Mr. Panch Panchalingam welcomes Bodhinatha to Calgary on behalf of the Hindu society. He arrived there yesterday afternoon after a some free time and a short flight from Vancouver.

Panch and Nimi Panchalingam have come to see Bodhinatha in the evening of June 29th. They have been here in Calgary about 20 years. They are members of the Sri Murugan Society of Calgary which includes about 150 families from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.

Bodhinatha likes to take an early morning walk while he travels. Here he is in front of the Calgary Hindu Temple which is just a short walk from the hotel. See its website at http://www.calgarymandir.com/

Bodhinatha and Sadhaka Haranandinatha hold the site plan in front of the property. It’s only eight minutes from the airport in what is now farm lands. Can you visualize a Murugan temple on this spot? See their website http://srimurugansocietyofalberta.com/

Country Hills Boulevard looking back towards Calgary. From here it’s about 5 miles to Highway 2. Not like Hawaii…. this is Big Sky country!

Panch Panchalingam and Raja Ramaraja Gopal, treasurer and secretary of the Calgary, Sri Murugan Society, are showing Bodhinatha the site plan for a 30-acre parcel that was purchased by several Hindu societies in June 2002. The Murugan society’s portion of the parcel measures 10 acres.

Stepping back to the 28th and final hours in Vancouver… Bodhinatha had a chance to go sight-seeing.

At a place called Capilano Suspension Bridge, British Columbia.

http://www.capbridge.com/

A 27-acre nature park that shows some things that could be done with San Marga.

During the summer months they have 100 employees!

Bay cruise…Carnival Spirit and Peaceboat docked at cruise terminal. There is some kind of international peace conference going on this week at the University of BC.

On June 28th afternoon Bodhinatha met with Manickam Senthivel his wife and elder son.

Next morning of the 29th. Almost time to leave now… Manickam his younger son Sentheepan.

We want to thank Manickam and everyone in Vancouver for the marvelous hospitality. It is an inspiration to see Hinduism coming up so strongly here!

Here’s Bodhinatha making use of his time waiting for the flight to Calgary.

Lift off to Calgary. Leaving beautiful British Columbia.

University of BC on the point in the foreground. Horseshoe Bay at center of photo.

Sadhaka Haranandinatha takes a photo of Calgary, Alberta from the plane just before landing.

Summer is here and with children out of school we are seeing a lot of families visiting these days. Shama our host writes:

“Our beautiful Island Temple is fast becoming known far and wide in the Hindu community of the world. Pilgrims come from all over the planet come to this tiny island to visit this powerful and profoundly spiritual Home of the Gods.”

Prem and Sonia Sobti came with their two children Archana (3 1/2) and Sushil (12). Prem is an Oncologist. They came from New Delhi and now live in Missouri.

The lovely Sobti family outside Kadavul Siva Temple, with “Nandi.”

A newly wed couple Mary and Mark Gilbert from Lakewood, Colorado were married on Kauai just five days ago and arrived to experience a “special spiritual blessing” at this sacred place as they begin the rest of their lives together.

Other visitors not pictured here: Althura Srinivas and Sarada Reddy originally from Andhra Pradesh enjoyed the powerful morning abhishekam. Savitha Subramanian, M.D an Endocrinologist specializing in diabetes mellitus, and Venkatesh Gopala Krishnan, a computer scientist both arrived in time for the arati.