(Minghui.org) I’m a practitioner from the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. I’m 62 years old and retired from government service last year.
My wife and I started practicing Falun Dafa in October 2012, and I feel very fortunate. She has been my companion on the cultivation journey, and we introduce Falun Dafa to schools. Throughout these years, I experienced many things on my cultivation path and always felt Master has been guiding and protecting me.
My wife and I started introducing Falun Dafa to schools in August 2015. I felt doing this had an additional benefit: Students take the fliers and materials we give them to their homes. This way, their parents and family members may read them and learn about Falun Dafa, develop positive thoughts, and be saved.
However, it was not always a smooth and easy path. We usually leave home early in the morning and sometimes have to travel long distances. Other times, we had to wait for hours to meet with school officials. We had difficulty meeting school principals, and even after some follow-ups and long waits, we weren’t able to get permission. Through these experiences, we saw our attachment to being impatient and intolerant. We are truly thankful to Master for helping us and giving us these precious opportunities. With Master’s grace, we have introduced Falun Dafa to more than 50 schools to date, along with coaching classes, convents, and hostels.
In “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” a practitioner asked Master about how to help school students in India who were rapidly learning Dafa. Master responded,
“... we find evidence from the path walked thus far that tells just how important Fa study is. A human being is like a container. If he is filled with Fa, he will—this being the Fa of the cosmos—naturally have righteous thoughts and play a positive role. That’s for sure. So there is only one way, and it is to study the Fa more. Don’t turn doing the exercises into a formality and stop at that. Rather, you should guide everyone to study the Fa more. The best thing is to organize students to study the Fa together in different settings, and this would be especially good in India, given the large number of school students.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX)
Over the years, we met many predestined people who expressed their joy after learning the exercises. We also faced hardships and obstacles, which we were able to overcome with Master’s help.
Working on introducing the Fa to various schools also helped me to improve my xinxing and identify many attachments such as resentment, anger, jealousy, lust, seeking fame, guarding my reputation, etc. I also learned how to look within and find my own shortcomings. Now when I look within, I am usually able to identify my problem areas and then start working on getting rid of them. When something goes wrong, it immediately becomes clear to me. I am now able to accept criticism, but I still can’t take it when it comes from my wife. I know I have to improve in this area, and I am working on this.
I would like to remind everyone about the importance of keeping a righteous mindset while doing anything related to truth-clarification. For instance, once my wife and I planned to visit a school. But due to bad weather and rain, I was reluctant to go, while my wife insisted that we must arrive there on time. When we finally arrived, we were not given permission to introduce Dafa. Upon reflection, I realized this happened due to my unrighteous thoughts and our inability to work together. Righteous thoughts and actions are very crucial in keeping our dimensional fields clear and eliminating any interfering elements. Good Fa study is also key. We always read the Fa and send righteous thoughts before we talk to schools.
Master said,
“I’ll put it even more clearly: the cultivation that you are doing in this lifetime is to strengthen the righteous thoughts that your being at the surface has, and that is so that you can save all living beings.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings Vol. XIII)
I still remember the very first school I went to, to introduce Dafa. It was Sainath School in Pragati Nagar, Nagpur, and had roughly 900 students. It was an amazing experience sharing the good news of Dafa with such a large group. The principal and teachers were very pleased with the opportunity to learn about Falun Dafa. The experience also gave me confidence and encouragement to continue.
Below is the summary of some of my most memorable school visits. I would like to thank Master and all my fellow practitioners who made these school sessions possible. I hope my humble sharing will also inspire you to introduce Falun Dafa to schools so students can improve their morals and be better people.
When we first visited New Apostolic High School in Nagpur to seek permission to introduce Falun Dafa, the receptionist told us to wait. After more than an hour, the principal met with us and talked to us for another hour. We discussed the importance of morality in students’ lives. We were allowed to introduce Falun Dafa to the middle and high school students the next day. The session started at 7:30 a.m. and finished at 11:30 a.m.
It was a profound experience. Students were happy to learn the exercises. The principal was moved by the exercise music and said that every musical note resonated deep in her heart. She also told us that the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance were very good. We conducted three sessions in that school that day.
Tathagatha High School in Kotamba is a residential school around 165 kilometres from Nagpur. A practitioner who lives in Kotamba got permission for our visit, which was scheduled for 3 p.m. Nine practitioners planned to go there. On the way there, in Kalamb town, we saw some school students and stopped to give them flyers, as we had time. Then we decided to follow them, which led us to their school. We also distributed flyers to more students there. Afterwards practitioners went to one more school to distribute fliers.
I later encountered another group of students. One of them refused to accept the flyer saying, “It is something Chinese.” I told him the facts and how the Chinese regime persecutes this peaceful practice. He and his friends took the materials after learning the truth. We were also able to visit the Chintamani School and Junior College in Kalamb town. The practitioners got on-the-spot permission from the in-charge teacher because the school principal was not present that day. We immediately had an opportunity to teach the exercises and introduce Dafa.
When we finally reached our destination Tathagata school in Kotamba, they took us to a nearby area with lots of trees. It looked like a small forest, and there were many Buddha statues there. We showed the students the Dafa exercises. They really enjoyed learning them. We returned home around 9 p.m. We are truly thankful to Master for arranging this memorable journey!
The same thing happened with a government tribal hostel in Sindewahi. I took my wife to her hometown. She met a couple of school principals, including the one at the school she once attended. We introduced Dafa at both schools the next day.
We also met some college students in her hometown. They invited us to the boys’ hostel, and we got permission from the caretaker to introduce Falun Dafa there. We felt that the students were waiting for Falun Dafa. They learned the practice so well, and they were calm and serene.
The caretaker also took us to the girls’ hostel, around one kilometre away, to introduce the practice there. We showed them the exercises. It was an amazing experience. The students appeared to truly be waiting for Falun Dafa.
My daughter was appointed a senior resident doctor at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Sewagram. She worked there for 3 months. While we visited her, we decided to introduce Falun Dafa to the residents.
We visited Sunshine School at Sewagram and received permission from the principal to introduce Falun Dafa to the students and staff. The next time we visited our daughter, we scheduled a meeting with the school and taught the exercises to students. The principal, teachers and students were very much moved by Falun Dafa.
While we were there, we visited more nearby schools in Sewagram. We also came across Zilla Parishad School, and the headmistress was impressed by the Falun Dafa practice. It was also an incredible experience as we got the opportunity to demonstrate the exercises there without prior permission. The experience was wonderful.
I studied in a junior college in Bramhapuri, and the Newjabai Hitkarini Girls High School is located nearby. We visited this city before to see my ailing mother-in-law. During that visit, we went to the girls’ school and asked if we could demonstrate the exercises, and the principal also asked us to visit the boys’ school in another location to introduce Falun Dafa. We conducted sessions in both schools. Between them, the girls’ and boys’ schools had around 2,700 students. During the two separate sessions, roughly 2,400 students were present in total. They all learned the exercise very well.
On the way, I also took the opportunity to visit my childhood school, Janta High School, the same day, around 2 p.m. It was truly a great gift from Master to have the opportunity to introduce Falun Dafa to my school.
Since I retired, I have had even more time to tell people about Falun Dafa.
From February 22 to 23, 2022, we visited 25 schools in Nagpur, Chandrapur and Yavatmal district in the Vidarbha region. It was a very enriching experience, and it seemed that people were waiting to hear about Dafa. My daughter married and now lives in Chennai. She and I went to one school, but we were concerned due to the language barrier and also because we felt like outsiders in this South Indian city. We met the director, and he showed keen interest in the practice and gave us permission. He also told us to revisit the school whenever we visited the city. Many students and teachers were impressed by the practice and spoke highly of it.
I wish to do even better on the path ahead and not let our compassionate Master down.
Thank you, Master, for giving me the opportunity to tell people about Falun Dafa.