Santa Barbara Vedanta Temple, Hindu temple in Santa Barbara, United States.

The Santa Barbara Vedanta Temple is a Hindu worship space in California that blends traditional Indian design with modern construction. The building occupies a large property nestled between mountains and ocean, providing areas for meditation, classes, and weekly gatherings.

In 1944 linseed-oil magnate Spencer Kellogg Jr. donated his 30-acre estate to the Vedanta Society of Southern California, and it became a full-time convent for nuns from the Hollywood center in 1947. Public Sunday lectures began in 1954 in the main house living room, and architect Lutah Maria Riggs was hired after telling Swami Prabhavananda she had never liked a church. The temple was built and dedicated in 1956, largely funded by the 1955 sale of a Whittier orange grove for $45,000, and won first prize in the 1956 Santa Barbara Civic Awards.

The temple displays representations of multiple spiritual traditions on its altar, reflecting a philosophy of universal respect and recognition. Visitors encounter Christian and Buddhist figures standing alongside Hindu deities, showing how different faiths are honored within the same sacred space.

The temple is open daily to the public, and the nuns of Sarada Convent run the bookstore and the daily worship, meditation and vesper services. Sunday lectures and pujas are held regularly, and Durga Puja is celebrated here each year. A path behind the temple climbs a hill to a pavilion used for classes with the swamis and nuns.

The bronze bell beside the temple was cast in Japan in the 12th century and was once fastened to a Chinese military ship before reaching this hillside. It is rung three times a day, at dawn, noon and dusk.