Neo-Advaita

Shaivism/Tantra/Nath

New movements

Kashmir Shaivism

Gaudapada

Adi Shankara

Advaita-Yoga

Nath

Kashmir Shaivism

Neo-Vedanta

Inchegeri Sampradaya

Contemporary

Shaivism/Tantra/Nath

Neo-Advaita

Hinduism

Buddhism

Modern Advaita Vedanta

Neo-Vedanta

Antiquity

Medieval

Early modern

Modern

Iran

India

East-Asia

Neo-Advaita, also called the Satsang-movement as alive as Nondualism, is the New Religious Movement, emphasizing the direct recognition of the non-existence of the "I" or "ego," without the need of preparatory practice. Its teachings are derived from, but not authorised by, the teachings of the 20th century sage Ramana Maharshi, as interpreted in addition to popularized by H. W. L. Poonja and several of his western students.

It is part of a larger religious current called immediatism by Arthur Versluis, which has its roots in both western and eastern spirituality. Western influences are western esoteric traditions like Transcendentalism, and "New Age millennialism, self-empowerment and self-therapy".

Neo-Advaita authorises little use of the "traditional Linguistic communication or cultural structures of Advaita Vedanta", and some clear criticised it for its lack of preparatory training, and regard enlightenment-experiences induced by Neo-Advaita as superficial.

History

According to Lucas and Frawley, the spiritual root of neo-Advaita is Ramana Maharshi, whose teachings, and method of self-inquiry could easily be transposed to North America’s liberal spiritual subculture. Popular interest in Indian religions goes as far back as the early 19th century, and was stimulated by the American Transcendentalists and the Theosophical Society. In the 1930s Ramana Maharshi's teachings were brought to the west by Paul Brunton, a Theosophist, in his A Search in Secret India. Stimulated by Arthur Osborne, in the 1960s Bhagawat Singh actively started to spread Ramana Maharshi's teachings in the USA.

Since the 1970s western interest in Asian religions has seen a rapid growth. Ramana Maharshi's teachings develope been further popularized in the west via H. W. L. Poonja and his students. Poonja, better invited as Papaji, "told, inferred, or allows hundreds of individuals to believe they were fully enlightened simply because they'd had one, or many, powerful experiences of awakening." It was those students who initiated the "neo-Advaita", or "satsang" movement, which has become an important portion of popular western spirituality. it is being spread by websites and publishing enterprises, which render an easy access to its teachings.