Spreading Dafa in Bangalore City, India (Part 1)

[Minghui Net] One practitioner friend who returned from India told me: "The spreading of Falun Dafa in India needs the help of English-speaking practitioners." I thought that to function as a Dafa practitioner I should try my best to spread and validate Dafa. Since I can speak English and my vacation was coming up, I felt that I should go. Another practitioner who could only speak a few sentences of English wanted to go with me. Before the departure, all kinds of thoughts (attachments) came into my mind to interfere with my resolve. However, I knew clearly from the bottom of my heart that this interference resulted from my selfishness and that I had to eliminate it. With strong determination we boarded the plane, carrying our Dafa information and materials. At night we arrived at Bangalore City, which is located in the southern part of India and is called "The Silicon Valley of India." The purpose of this trip was to hold three pre-arranged 9-day seminars. One seminar was held early in the morning at the home of one of my Indian friends, while the other two were held at 11:30 am and 5:30 pm in the homes of two new practitioners. The attendees were mainly their neighbors and friends. In the morning seminar, only one old couple came. Although their English was not very good, they were still able to quietly listen to Master Li's lectures in the English translation. They also intently learned the Falun Gong exercises from us. In the other two seminars, there were about forty people in all, mainly housewives and part- time or self-employed people. Most of them had learned many other types of practices and had a strong interest in cultivation. During the three 9-day seminars, we gave the newcomers the English introduction material and a compilation of chosen cultivation experience-sharing articles, chatted with them during the breaks, and answered their questions. Because many of the newcomers did not know what type of cultivation practice Falun Gong was, and because many of them did not understand the English translation very well, we lengthened our introduction and changed the seminar format from listening to the lectures to reading the English version of Zhuan Falun and learning the exercises. We planned to re-start formal 9-day Dafa seminars after they had a certain level of understanding. These beginners were very interested in learning the exercises and many people felt the energy, heat, relaxation and comfort once they started to practice, so they liked practicing together very much. We were happy that they had a chance to get to know something of Dafa and we felt the power of Dafa supporting us. Every day we stressed to them the importance of learning Dafa. We read Zhuan Falun together with them and also suggested they buy the book from local bookstores. When the 9-day seminars ended, many of them were deeply touched by Dafa. One of them said: "I had attended many other cultivation practices, which only served two purposes, to teach people how to cure illness and to get fit. Moreover, they usually charge a fee of over a thousand rupees for the seminars. Falun Gong is more profound and quite different from the others, and I will continue this practice." One lady, over 50 years old, who had suffered from asthma for over thirty years and had to rely on a spray medicine to suppress the symptoms, did not need the spray after two weeks of practice. This was really amazing to people. Several 11 to 12 year-old students also came to learn Dafa. Their movements were precise and graceful. They not only kept practicing everyday, but also paid attention to learning Dafa. Among them there was a girl called Neda, who said that she introduced Dafa to five of her classmates the next day after she learned Falun Gong. She also told the school principal that she would like to introduce Falun Dafa to the whole school. Between the seminars, we also tried to spread Dafa in other ways. The reporters of Bangalore Times, the local edition of India Times, which is the most influential newspaper in India, came to visit us, published two articles about Falun Gong in a row, and also reported briefly on our activities teaching the Falun Gong exercises. Once the news was published, there were many people calling us to ask questions and express their wish to attend the seminars. So there were newcomers everyday to attend the presentations to learn Falun Dafa and the exercises. To extend the influence, on the third day of the seminars we started to practice the exercises in the morning from 6:30 AM to 8:30 AM in a big park nearby. On the practice site, we hung up Dafa-promoting banners and big balloons and we also displayed the Dafa flyers on a rack. One of us did the exercises, while another gave out the flyers and answered questions. Many people walked to the display rack, took the flyer, and started reading. Some of them immediately wanted to learn the practice. One young film director, after reading that day's newspaper, rode his motorcycle for half an hour, coming to the park to look for us. He stopped in front of the Dafa banner. He said: "I want to purify my soul." We rejoiced that he came there one minute before we planned to leave. We also felt grateful to Master Li for this arrangement. This was just a demonstration of what Master Li said: "Buddhas save people with predestined relationship." [an ad hoc translation] During this trip, with the help of a practitioner from Deli, we held a Falun Dafa introduction seminar for the faculty, staff and students in the Neurology Department of the National Institute of Psychological Health and Neurology in Bangalore City. This school is the most famous among all the similar institutions in India. A total of about forty professors, associate professors and graduate students attended this seminar. They gladly helped us hang up the Dafa-promoting photos and banners. We distributed, to them, the introduction material and a compilation of cultivation experience-sharing articles. We briefly told them the characteristics of Falun Dafa and its spread throughout the world. We also demonstrated the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. and answered their questions. We are the Dafa practitioners, so what we say or do represents Dafa and will influence the people surrounding us. During the 10 days of our stay in Bangalore City, we often took the same taxi so we had a chance to get to know the driver. When we saw that he had been waiting for us outside for a long time, we would buy a meal and drink for him. Later we asked him to come to attend the seminar and taught him Dafa. He was deeply moved and he told us that Falun Dafa was different from other types of cultivation practices. He said we were very good people. In the activities held later, he helped us carry the bag containing the materials, gave out the flyers to passersby, and told people Dafa in the local dialect. I gave him an English version of China Falun Gong and a "Pudu" [Falun Dafa music] music tape . One evening, when we had just gotten into his cab, the "Pudu" music started playing. This cab driver had turned it on for us. While the elegant music reverberated inside the cab, we felt very relaxed. We also felt the greatness of Falun Dafa and the compassion of Master Li. This city finally saw the coming of Falun Dafa. There are still many kind-hearted people waiting for Dafa. We remembered a Canadian practitioner saying during a conference, "We should go everywhere in the world." Spreading Dafa indeed needs our cooperative efforts. Singapore Falun Dafa Practitioners (See another report at http://www.clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/Feb/14/PFW021401_3.html)