The Family Behind the Mandir

I · A Temple That Began with a Wish

Some people make a plan to build a temple. My experience was different. A desire arose quietly in my heart. I did not know how to fulfill it. Yet, little by little, the murti, the people, the transportation, and the temple itself came together. Looking back, I feel that I received the credit for something that happened through Baba's grace. This is how it began.

II · An Unexpected Connection

Around 2023, I was going through a difficult period. I was experiencing physical discomfort, emotional challenges in relationships, and disturbances that I understood as being connected to my energy system. During a visit to a friend's home in India, I noticed a photograph of Hanuman and asked who in her family followed him. "My father," she told me. "He is a Hanuman bhakt. He encouraged us to recite the Hanuman Chalisa from childhood, but we never really took it up." It was a brief conversation, but something about that photograph stayed with me.

After returning to America, I was meditating at our ashram, Osho Kaivalya Dham in Denison, when I saw a very large image of Hanuman in meditation. This was unusual for me. My meditation generally brings silence: thoughts disappear, the mind becomes quiet, and I begin to feel the energy within. Images have appeared only on a few occasions. I did not know what to make of it. I simply let the experience be.

III · Fifty Days with the Hanuman Chalisa

A few months later, I went through another difficult period with my health. I felt I needed help, but my business and personal responsibilities made traveling difficult. Meanwhile, the image of Hanuman kept returning to my mind. I also began coming across videos of Neem Karoli Baba. One day, I thought of the Hanuman Chalisa and its promise of strength and relief from suffering. I decided to recite it one hundred times. But I did not want to rush through a hundred recitations as a task to complete. I wanted to spend time with the prayer — to feel its meaning and carry that presence into my day. So I recited it once in the morning and once in the evening for fifty days.

During that period, I began to feel better. This surprised me. I had always considered myself a logical person. I did not think of myself as naturally devotional, and I had not been a dedicated devotee of Hanuman or Bhagwan Ram. Yet something in my heart was opening. Around the same time, a teacher whose healing sessions I sought came to Dallas, allowing me to receive support without traveling. My meditation was also deepening. I experienced these things together as a period of recovery, support, and growing trust.

IV · A Friendship and a Journey

During this time, I became close to a friend named Ram. He was a devoted Hanuman bhakt with a deep interest in meditation and spiritual masters. From our first meeting, we connected through meaningful conversations. We eventually began hosting a morning radio show together, speaking about Hanuman, Neem Karoli Baba, Osho, and other saints. Through those conversations, a desire arose in me: I wanted to visit Neem Karoli Baba's Kainchi Dham. The Hanuman Chalisa had become such a meaningful part of my life. I wanted to sit in the place associated with Baba and experience it for myself.

The journey was spontaneous. I booked tickets, took my daughter with me, and flew to Delhi. Two friends joined us, and we drove toward Nainital together, without carefully arranged plans or hotel reservations. Eventually, we found a place to stay. The next morning, we went to Kainchi Dham.

V · The Wish at Kainchi Dham

I entered wearing my maroon Osho clothes and my Osho mala. My daughter and I sat quietly for about thirty minutes near Baba's bed and blanket — the familiar setting I had seen in photographs. There was a beautiful simplicity to the place. An aarti was taking place nearby. Osho's teachings and meditations had opened my heart to many spiritual traditions. My connection with Osho had helped me appreciate other masters and their different expressions of truth, silence, love, and devotion.

As I was leaving Baba's room, a thought arose: I should take Baba's photograph back to our ashram. Then another thought followed: Perhaps someday we could build a temple for him. I began thinking about a murti — a sacred statue — for the temple. But almost immediately, my practical mind stepped in. Where would I find an artist? How would I arrange the work? What would it cost? How would I transport it to America? My return flight was approaching. There was no time to explore any of it properly. I took photographs and returned home with that wish still in my heart, unsure how it could ever become a reality.

VI · The Murti I Thought Was Buddha

Meanwhile, a doctor friend had been asking me to collect a murti he was holding for me. Months earlier, we had discussed a Buddha murti. The Buddha statue at our ashram had some damage, so when he called again, I assumed that was what he meant. "Yes, yes," I told him. "I will send someone to pick it up." After I returned from India, he called again. The murti was in Odessa, Texas. I arranged for someone local to go and see about collecting it. Then the driver called me. "This is not possible," he said. "The murti is very big." "How big can it be?" I asked. "You have a truck!" He sent me photographs and dimensions. It was a fourteen-foot-tall, six-ton stone murti. And it was not Buddha. It was Hanuman.

"मैंने तो अभी बाबा के बारे में सोचा, और उन्होंने हनुमानजी की मूर्ति की व्यवस्था भी कर दी।"

I had only just thought of Baba — and it felt as though he had already arranged Hanumanji's murti.

I was astonished. I had just returned from Kainchi Dham wondering how I could arrange a murti for a temple. Now an enormous Hanuman murti was available — and it was already in America.

VII · Bringing Hanuman to Denison

In my excitement, I announced that we would open the Neem Karoli Baba temple and unveil the Hanuman murti on December 11. Then came the practical challenge. Nobody wanted to transport it. The murti was extremely heavy, and moving such a large stone sculpture carried risks. We contacted transport companies and asked friends for help. Even a friend experienced in international shipping could not find someone willing to take the job. Weeks passed. The opening date was approaching, and the murti was still in Odessa. I began searching and making calls myself. Eventually, one man agreed to inspect it. "I can bring it," he told me, "but I cannot insure it against breaking." I decided to proceed. We arranged a large crane in Odessa to lift the murti onto the truck, and another crane in Denison to unload it and place it where it stands today. After all the uncertainty, Hanuman had arrived. But we still did not have a finished temple.

VIII · My Mother Steps In

With about ten days remaining before the announced opening, my mother came to my office with my aunt. "You have announced the opening," she said. "How are you going to have the temple ready?" She had found a ready-made building that we could use. She took me to see it, and we bought it. The interior was unfinished. There was still work to do, including finishing the walls and painting. My mother also took me to purchase a mandir for inside the building. She funded those arrangements and hired a handyman to prepare the space. My part was to help manage the work — including a difficult moment near the opening when the handyman wanted to leave before finishing. Even then, things kept coming together. The day before the inauguration, the walls were still rough and painting remained unfinished. It was not a perfectly completed building. But we opened the temple.

IX · A Temple for Everyone

During our first aarti, I felt Neem Karoli Baba's presence beside the murti. That remains a deeply personal experience for me. Even now, I feel his love and grace here. Visitors come from across the United States, and many share their own feelings of peace, connection, and devotion on this land. When people say that I built Baba's temple, I remember how little of it I had planned. The desire arose at Kainchi Dham. The Hanuman murti was waiting in Texas. Someone finally agreed to bring it. My mother and aunt stepped in when the temple itself was still unfinished. I made phone calls, arranged things, and helped where I could. But I experienced the unfolding of it all as grace.

"This is Baba's temple. This is Hanuman's temple. It is here for all of you."

At Osho Kaivalya Dham in Denison, we also offer a space to explore Osho's meditations — practices that invite awareness, emotional expression, inner silence, and a more loving relationship with life. For me, meditation and devotion have found a home together here. You are welcome to visit, sit quietly, join in prayer, or meditate. Come with an open heart. The invitation is to experience this place for yourself — and, perhaps, to discover a little more love, silence, and grace within you.

Jai Shri Ram. Jai Hanuman. Jai Maharaj-ji.