Guru Ma – The Silat Warrior Princess

In many traditions across the globe, martial arts has a history of being a practice for males. Men were usually the protectors of the village or region, and thus were trained in martial disciplines. History does however have its legendary heroines such as Hua Mulan from the Chinese legends, Nusaybah bint Ka’ab an Islamic female warrior, Joan of Arc who commanded France’s army, and women such as Prudence Cummings Wright, who fought in the American Revolutionary War. 

Pencak Silat has a strong history of female figureheads. One influential woman was a Silat master named Guru Ma Prem. Her full name was Maharishi Ma Prem Shakti Prema Gopi Krishna Divia Ratna, but her students called her Guru Ma. She was a master of her family’s traditional Javanese form of self-defense that has been around since 3000 BC. During this period, Javanese people were known for their advanced agriculture, fishery, astronomy, cloth weaving, batik, gamelan, arts of war and spirituality. The martial arts of this time were extremely sophisticated, subtle and advanced. 

Guru Ma was born in 1936 in West Java, Indonesia and is of Kraton descent with the royal lineage of the Wali Songo, nine religious figures that were influential in the history of Indonesia. Her family trained her in Silat at a very young age as well as the Kejawen way of life. From the early stages of her life, Guru Ma had an unusually deep connection to Mother Earth and nature, and she was known to communicate with animals as a young girl.  She was uniquely well-versed in Javanese Sanskrit as a verbal and written language, which was a huge part of her Kraton education.  Guru Ma’s Pencak Silat was based on this very old language and text.

During the WWII, the Japanese invaded Indonesia between 1942-45 (three and a half years) where Guru Ma witnessed and experienced the brutality that her people endured in her village of Bandung. During this time, she fled to the jungles and entered into a deep meditative state of Samadhi. After disappearing for three years, she returned to her village and was visited by Master Mineto, an Egyptian Essene Master, who opened up the Esoterics to her. He would continue to teach and guide her to find her ultimate purpose in life.

After the Japanese invasion, around 1958, Guru Ma received a mandate to leave Indonesia and flee to Holland. She fled by boat with a baby in her arms. In Holland, she settled along with many other Indonesians who were promised a better life and housing, only to find that they would be confined to tin houses. In these early settling years in Holland, Guru Ma looked after the community, keeping them together and educating them. She kept her unique Javanese culture alive through the arts, teaching the community Pencak Silat, doing stand-up comedy, performing Kembangan, etc.  She also became known as a protector, often using her Silat skills against the aggression of authorities against her people.  

After life in Holland became more settled, Guru Ma opened up a school in Noordsingel, Rotterdam, and was one of the first Silat teachers who taught in Europe.  At her school, she not only taught Pencak Silat to a few selected students, but she also taught and treated people with Ayurvedic medicine and therapy. She also taught philosophy, psychology, yoga, astronomy and numerology. She used her vast knowledge to help and serve the community while also being a full-time mother. Her dedication and commitment of service to humanity was her calling, and she dedicated her whole life to to community service until her last breath.

One of Guru Ma’s most accomplished students is Guru Steve Benitez. He began learning from Guru Ma in 1989. Although Guru Steve was a successful martial artist who won national accolades in his native country of England (winner of the Birmingham Martial Arts Championship), he felt that his martial arts journey was finished with his former teacher, Sifu Gerry Tann. Deep down, he was seeking something deeper in his martial arts journey, so his teacher advised him to do a 7 days rice fast, a practice that was known to help you find your next teacher in Silat. 

It was exactly on the 6^th day of fast, that Steven saw a female warrior in a vision, and was instructed to go to Holland. Without an address or a name, Steve soon made the journey, being prompted at every direction he took.  In the meantime, Guru Ma had already informed her students of his coming, and that she would directly pass on her knowledge of the Pencak Silat to him.

Guru Ma and Steven spent years of training together, with many closed-door lessons where Steve received one-on-one instruction. He persevered through many sleepless nights of training, where often she would teach him through Kejawen Suci, a unique way of teaching unlike any other that he experienced through his previous Silat teachers. Guru Ma would also emphasize that if his Silat did not go into his 24 hour cycle, it would mean nothing and that his training was a waste of time.  This teaching later became a huge influence in Steven’s own practice.

Guru Ma later sent Steven to study in Indonesia with other Silat masters to know and understand their culture and way of life. He spent the next 11 years travelling back and forth to Indonesia, sometimes bringing his wife and young children with him. Steven studied Silek Angin from Pak Rusli, Cimande Silat from Guru Makmur and Minangkabau Silat from Guru Asnan and Pendekar Jumhi. Guru Ma gave Steve the honorary title of Pendekar and they both founded the Satria Fighting Arts and Satria Yoga. Guru Steve has been training this art form for over 30 years and has been teaching full-time since 2003. Guru Steve Benitez, along with his wife, Laarni Benitez have several instructors and hundreds of students around the world.  They have committed their lives to the Silat way of life and to sharing the teachings of Guru Ma. 

Real fighting, as opposed to combat sport, was always Guru Ma’s purpose. She would teach Silat from a practical perspective and train her students to find a natural flow that merges to a harmonious set of dance-like movements called a Kembangan. Every aspect of Guru Ma’s Silat is based on self-defense, but movements can also be applied towards internal healing. Her spiritual teachings are heavily influenced by the Essenic tradition, Kejawan, knowledge of the Numbers and Nature, what she calls “the living book of Nature”. Guru Ma’s taught Pencak Silat through Kejawen Suci, which made it entirely unique.

Guru Ma passed away on the 13^th June 2012, the year she indicated to her students that she would pass.  In 2013, her successor to the Sphinx school, her eldest son, Chris, founded the Pyramide Foundation. Her teachings at this organization revolves around esoteric knowledge with the aim of bringing her students to true love –  love for oneself, fellow man, nature and for God.  

Steven Benitez, remains Head of the Pencak Silat of Guru Ma’s lineage, continuing her legacy of these ancient warrior arts of Indonesia, sharing the art and the knowledge world-wide through seminars and online tuition.  He currently resides in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife and youngest son, Daniel (now a young adult), while their other two children reside in the UK.