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Vedanta Society of Northern California
Vedanta Society of Northern California
	The First Hindu Temple in the West
General information
Status	Active
Type	Heritage place, religious organization
Location	San Francisco, California, United States
Address	2323 Vallejo St
Coordinates	37°47′44″N 122°26′06″W / 37.795609370764616°N 122.43499184659248°W
Inaugurated	April 1900
Owner	Ramakrishna Mission
Website
	[1]

The Vedanta Society of Northern California was founded by Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji) in 1900. The Vedanta Society was thrice blessed in being led by three eminent direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna’s greatest apostle, carried his master’s message and his immense spiritual power to the West, and, in the last years of his mission, to San Francisco. There he started the Vedanta class on April 14, 1900. This later was renamed the Vedanta Society of Northern California.

After him, came Swami Turiyananda to develop the Society and gently, but powerfully, to nurture it. Swami Turiyananda founded the Shanti Ashrama Retreat in August 1900. And then, like a whirlwind, came Swami Trigunatita, like his two other brother monks, himself a dynamo of spiritual strength, determined to nourish and give shape to the young Society. Swami Trigunatita conceived of, designed, and built the Old Temple in 1905 which is the first Hindu temple in the west . The Vedanta Society to which he gave his life, which he formed and strengthened, and into which he unceasingly poured tremendous power has itself become a significant spiritual force. All three disciples gave extraordinary spiritual impetus to the Society and were also instrumental in establishing it on a firm foundation in its formative years. Currently, The Vedanta Society is affiliated with the Ramakrishna Math religious monastic order and the Ramakrishna Mission of India.

History[edit]

Establishment[edit]

Swami Vivekananda in San Francisco in 1900

The Vedanta Society of Northern California was founded by Swami Vivekananda (Swamiji) in 1900. Swamiji arrived at the San Francisco[2] Ferry Building on February 22, 1900. He initially stayed at the Pine Street Home of Truth and gave his first San Francisco lecture the following day in Golden Gate Hall on “The Ideal of a Universal Religion.”His second lecture two days later on “Vedantism” was delivered to a crowd of two thousand people at the Oakland Unitarian Church. During the three months, he was in the Bay Area, he moved several times to different quarters in San Francisco and once to the Alameda Home of Truth. From whichever city he was living in, he frequently crossed San Francisco Bay to speak in the halls of downtown San Francisco, Oakland, or Alameda, giving about forty-five lectures that we know of. A group of students from both sides of the bay was so interested in Swamiji and Vedanta that they wanted to form an organization, which would continue to study Vedanta even after he left. So, on Saturday, April 14, 1900, after one of his evening lectures in San Francisco, the Vedanta Society was formed for the dual purpose, as the first minutes read, “of assisting Swami Vivekananda in his work in India and studying Vedanta Philosophy.”Within three months, Swamiji had introduced the profound philosophy of Vedanta to the Bay Area—and it took root here. Shortly before he left San Francisco, he wrote a letter to a brother monk, Swami Abhedananda, saying, “I am trying my best to get one of you for a flying visit to this coast; it is a great country for Vedanta.” And by the time of his farewell meeting with his students he had decided to send Swami Turiyananda as his successor, humbly saying, “I will send you another, greater than I, one who lives what I talk about.”

In 1899 and 1900, when Swamiji was in California, his brother disciples Saradananda, Abhedananda, and Turiyananda were teaching Vedanta on the East Coast at the New York Vedanta Society. During this time, many enthusiastic members, including Swamiji himself, yearned for a secluded place to practice spiritual disciplines away from the city. As a result, Miss Boock, a Los Angeles devotee, offered Swamiji some property in northern California for this purpose, which he accepted, thinking it could be used as a retreat.

Swami Turiyananda arrived in San Francisco on July 26, 1900, and after a week he, with about ten Vedanta students, set out for the property in the desolate San Antonio Valley. Shanti Ashrama, as he named it, became his headquarters for nearly eighteen months of his two-year stay in California, which he spent there chanting, meditating, and teaching. Before Swami Turiyananda returned to India in 1902, Swamiji had made prior arrangements to send another brother disciple, Swami Trigunatita, whom he deeply respected, to succeed him.

As soon as Swami Trigunatita arrived in San Francisco, he characteristically plunged into action. In discussing the organization of the work with the Vedanta students, he expressed that the main center of the Society should be in the city rather than in the country. During his first three months as a minister, he gave lectures on Sunday afternoons in a rented hall in downtown San Francisco, and during the week he conducted classes and interviews in a rented flat. Soon the flat became too small for the Society’s activities, so they shifted to a larger apartment. The swami always had a big project underway. In 1904 he began planning a temple that would serve as the Society’s headquarters. The swami with a committee of members searched the city for a suitable site. They found one near the bay on Webster Street, among sandlots, for $8,000. After purchasing the lot, they began collecting funds to start the construction.

“The cornerstone of this temple,” to quote a pamphlet the swami printed, “was laid by the San Francisco Vedanta Society on 21st August 1905, for the good of humanity.” In a little more than four months, the basic building was up, furnished, and ready for dedication, which took place on January 7, 1906. The swami published a pamphlet explaining each tower and the detail of the structure. “This temple,” the pamphlet began, “may be considered as a combination of a Hindu temple, a Christian church, a Mohammedan mosque, a Hindu math or monastery, and an American residence.” Then it goes on to explain the fascinating array of symbolism he built into the temple.

Swamis in Charge[edit]

Swami Vivekananda 1900
Swami Turiyananda 1900–1902
Swami Trigunatitananda 1903–1915
Swami Prakashananda 1916–1927
Swami Dayananda 1927–1931
Swami Madhavananda 1927–1929
Swami Vividishananda 1931–1932
Swami Ashokananda 1932–1969
Swami Shantaswarupananda 1970
Swami Prabuddhananda 1970–2014
Swami Tattwamayananda 2014 - Present

Activities[edit]

The society is affiliated with the Ramakrishna Math religious monastic order and Ramakrishna Mission, and houses a library, bookstore, and prayer hall. They conduct weekly lecture classes and weekly vesper services.^[2]