are 3 kinds: Gentur, Suci and Legawa.

Gentur
A consistent and strong determination wish and deed to do only good things for himself/herself and for others and to be in correct path blessed by Gusti, always worship Gusti with devotion. Usually a person does self-denial for a certain period of time: 3 or 7 or 30 days fasting, less sleep, less food etc. or he/she help others by donating something from time to time. There are indeed very good spiritual exercises, but 'Gentur' is stronger. It has a stronger effect in seeking spiritual goal. Someone with 'Gentur behavior' is determined to reach a noble life (urip luhur)

Suci/Holy
Always worship Gusti sincerely. With no self-interest for herself/himself. All her/his heart, mind, deed are only for nobility.

Legawa

  • To maintain good and correct attitude.
  • To consciously surrender totally, to the wish of Gusti (Pasrah and Sumarah)
  • To avoid evil deeds
  • To help others honestly, does not think of loss and profit and worldly material wealth.

With 'Gentur, Suci, Legawa' the life is noble, the deed is based upon clear thinking and mind. Someone practicing these principles is on the correct path to the truth of life. With consistency and devotion, he/she should be a successful seeker of true knowledge.

Many people have common wishes such as:

  1. To have high position
  2. To be rich
  3. To be famous
  4. To have power
  5. To be superior

The wishes are normal for ordinary people. They would be proud if they could achieve them. But for a seeker of true knowledge, those wishes are obstacles which should deviate the concentration of mind to reach perfect life.

What a determined seeker of true knowledge has to do to at least minimize or suppress the 5 above worldly wishes? What he/she has to do consciously which are considered too burdensome for ordinary people.

  1. Limited food and beverage (cegah dahar)
    He/she should consume a smaller portion of simple food, less of meat. He/she should not choose only delicious food and drink. He/she should eat only when he/she is hungry and should drink when he/she is thirsty.
  2. Less of sleep (cegah sare)
    He/she should sleep when really is sleepy but not too long. Because he/she has to work as a responsible human and has to worship Gusti especially thru samadi. Minimal sleep should be adequate to keep healthy the physical body.
  3. Avoid pleasures (cegah suka)
    Pleasure should drag away a seeker of true life to stop performing noble deed. He/she, in any situation has to help others who are suffering and living in poverty materially and mentally. The help is not necessarily in the form of material or financial donation, it could be thru other efforts such as to find a way-out, advices, spiritual deed etc.
    He/she should always have moral obligation to the needy. How could he/she has a heart to enjoy pleasures, while a lot of life are suffering. He/she should have moral solidarity with them. At least every night he./she has to request Gusti thru sincere praying for justice, well-being and good life to everyone, notably the ones who are suffering. It is called 'Makarti' in spiritual Javanese.
  4. A wish to give-in (niat ngalah)
    He/she should be brave to give in his own interest for the sake of good life of society.
  5. A wish to be patient (niat sabar)
    He/she deliberately has to be always patient.
  6. A wish to give (niat weweh)
    With heart and soul, he/she gives something to the needy.
  7. A wish to help (niat tetulung)
    He/she has to do it sincerely in helping others to solve their problems.
  8. Not greedy for material wealth (ora melikan)
    He/she should not have self-interest.
  9. Avoid praises (ora aleman)
    He/she is doing to fulfill duties, no need to be praised.
  10. Avoid pride (ora Kemlungkung; ora umuk)
    He/she should be always low-profile and polite.

A seeker of true knowledge, practising the above way of life and doing only noble deeds, is a true human of example, who is able to beautify the world, a precious asset to the world and mankind.

Some examples of the teaching implementations are as follow:

  1. Two persons have the same interest to own a same precious property such as land or building etc. Usually they should fight by defeating other to grab the property. The winner should be pleased, while the loser should be sad. In a better case, both reach amicable solution, the property is divided equally, so both of them are happy. It is a good solution for ordinary people. A seeker of true knowledge, he/she should give the whole property to the other person. By doing this, he/she gives a complete satisfaction to the other to be really happy. A seeker of true knowledge is not able to satisfy her/his feeling with material thing. What he/she feels is only noble deed (Roso Kautaman). This is the essence of feeling (Sari Roso)
  2. Helping each other is positive thing.
    A seeker of true knowledge, implementing noble deeds, wish only to help. If he/she helps somebody, he/she does not wish to be reciprocated.
  3. If a person is insulted by somebody, he/she should insult back as a reciprocity, even in more bitter manner. But a human with noble deed, should not reciprocate. He/she should feel right away, has committed some mistakes. He/she should be grateful that somebody has remind him/her to behave in a proper way.
    If he/she is respected by other than he/she should reciprocate with a much bigger respect to other. The same if he/she got a good treatment, got a help or given something by others, he/she should reciprocate more to them. A human who is doing nothing except noble deed with sincerity and consciousness, he/she is a human of high moral quality, the Javanese spiritual terminology is 'ngambar gondo arum' lit. means to spread an aroma of fragrance.
    Her/his concentration of Cipta-forefront of feeling (pamelenging Cipta) is sharp. Her/his 'concentration of Cipta' could be realized. He/she would be loved by others, he/she has a strong cipta (prabawaning cipta)
    From her/him, miracles could grow by permit of Gusti. As if all her/his requests thru cipta should be fulfilled by Gusti, God the Almighty. He/she by practising 'Yatno Moyo' whole-heartedly, is different from many other people.

Suryo S. Negoro