(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to share my experience spreading Falun Dafa by narrating our recent visit to India.
One of our Falun Dafa practitioners from Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay, in India) came to our weekly Fa Study and Interaction session on 29 January. She shared with us the situation of Dafa in Mumbai. Recently there has been more awareness and interest in Falun Gong among the public and some schools have showed interest in teaching the practice to the students and teachers. This means several thousand people can obtain the Fa. But this overwhelming demand could not be met with immediately due to the presence of very few practitioners in Mumbai. She expressed the need of help from practitioners outside India, to join the efforts of Indian practitioners.
On hearing this, my family decided to go to Mumbai to help. After my application of annual leave was granted by my company, my husband, son and I left for a 5 day trip to Mumbai . We went first to a Girls' High School in the northern part of Mumbai on 9th and 10th of February to teach the Dafa exercises. The girls in the school were very happy to see us there. The exercise was demonstrated on the stage in their school hall by my husband and son, and I went around correcting their movements. Before the exercise demonstration, our Mumbai practitioner gave instructions and explained what Falun Dafa is and also the exercise movements to the students. The principal and teachers were very co-operative and most of the students were very interested and put in much effort in the learning process. Another practitioner from New Delhi came and joined us on 10th Feb. We interacted and studied the Fa together before going to a park called "Oval Maidan" in the South of Mumbai in the evening to teach some newcomers the exercises, and we clarified the truth to the passers-by.
One day, we went to see the Mayor of Mumbai at her residence. This meeting was made possible by clarifying the truth to a prominent businessman who has contact with the mayor. As the mayor was busy, our meeting with her was brief but effective. We were able to introduce and touch upon the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The Mayor was against the inhuman persecution and said she would lend her support to the introduction of Falun Gong to the public. She would help the local practitioner should the need arise. After the Mayor left for her office, her husband came to see us when he knew that some people from Singapore were at their residence. As such, we also had a brief meeting with him and he mentioned that he would visit an upcoming workshop. He wanted to know if he could contribute to Dafa financially. Our local practitioner told him that we could not accept the aid as our cultivation practice does not allow us to accept donations.
After we left the Mayor's residence, the businessman took us in his car to look for a suitable place for a practice site in the vicinity. On the way we met with a small accident in which none were hurt. As the traffic was heavy and congested, an aggravated motorist turned his head to give an angry stare at a police car that he had avoided earlier. While doing so, the motorist drove straight into the businessman's vehicle and hit his left front tire, causing himself to fly over the car and land on the opposite side. As soon as he landed on the road, he got up immediately - miraculously unscathed - and walked to the police car where they exchanged words with each other. We immediately sent forth righteous thoughts, seeing that it could be interference by the old forces. The dispute was resolved very quickly and we were able to continue with our plans for the rest of the day.
At about 11 one morning, we were at a well known local school where we were met by the founder of the school, a 90 year-old-man, and the principal of the school. Our local practitioners gave a video presentation of Falun Dafa in a lecture hall and we spoke briefly to let them know the purpose of our visit. The presentation about the water crystal experiment caught the staff and students' attention. We subsequently gave a live exercise demonstration, and when it ended, our local practitioners and my family were presented a handkerchief with a young coconut on top of it, which was their traditional custom of honoring someone. Overall, the founder, principal and staff were very appreciative and supportive. Later, the principal expressed the wish that regular classes to teach the exercises to the students could commence from the month of June.
Next, we went to a Technical School which was in close proximity. The facilities in this school were not as good as that in the previous ones. Since we could not make a video presentation, we distributed truth clarifying flyers, gave a verbal presentation, demonstrated the exercises, as well as clarified the truth in a more detailed manner. We were previously unable to talk much about the persecution given the short amount of time allotted. Thus, our worries that we were unable to give as good a presentation in a school with limited facilities were unfounded. In fact, it was the best presentation among all the schools as we not only demonstrated all five sets of exercises, but also spoke on the persecution. The students here also responded well and a few of them even exchanged telephone numbers with our local practitioner and expressed their keen interest in learning Dafa.
The following day, we went to a more prestigious school in Mumbai. We were warmly received by the principal in his office, following which he took us to a lecture room where we introduced Dafa to the students and teachers. The principal showed keen interest in bringing the practice to the school. He suggested conducting a workshop for the students and their parents over a long weekend. He felt that parents should not be left out of this program as he understood the importance of parental influence over the child in cultivating more interest in the practice. We approved of the principal's decision as this would allow more people to obtain Dafa.
In the afternoon, we went to the businessman's house to teach his family and friends Dafa exercises. When we were there, we met a guest of his who was a diamond merchant. We took the opportunity to introduce Dafa to him and with some good words from the businessman, the diamond merchant said that he would read through all the materials given to him. When he came to know that we were introducing Dafa to school children, he said he was the secretary of some clubs and thus, he would also let his club members and friends know about Dafa so that they could also benefit. Master must have arranged for all predestined people here to meet us and help the local practitioner to have suitable opportunities.
Though our trip was generally successful, India's diverse cultures, languages and ancient deep-rooted beliefs have made the task of spreading Dafa and truth clarification rather challenging. Not everyone can speak in their own national languages, i.e. Hindi and English. This poses a severe constraint in communication. We feel that teaching Falun Dafa to school children would benefit not only the young but their teachers and parents as well. Disseminating Dafa through the schools would eventually benefit the whole spectrum of society. However, as India is a big country with a huge population, it needs more practitioners from overseas to assist in teaching Dafa to the schools, institutions and general public to maintain the pace of the current positive momentum. This is to keep up with the keen interest showed by many schools in introducing Dafa in their school curricula and the good response from the general public.
This trip has also been a very enlightening one for my personal cultivation. Seeing how our Mumbai practitioner almost single-handedly introduced Dafa to her city, and after watching the seeds of her perseverance bear fruit after all these years, I learned how crucial it is for us to always have righteous thoughts in all our undertakings and not harbor any stray thoughts. I have also learned the importance of taking things in stride and not getting too attached to them. Though we were informed about this trip quite late, I told myself not to worry about the pile of work that would greet me upon my return and flew to Mumbai with a generally unattached heart. I knew that Master had arranged everything for us as our trip was very smooth and seamless, with everything working like clockwork. When I went to work today (16th Feb), beyond my expectation, my week's worth of work was almost done for me, and I also realized I could make use of my trip to clarify the truth to my colleagues. This reinforced the invaluable lessons learned from my experiences in Mumbai, which I am very grateful for.