Vedanta Society Of Southern California, Ramakrishna Monastery

The monastery was originally developed in 1942 during WWII by Gerald Heard,^[1][2][3][4] a disciple of Swami Prabhavananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California an American branch of the Ramakrishna Order of India.^[5] Established as Trabuco College, it was originally meant to be a religious, non-sectarian, co-ed monastery, unaffiliated with any particular religious organization.^[6] Aldous Huxley, a close friend of Heard, spent 6 weeks there working on his book The Perennial Philosophy.^[7]

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	33.6734°N 117.6101°W / 33.6734; -117.6101
Architecture
Architect(s)	Felix Greene
Style	18th Century Mediterranean Monastery
Website
vedanta.org/trabuco-canyon-monastery

However, the experiment failed and Heard donated the land and buildings to the Vedanta Society of Southern California as a male-only monastery.^[8] 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.^[9][10]