It was on the holy occasion of a day of festivity that I attended the congregation at the temple in Plainview. It became so overcrowded with the congregants that there was not enough space for many to sit down. This created a sense of desire in me to build up a bigger temple, especially because I am a realty-investor. This backdrop set the tone for a prayer, whereby I committed that until I spot a suitable property for establishing a bigger temple, I would not invest in my realty ventures.

The very next morning a realty broker knocked on my door, and requested me to see the miraculous property located at 100 Lattingtown Road, Glen Cove, New York. This is a sprawling property on 15.43 acres with a palatial mansion of about 32,000 sq. ft., which is mostly brand new. The property is located in picturesque environs, and is surrounded by water. Within walking distance is a serene environment of a beach and a golf course.

I was immediately reminded of my prayer the previous evening. I said to myself “this cannot be for my business venture; it has to be God’s abode”. This thought ignited a feeling of submission to God and I begged Him to give me the strength of positive attitude that I take every obstacle on the way of acquiring this property as an opportunity. The narration of following obstacles will convince the reader as to what the power of positive thinking can do, to change life.

No.1 Obstacle/ Opportunity:

The broker informed me that UniBank had a lien of $8.2 million on this property which the bank intended to foreclose. I went home and counted all the money that I had in the banks. It came out to be a total of $1.2 million. So, I offered $1.2 million to the bank. The offer was not just an ordinary money offer since it contained the most powerful ingredient of prayers. The power of prayer worked. The bank officials called me in a couple of days and told me that they would sign the contract at my price. It was amazing to note what this power of prayer and positive thinking can do since the appraisal of the property was over $8.2 million. The value of land alone being $ 3 million and it would take way over $5 million to erect a building of this size.

No. 2 Obstacle/ Opportunity:

Soon after this I met with the officials at the City of Glen Cove to enquire if they would give permission for establishing the temple. The officials of the City, like the bank, poked fun at me. In their opinion, the City of Glen Cove having a radius of only five miles could never afford to lose $200,000 in annual taxes on this prime property, in case a Non-Profit Organization acquired it. Proclaimed the staff of the City: “forget the project”. This negativity created a definite determination of positive thinking in me to go ahead, buy the property and face the challenge.

No.3 Obstacle/Opportunity:

Inspired by the above obstacles, I contacted the officials of the temple and set up a meeting with the bank officials in Manhattan, to sign the contract. The four officials of the temple accompanied me to the meeting room but immediately thereafter walked out, leaving me alone. They did not want to take the responsibility of signing the contract and be answerable to the congregation in case the permissions to operate the premises as a temple are not granted. Their action left the bank disillusioned, and so the bank decided to sign the contract on my personal name and totally refused to sign the contract on the name of the temple whose officials lacked commitment as per the bank. I then assumed personal responsibility, by paying a check of $120,000 to get the contract in my individual name. This obstruction further encouraged me to be more positive as now I had to face a bigger challenge, not only from the City of Glen Cove but also from the officials of the temple. With the overwhelming support from the Congregation of the temple, the officials of the temple later started cooperating with me and also compensated me for my monetary advances.

No. 4 Obstacle/Opportunity:

As expected, the City of Glen Cove refused to give us permission to operate the place as a temple. Instead, they made us go through two years of long struggle to do environmental studies, traffic studies and seeking permissions from 50 other agencies. The officials of the temple got so impatient that they held an emergency meeting to sell the premises for $1.6 million. It was at that time that I showed the officials the letters from several prospective buyers, who were ready to buy the premises from me for about $ 4 million dollars, thereby enabling me to make an easy profit of couple of millions. I am thankful to Almighty God that He did not let me yield and succumb to temptation, and stood with me so I could maintain my integrity and commitment made in the name of God. Then, the officials of the temple were left with no choice but to leave me alone so I could continue my struggle with the City of Glen Cove to get the permissions. And, with God on my side, permissions were finally granted.

No.5 Obstacle/ Opportunity:

During the long drawn-out period of our getting permissions for the temple, the City of Glen Cove persuaded me to buy the Shopping-Mall (mostly unoccupied for many years) located at 24 School Street, Glen Cove, with a view to rejuvenating the downtown area.

I had no desire to do so, since it was against normal common-sense and/or business-sense. However, I went for it to develop good relations with the City. Amazingly, soon after I purchased it, Staples Departmental Store decided to build their new stores very close to 24 School Street. Consequently, I started receiving lucrative offers of making over $2 million profit on this property. The city now pressurized me to sell off this property to Swezey’s Departmental Chain. I debated with myself, bit since I could get a clear profit of about $2 million from someone other than Swezey’s but it was going to happen at the cost of annoying the officials of City of Glen Cove who very much desired to have Swezey’s open their stores in down town area. I yielded to the desires of the City of Glen Cove and sold the property to the Swezey’s Department stores close to my purchase price. But the end result was that Swezey’s who have been in business for the last 110 years, went out of business within a couple of years of their establishment in Glen Cove and I made up my profit on my investments elsewhere. My ultimate desire to maintain a friendly relationship with the officials of City of Glen Cove helped us to get permissions for operation of the temple. The same city officials, who were ready to chase me out of their premises, gave city of Amritsar in India (where another blessed temple ‘Golden Temple’ is located) the title of being ‘Sister City of Glen Cove’.

No. 6 Obstacle/ Opportunity:

The attorneys who had worked on reduction of taxes from $200,000 to $zero, demanded a fee of $57,000. With the same positive attitude of mind after prayers, I called up the attorneys to accept a meager sum of $3,000 as against their initial fee-demand. And lo! in response, all I heard were the encouraging words, “OK accepted”, very much like the bank who sold us the property for peanuts. The realty brokers and architects also gave up major portions of their fee totalling roughly $50,000. The school taxes to the tune of $115,000 were also waived off.

God’s plans and designs are beyond human comprehension. The above story may have amazed you, as to how not only the Congregation became the proud owners of the 15.43 acre sprawling property, including a 32,000 sq. ft. building, along with a five bedroom house used as a residence for the priests and collectively acquired a property whose present worth may well exceed $12 million, but also I gained, individually, the money elsewhere which I had initially thought that I had lost. More than the money, I gained the strength in the power of prayer and an ardent belief in the power of positive thinking which is reflected in the chapters of this booklet.

To sum up, I humbly recommend that you take every obstacle in life as an opportunity, and then you shall prevail, provided you keep the sincerity of the purpose, the highest priority in life, while refraining from greed and fear. Don’t follow the crowd, and keep in mind that your utmost positive ideas to benefit the humanity MUST be condemned by the majority before they accept it. Christopher Columbus was ridiculed and condemned by the majority, and also by his fellow sailors before he discovered America.

It is my firm belief that this temple will become a symbol of universal message of love & peace and people from all faiths and beliefs would come to pray here. Should you want to visit this blessed temple, please call 516-676-7000 to arrange a visit. As per the tenets of Sikh faith, every person, irrespective of racial or religious affiliation is most welcome to visit the temple to seek God’s blessings.

If you want to send any tax-deductible donations and/ or want the congregation to say some specific prayers for you, please mail your requests to The Sikh Forum, Inc. 100 Lattingtown Road, Glen Cove, New York 11542.

I hope this brief story of my life will touch the heart of the readers and they shall build up a faith in power of prayer and positive thinking.