Day 298: Portland Vedanta Society, Portland, Oregon
📌APIA Every Day (298) - The Vedanta Society of Portland was established in 1925 and its first informal temple was dedicated in 1934. The society is one branch of a larger religious organization that was originally founded in New York by Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th century. The Portland society would eventually organize efforts to dedicate a formal temple on a rural property in the neighboring city of Scappoose in 1954—constructing the first official Vedic temple in the Pacific Northwest.
Swami Prabhavananda, the founder of the Vedanta Society’s Portland chapter, immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1923. Initially assisting the Vedanta Society of San Francisco (APIA Every Day 110), he moved to Oregon in 1925 and held public lectures discussing Vedantic philosophy. Prior to having an established temple space, these lectures and meetings would be held in various buildings around Portland. It wasn’t until 1934, following the arrival of Swami Devatmananda in 1932, that the first permanent location for the society was purchased near the city’s Hillside neighborhood. It was also around this time that the society acquired its 120-acre property in Scappoose for its future Retreat property: otherwise known as the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama. Once a clear-cut lot, volunteer labor over the years from society members transformed it into a lush forested trail.
In 1943, on the 50th anniversary of the Vedanta Movement in America, the Portland society moved from its old temple house to a new property near Portland State University. In the same decade, construction on the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama Temple in Scappoose was underway and completed in 1954. When Portland State University claimed the society’s old meeting space for an expansion project, the present center in Portland’s Mt. Tabor neighborhood was purchased and dedicated in 1968. The existing single-family home on the site was remodelled to accommodate a central worship space, a library, and classrooms.
Since its initial foundation a century ago, the Vedanta Society of Portland remains active today, hosting religious services, organizing youth forums, and offering spiritual lectures at its main Portland location. Members also continue to participate in festivals like the annual Interfaith Celebration on July 4th at the society’s Retreat location in Scappoose. In 2020, an adjacent 169 acres of land at the Ashrama location was purchased by the society, leaving room for future expansion.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
First Vedic Temple in Pacific Northwest
The Pluralism Project: The Vedanta Society
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