| Ramakrishna Monastery | |
| Location: | 19961 Live Oak Canyon Road, Trabuco Canyon, California |
| Geo: | 33.6734°N -117.6101°W |
| Religious Affiliation: | Ramakrishna Order |
| Region: | Orange County |
| State: | California |
| Consecration Year: | 1949 |
| Status: | Active |
| Architect: | Felix Greene |
| Architecture Style: | 18th Century Mediterranean 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]
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]