Editing Swami Prabhavananda (section)

==Biography==

Born in [[India]], he joined the Ramakrishna Order after graduating from [[Calcutta]] university in 1914. He was initiated by 
[[Disciples_of_Ramakrishna#Swami Brahmananda|Swami Brahmananda]], the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna, and the first president of the [[Ramakrishna Order]], headquartered in Belur, West Bengal.<ref name="About Prabhavananda">[http://www.vedanta.org/vssc/prabhavananda.html About Prabhavananda] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214045641/http://www.vedanta.org/vssc/prabhavananda.html |date=2011-12-14}}</ref><Ref>{{cite book |last= Sawyer |first= Dana |date= 2002|title= Aldous Huxley: A Biography |publisher= Crossroads Publishing Company |page= 112|isbn= 0-8245-1987-6}}</Ref>

In 1923, he was sent to the United States of America. Initially, he worked as an assistant minister of the Vedanta Society of San Francisco. After two years, he established the Vedanta Society of Portland. In December 1929, he moved to Los Angeles, where he founded the [[Vedanta Society#Vedanta_Society_of_Southern_California|Vedanta Society of Southern California]] in 1930.<Ref>{{cite book |last= Jackson |first= Carl |date= 1994|title= Vedanta for the West |publisher= Indiana University Press|page= 116|isbn= 0-253-33098-X}}</Ref>

Under his administration, the Vedanta Society of Southern California grew over the years to become the largest Vedanta Society in the West,<Ref>{{cite book |last= Sawyer |first= Dana |date= 2002|title= Aldous Huxley: A Biography |publisher= Crossroads Publishing Company |page= 112|isbn= 0-8245-1987-6}}</Ref> with monasteries in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] and [[Trabuco Canyon]] and convents in Hollywood and [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]].<ref>[http://www.vedanta.org/vssc/centers/hwd.html List of VSSC centers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212001426/http://www.vedanta.org/vssc/centers/hwd.html |date=2011-12-12}}</ref><Ref>{{cite book |last= Sawyer |first= Dana |date= 2002|title= Aldous Huxley: A Biography |publisher= Crossroads Publishing Company |page= 112|isbn= 0-8245-1987-6}}</Ref>

Prabhavananda was a scholar who wrote a number of books on Vedanta and Indian religious scriptures and commentary. He was assisted on several of the projects by [[Christopher Isherwood]] and Frederick Manchester. His comprehensive knowledge of philosophy and religion attracted such disciples as [[Aldous Huxley]] and [[Gerald Heard]].<Ref>{{cite book |last= Jackson |first= Carl |date= 1994|title= Vedanta for the West |publisher= Indiana University Press|page= 116|isbn= 0-253-33098-X}}</Ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Syman | first=Stefanie | title=The Subtle Body : the Story of Yoga in America | publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-374-53284-0 | oclc=456171421 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/subtlebodystoryo0000syma/page/160 160–168] | url=https://archive.org/details/subtlebodystoryo0000syma/page/160}}</ref>

Prabhavananda died on the bicentennial of America's independence, July 4, 1976, and on the 74th anniversary of the death, or mahasamadhi, of [[Swami Vivekananda]], the founder of the [[Ramakrishna Order]] in India and many of the Vedanta centers in America and Europe.<ref name="About Prabhavananda"/>