(Minghui.org) I live in Sarnath, Varanasi, India. I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2002. During the annual local women’s festival in Leh, Ladakh, around August 2002, I came across two Falun Dafa practitioners—a Chinese-American accompanied by a local Tibetan—who were doing the Falun Dafa exercises.
I started practicing the following day, yet it took me several years to genuinely commit to Falun Dafa. I was filled with so many spiritual concepts and ideas over my many years of practicing different spiritual practices, studying their many books, and interacting with people from a variety of spiritual and religious backgrounds. Now I think that I must have been unconsciously looking and searching for a true spiritual path, but I was totally unaware of this.
I was filled with doubts and countless questions, and to date, I never met any Falun Dafa practitioner who was as doubtful or critical as I was. Only much later did I realize that it was predestined for me to eventually start practicing Falun Dafa. Any person filled with so many doubts and questions would probably never have embarked on this journey at all, or would have soon given up.
The first years I spent mostly in Sarnath, near Varanasi, and the summers in Ladakh. I am also fortunate to have traveled to the United States several times to attend the international Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conferences, other related activities, and watch Shen Yun shows. These visits to the U.S. tremendously helped me with my situation in Sarnath, where countless difficulties were always present, such as never-ending family conflicts and issues, extreme weather conditions, and many other local issues, combined with interference from other dimensions.
All of these factors combined seemed impossible to tolerate. I often felt that they appeared to be just far too much to endure. Yet miraculously, it was the power of Falun Dafa that made it somehow possible for me to survive in this most complex and complicated environment.
Master said,
“When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
During my visits to Ladakh, I could feel that compassionate Master made perfect arrangements, providing me with several opportunities to introduce Falun Dafa in this area.
The Ladakhi locals showed great interest in Falun Dafa and expressed their deep concern regarding the human rights situation in China. These down-to-earth people always came up with useful ideas and suggestions, like what I could do, whom I should meet, which school to go to, etc. I also got the opportunity to put up many posters all over the town of Leh with information about the beauty and goodness of Falun Dafa and also about the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution.
For a few years, I conducted daily Falun Dafa introductory sessions, which were mostly attended by visiting tourists; later on I organized displays of the informational materials in the main street in Leh as well as other areas.
Over the years, I have been blessed with many chances to introduce Falun Dafa to various schools. The first school session that I conducted was in Leh, Ladakh, in 2008, and was attended by many students and teachers. Since 2010, many more sessions in schools in Ladakh have been held.
Back in Sarnath, the practice site is in a local garden, and since 2010, for five to six months each year, we have held Falun Dafa informational displays. I could only visit a few schools due to family and guesthouse commitments, as well as constant tribulations.
I am forever grateful to a practitioner in Bangalore with whom I went to several schools in 2011. In the process, I realized the huge potential India has in regard to schools and also that one can “roll all into one”: introducing Falun Dafa, teaching the five sets of exercises, and telling people about the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Dafa—all in one session of about an hour.
I was originally not interested in going to schools, as I thought that practitioners were only able to demonstrate the exercises, while I had always been very concerned about the violations of human rights in China. After this realization of “rolling all into one,” my journey with schools started, including colleges and universities, and with compassionate Master’s help, this journey continues.
I’m always touched when I read the Fa teachings where Master talks about the various ethnicities in this world and his reminder to practitioners about their holy vows to save the people of these many ethnicities.
Master said,
“...no matter what, you are the hope for the beings there! In the future you’ll see this. (Applause) If an ethnic group or a country doesn’t have Dafa disciples right now, it will bring them immense difficulty—and that’s at a very minimum. So no matter how few Dafa disciples there are in a certain place, that is hope for that ethnic group.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume III)
Because I lived for so many years in Ladakh, many people there knew about Falun Dafa. I decided to travel to more remote places: Such as the North Eastern states, the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, visiting all the main Tibetan schools across India, the Darjeeling area of West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman Islands, etc. Throughout my travels, there were always both challenges and blessings.
Some of the basic challenges that I often faced were:
1. I usually only had the contact of a place to stay and not a single other contact for anyone, nor of any schools.
2. Financial constraints regarding places to stay, transport, food, and other items.
3. Seemingly “bone-breaking” experiences while ensuring I could safely carry around the precious Falun Dafa informational materials. I usually walked.
4. Climatic extremes, such as heat, rain, humidity, dangers of landslides, winding roads in hilly regions.
Correspondingly, to these “losses” there were profoundly precious “gains” such as:
1. Meeting predestined people on the journey.
2. These predestined people and many others were truly the “helping hands” in so many ways: Sometimes these kind-hearted people offered discounts for room, food, transport, and making photocopies of the Dafa informational materials.
3. Countless amazing encounters, often in most unexpected ways and locations. These were all Dafa’s miracles on my humbling journey to try to assist our merciful Master in saving these precious beings.
I clearly felt that Master already paved the way for me and prearranged each and every thing. It is so true that it’s up to us to take the first step.
Internal doubts and questions plagued me constantly, such as whether what I was doing was the “right thing,” or if I would rather do other things, go to other places, or just stay home. But I always decided to just go and do my best. I realized that ultimately it often didn’t even seem to matter so much where we are, or what we do, but what matters the most is our heart of purity and innocence and the wish to save people.
I have faced life-threatening situations, mostly in the form of sickness karma.
Yet the most difficult thing for me was that during these tough tribulations, I could not clearly feel Master’s presence or guidance, nor did I have any supernatural experiences like many practitioners have had. I had none at all. I dealt with the difficulties on my own. Even asking compassionate Master for help, looking at his photo and my other “attempts” didn’t have the result that I desperately hoped for. But whatever I or my “fake self” may feel, the truth is it was Master and Dafa that saved me, every time. No wonder I was somehow always able to summon my courage during those tough times and just kept going.
I found guidance by reading the teachings, sharing with other practitioners, listening to Master’s lectures, and the music of Pudu, Jishi, Shen Yun orchestra and other Fa-related things. The Minghui.org website has been my constant companion and source of inspiration and guidance all these many years. On my humble journey so far, I have been through countless things. At times they were heart-wrenching, and I feel so grateful that a few of them were selected to be published on Minghui.org.
I’d like to summarize what I have realized on my cultivation path.
1. Even if someone travels all over the world, lives in many different countries and is exposed to different cultures, religious and spiritual concepts (in my case, I lived in Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia, and visited more than 55 countries over the years) one still carries around one’s own emotional baggage—unless and until one is lucky enough to encounter a true spiritual path, which truly unburdens us of all of our “karmic baggage.”
2. In conflicts and in many situations, I tend to automatically and immediately become nervous and tense, worried, start blaming myself, and then it becomes difficult to let go of resentment. These might have been partly due to childhood experiences and partly due to past life experiences. I still have these reactions, and I am working on it.
At times when I thought I finally totally overcame a certain attachment or old resentment, a situation arises that triggers many old feelings, like a landslide crushing down on me and only then do I realize that I haven’t 100% gotten over it.
Yet after stepping back and seeing and analyzing these varied situations and my reactions, I realize there is no need at all to have tensions, worries, self blame, etc. Everything is fine if I know I am following the Fa standards. All I need to do is to use the “magic tool” of looking within, and see if I fall short on the xinxing criteria!
3. I found myself rebelling, in my heart, against the “no loss, no gain” principle, as I am somehow not willing to accept the “loss” and only want to have the “gain.” Yet according to my limited understanding of the universal principle of “no loss, no gain,” these are inseparable — and I’m foolish to only wish for the “gain” side of it.
4. I realized that we will never truly know our own “true state,” and we also don’t need to.
5. To my great distress, I have never been able to maintain a regular practice, Fa study, or sending righteous thoughts. I’m sometimes able to do them regularly for a few days or even weeks – but I always fall back into irregularity. I still find it difficult to do the second exercise for 30 minutes, so I never dared to do it for one hour. I do not want to have the notion or fixed idea that I just cannot be more diligent, but on the other hand I just cannot make a breakthrough. This very conflicting situation accompanies me, and there seems to be no end in sight, however much I study, or share with other practitioners. It seems to be one thing to understand and quite another thing to put into practice and be able to make fundamental changes.
6. I would also like to express my heartfelt wishes for my fellow practitioners in India to spread Dafa in the vast land of India. Let’s try to venture out and contact some of the many different ethnicities and tribes. It’s not difficult to do, doesn’t require much time, nor much money. One only needs the heartfelt wish to do so, and our merciful Master has already paved the way to bring Dafa to the predestined people in those places.
7. Lastly, as Master’s disciples we all know that Dafa is almighty and can harmonize everything. Therefore, all of us — fellow Indian practitioners — should try our best to keep our interactions harmonious so that we can all validate the Fa well and uphold the dignity of Dafa. We should never forget that we are one perfect whole body, and that we are here to assist our revered Master in saving sentient beings. And to fulfill this sacred goal, we Indian practitioners must cooperate well with each other without letting our selfishness and notions interfere with the tasks we are supposed to carry out. Master has taught us the Fa on the true reasons behind conflicts. Let’s not forget what we learned from the Fa.
8. Let us remember that each one of us is just like a beautiful, unique flower. And the beauty of this garland made up of all these many flowers of different types, colors, sizes, scents, lies in the fact that we are all interwoven together — as one body.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our merciful Master for blessing me with the predestination of becoming a Fa-rectification Dafa disciple in this lifetime, and for guiding me in my journey to fulfill my vows of helping Master save sentient beings of various ethnicities in this vast land of India. My gratitude also goes to fellow practitioners who encouraged me in tough times to keep going, and who gave me various Falun Dafa informational materials to distribute to remote areas.
I’d like to end my sharing with this poem from Master:
“You resolved to save sentient beings,And assist Master as he journeys this human world;Come now, and help me turn the Falun,When the Fa is fulfilled, Heaven and Earth will be yours to travel.” (“Assisting the Fa,” Hong Yin)
Please do point out anything you think is inappropriate, or helpful for me to do better.
Thank you, esteemed Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at 2023 India Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)