/lit/ - Literature

>>13489560
>I always thought you had to be initiated into a proper tradition in India?
The only initiation in traditional Advaita is exclusively reserved for sannyasa, there is no side-system for laymen; you either take up the life of a possessionless monk and are initiated by a teacher, or you don't and are never initiated. If you desire to take the plunge and be initiated as a sannyasa (which is not temporary and entails remaining one until you die) you'd have to learn one of the more common Indian dialects like Hindi along with some Sanskrit and then travel to India to meet with the Dashnami Sampradaya. They trace their lineage to Shankaracharya and are one of the largest monastic groups in India with tens of thousands of sannyasin according to some counts. They have no caste requirements whatsoever for initiation, you might have to meet and interact with a few different members first, but before long you'd undoubtedly find one willing to be your guru and initiate you providing that you could fluently converse with them, demonstrate your knowledge of the Sruti, display the requisite personality qualities etc. The Dashnami Sampradaya congregate in large numbers at religious festivals, which would be a good time to approach them.

That being said, one can still massively benefit from reading through Shankara's works without being initiated, even to the point of having life-changing and earth-shattering spiritual realizations just from reading them. Some people take the view that one can even combine a deep knowledge of and belief in Advaita with other religious traditions or while being a member of another religion, I don't disagree with them. If you desire to be initiated into a non-dualistic Hindu tradition though without becoming a sannyasin your best bet would probably be Lingyatism, also known as Veershaiva. It is a non-dual Shaivite Hindu tradition going back to at least around the 12th century. Its metaphysics has been described by some scholars as a combination between Shankara's Advaita and Ramanuja's Vishishadvaita. The Linyatists/Veershaivists reject any form of caste+social discrimination and the sect is known to accept converts from all other religions and from any social status. They are active in the US and other western countries, you can research online whether there is a local chapter near you can contact them, they'd most likely welcome you warmly. I do know that they have some form of initiation as well involving instruction in the teachings. The sage Nisargadatta Maharaj was initiated into both the Nath and the Lingyatist traditions.

Here is the website for the Veershaiva Samaj of North America, you can look up on it if they are near you (I think they have sites for Europe etc too)

https://www.vsna.org/