Vedanta Society Of Southern California, Ramakrishna Monastery
| Ramakrishna Monastery | |
|---|---|
Swami Vivekananda statue at the Ramakrishna Monastery, California | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Ramakrishna Order |
| Region | Orange County |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Active |
| Year consecrated | 1949 |
| Location | |
| Location | 19961 Live Oak Canyon Road, Trabuco Canyon, California |
| State | California |
| Geographic coordinates | 33°40′24″N 117°36′36″W / 33.6734°N 117.6101°W |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Felix Greene |
| Style | 18th Century Mediterranean Monastery |
| Website | |
| vedanta | |
The monastery was originally developed in 1942 during WWII by Gerald Heard, a disciple of Swami Prabhavananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California an American branch of the Ramakrishna Order of India. Established as Trabuco College, it was originally meant to be a religious, non-sectarian, co-ed monastery, unaffiliated with any particular religious organization. Aldous Huxley, a close friend of Heard, spent 6 weeks there working on his book The Perennial Philosophy.
However, the experiment failed and Heard donated the land and buildings to the Vedanta Society of Southern California as a male-only monastery. It was consecrated on September 7, 1949, by Swami Prabhavananda, as the Ramakrishna Monastery. It is located on a 40-acre property in the rolling hills of Trabuco Canyon, California. It bears the name of the great Indian mystic, Sri Ramakrishna, founder of the Ramakrishna Order of India.