Practitioner from India: How I Got Over Fixed Notions and Opened my Mind to Welcome Dafa

I got to know about Falun Dafa a couple of years ago from some veteran practitioners who I used to meet often. They explained to me the basic concepts and the philosophy with a genuine concern for me to take up the practice. Very often, they shared stories of cultivation and the benefits that people have derived from the practice. I listened to them reluctantly, more out of politeness, because they seemed such good people at heart. I took everything they said very casually.

My wife was suffering from chronic ailments and a series of problems for a prolonged period. Many doctors of western and alternative medicines couldn't help her and her condition was deteriorating day by day. Besides this, she was transferred to another city, Secunderabad, as she is a Central Government employee. The relocation and making adjustments to a new life was traumatic and her condition worsened. Once, when she came to Bangalore on leave for a week I thought of introducing Falun Dafa practice to her.

At 6 a.m. on March 17, 2005, we were at the practice site. The veteran practitioners whom we knew taught us the exercises and were very kind and gentle with my wife. We picked up the exercises gradually and on only the second day my wife was sharing with them that within two days she had gotten relief from her long-standing pain to a large extent. I was pleasantly surprised to learn this and prepared myself with lots of plans on how my wife and I should progress in our practice. I thought to myself, within a week she should be trained well and then I should get her a tape-recorder so that when she returns to Secunderabad, she can practice on her own and come out of this chronic sickness. But the very next day she said she was not at all interested and would not continue the exercises. I now understand what Master means by predestined relationship, and we can't have any strong mind intent to change anyone's attitude or way of thinking.

Somehow, I continued on my path. Gradually, month-after-month I experienced a lot of improvement both physically and mentally. Many of my friends and colleagues perceived the changes in me and when I shared with them my experiences, most of them joined us. Every morning after the exercises, one of the veteran practitioners used to remind us to read the books and he used to quote the page numbers and the impact it can have on our thinking. But initially, I had this mental block about book reading. I used to argue with him that when our Hinduism and Vedas have got 5000 years of rich cultural heritage, and our centuries old scriptures talk about the same universal truths, why should I adopt a relatively recent ten-year-old unknown Chinese spiritual discipline. But with lots of forbearance, this practitioner did not relent and very compassionately tried again and again to change my rigid thinking. Finally, I decided to read the book. Every Sunday, we had a book reading session instead of exercise at the park. Reading in a group seemed so easy and somehow I could comprehend things better and we also exchanged our individual understanding. I gained better understanding and the way Master illustrates with interesting examples from everyday life made me continue to read lecture after lecture.

Recently, I have started an evening practice session at our office cafeteria with 4-5 colleagues. Others watch us in amusement but also with admiration. Many people are aware of this and employees who have visited the US have said they have seen people practicing there in parks. I am sure, soon they will join me and shortly I am planning to switch over our practice session to a newly developed park, which is in front of our office, and my vision is to have hundreds of practitioners gathering there. I will try not to get attached to my vision and hope to be guided by Master's grace.