encompasses all. Swami VIVEKANANDA, a disciple
of Sri Ramakrishna, first introduced Ramakrish-
na’s ideas of Vedanta to the UNITED STAT E S when
he addressed the WORLD PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS
in Chicago in 1893. His message was so well
received that he lectured throughout the coun-
try and founded the first Vedanta Society in the
United States in New York City in 1896.
Other swamis or monastics in the order
founded other Vedanta Societies in major cit-
ies. Swami ABHEDANANDA served the New York
society and taught throughout the United States
from 1897 to 1921. In San Francisco, Swami
Trigunatita oversaw the construction of the first
Hindu temple in the United States in 1906.
Swami PARAMANANDA (1885–1940) lectured all
over the United States and established centers in
Los Angeles and Boston. In 1923 he established
ANANDA ASHRAMA at La Crescenta, California.
Swami Nikhilananda founded a center in Manhat-
tan in 1933. Swami Prabhavananda (1914–76)
established centers in Portland, Oregon, and Hol-
lywood, California. The Vedanta Society in Hol-
lywood became the Vedanta Society of Southern
California, with several monasteries, a convent,
and the Vedanta Press. The writers Gerald Heard
(1889–1971), Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), and
Christopher ISHERWOOD (1904–86) were disciples
of Prabhavananda.
The Vedanta Societies remain under the author-
ity of the central monastery, the Ramakrishna
Order, headquartered in Belur Math, India. The
larger organization, the Ramakrishna Math and
Mission, administers a network of Ramakrishna
Missions in major cities and some rural areas of
India. Missions sponsor hospitals in addition to
religious services. SWAMIs are trained at the math
and are sent to direct Vedanta centers outside
India. At present, all swamis are male, although
nuns are part of the organization and convents
are provided for nuns through the Sarada Math,
named for SARADA DEVI, the wife of Ramakrishna.
Several swamis have left the Vedanta Society
because of its traditional authority structure.Further reading: Swami Gambhrananda, History of the
Ramakrishna Math and Mission (Calcutta: Advaida Ash-
rama, 1957); Christopher Isherwood, Ramakrishna, and
His Disciples (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965); Carl
T. Jackson, Vedanta for the West: Ramakrishna Movement
in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1994); Romain Rolland, The Life of Ramakrishna
(Mayavati: advaita Ashrama, 1931); ———, The Life of
Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel (Mayavati: advaita
Ashrama, 1931); ———, Prophets of the New India.
Translated by E. F. Malcolm-Smith (New York: Albert
& Charles Boni, 1930); Catherine Wessinger, “Hindu-
ism Arrives in America: The Vedanta Movement and
the Self-Realization Fellowship,” in Timothy Miller, ed.,
America’s Alternative Religions, 173–190 (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 1995).Vedanta Sutra (first century C.E.)
The Vedanta Sutra is said to have been com-
posed by VYA S A, but it is also known as VedantaRamakrishna Temple, in Ramakrishna Math, Belur,
Bengal (Constance A. Jones)
K 484 Vedanta Sutra