TRULY INSPIRING

Bhaktimarga Swami
Apr 20
2 min read

Monday, April 20th 2026

Winnipeg, Manitoba

The most inspirational building for me in the whole wide world, after Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is not a palatial building of European architecture or one of those ornate South Indian temples with gods galore sculpted out on its exterior. It is a tiny 200 square foot sod house that one family would live in in the Prairies in the 1800’s. There is such a place, reconstructed, at Ft. Whyte where the buffalo (bison) used to feed and roam.

Truly, I am stunned by this modest cabin that was inhabited by a family of settlers. And when it got too cold, which it does in Manitoba, going as low as -50, the family oven would be brought inside to share the space. I don’t know how they dealt with the call of nature but they managed. And they probably didn’t complain like we do now.

It is the management of those more simpler times that is absolutely astounding to reflect on.

My good friend for 46 years, Phil, and wife, Mona, took me to Fort Whyte, a well-developed educational and recreational facility, and piece of land formerly owned by La Farge cement factory. There are gorgeous lakes and ponds formed by the large quarry business.

When walking on the trails provided we came upon nesting geese. She was keeping her eggs warm while he stood a few feet away from her on guard duty. Indeed he snarled at us with tongue out like the Goddess Kali in a threatening manner, when he discerned we were too close.

The team work by the couple was also very inspiring in a way as temperatures rose to 16° today.

My evening ended on the basis of inspiration. Yogis and chanters came for a lively kirtan at the ISKCON Manitoba Centre.