Vedanta Society

Vedanta Societies refer to organizations, groups, or societies formed for the study, practice, and propagation of Vedanta, the culmination of Vedas. More specifically, they "comprise the American arm of the Indian Ramakrishna movement",^[1] and refer to branches of the Ramakrishna Order located outside India.^[2]

Carl Jackson in his book, Vedanta for the West stated that, "Vedanta came to America in the form of Vedanta societies",^[1] starting with the appearance of Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and his founding of the New York Society in 1894.^[3]

Branches of the Ramakrishna Order located outside India are under the spiritual guidance of the Ramakrishna Order.^[4][5] The work of the Vedanta Societies in the west has primarily been devoted to spiritual and pastoral activities, though many of them do some form of social service. Many of the Western Vedanta societies have resident monks, and several centers have resident nuns.^[4] The first Vedanta Society outside India was founded by the Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda in New York in November 1894.^[6][7] In 1900, on Swami Vivekananda's second trip to the west, he established the San Francisco Center.^[8] Other direct disciples of Ramakrishna who came with Vivekananda to American includes Swamis Turiyananda, Saradananda, Trigunatitananda, and Abhedananda.

In the 1940s and 1950s, many of the leading intellectuals and authors were attracted to various Vedanta Societies in the US: Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, and Christopher Isherwood were initiated by Swami Prabhavananda at the Vedanta Society of Southern California,^[9] Huston Smith studied under Swami Satprakashananda at the Vedanta Society of St. Louis,^[10] and J.D. Salinger and Joseph Campbell studied under Swami Nikhilananda at the Eastside New York Vedanta Society.^[1]