Govind Vaghashia said in his November 1, 2016 letter, “I am writing this letter to a man who was instrumental in creating history in the BAPS Temple....He (Husson) invited me, Zala and other members of BAPS and Chino Hills Mayor, Gary Larson, to his home in Chino Hills for a meeting. The BAPS team made a slide presentation on the proposed project. Paul himself told the mayor that he personally wanted the BAPS Temple in the City of Chino Hills. This was the beginning of the First Stepping Stone for BAPS.”

Vaghashia continues in his letter, “In the year 2000, Pramukh Swami Maharaj visited the site and it was love at first sight for him. Swami Bapa approved the purchase of the land. Paul helped us in every way possible, with his leadership in Chino Hills, with countless of his precious time to connect with city officials, getting various approvals of Mandir’s construction from initiation to completion.”

The biggest task was to get a variance from the city to increase the height of the spires. One city council member was against the project and height, but Paul was instrumental to provide that council member with reasoning regarding the importance of height for maintaining the symmetry of the temple, and ultimately the temple was granted the height. Paul did help every step of the way, helping the project despite he being a Sikh. He feels very blessed as a Sikh to have helped the temple project.

Vaghashia says in his letter, “Paul has set a stone in the history for Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sansatha known as BAPS and as my friend he did his Seva staying behind the scenes and helped us. He never asked for any preferential treatment while doing so. Just like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel always stayed behind the scene and made Jawarharlal Nehru Prime Minister of India, it is in the same way that Paul Singh Husson never asked for anything, stayed behind, worked with the city officials and community, and helped make history in Chino Hills. People love the blessings and take pride in this monument.”

Paul Singh Husson became the “First Sikh” in the history of the BAPS Swaminarayan faith worldwide whose name is engraved in the history as a founding stone of the BAPS Mandir in the City of Chino Hills. True to the words of His Supreme Holiness P. Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Paul Singh Husson was to prove that in the joy of others, lay his own.

From the book Indian Americans in Greater Los Angeles Area by India Empire Publications