I always thought 'one who knows brahman is a brahmana'. Let's forget all about shastras, dharma blah blah blah. All scriptures are written by man. The "lifestyle I was raised in" was done by your family elders who wanted that tag of upper caste, in spite of spewing venom of hate on that caste for a century, back home.
They are very conveniently putting on that very same garb when they leave their native lands, and this is nothing new. I have heard this many time. Tamils claiming to be brahmins when they go to USA or Delhi etc. This nappasai is what leads to the hate. I don't want to bring in the politics into this thread, but there is an awful lot of it.
//continuing the legacy of my family and gurU and if that was ok to do while keeping with DharmA, or the natural order that the Divine has set in stone for us//
Your family and guru, and a lot of nutcase uncles in this forum will tell you "Don't worry about what others will say and think. Bhakti is all that matters. If you feel its right, go ahead and do it. Nobody can stop you."
This is the answer you want. 'sanction of dharma' is a cheap thing. It can be had for anything. Its all a matter of searching in the right place, and deliberately closing your eyes to all other things.
Lets forget scripture, dharma, divine, etc. All those are concepts created by man.
Lets keep it simple. We are all born into castes. We didn't choose our caste. And the system in vogue is....caste is permanent. If you are born into one, that is your caste for life. You could be a brahmana who has realised brahman, but you would be a paraiyar or balija nayakudu or thondaimandala thuluva vellala agamudaya mudaliar, whichever caste you were born into.
This is the agreed system in India. An agreement among everyone in society. You want to change this. Fine. Do you need sanction of dharma, or the sanction of everyone in society? The agreement between man and man is most sacred. That is why i said you are looking for somebody who will give you the answer that you need. And amongst tamil brahmin geniuses, that is not too hard. take that naamam potta r&d ungil for ex. these are wokes and liberals, like charu haasan. they just want to appear cool by being iconoclastic. they are not aware of the damage they do. those are the ones who can give you 'the answer that you are looking for'. and lo, 'sanction of dharma', done!
But is that the case as per the unspoken, unwritten agreement?
Why do you want to anoint yourself with the symbols of some other caste? because YOU WANT THE TAG! And you are looking for chaaru haasans who can give you 'the answer that you need'.
What is inside that urge to anoint yourself with symbols/lifestyle?
You know that they are the markings of upper caste. you are aware of that. So, you want to wear that garb. but u know ur in violation of the rules in indian society, leave alone dharma, scripture, etc.
if u didn't carry notions that brahmin is upper caste then that tag wouldn't prick you. wanting to follow that lifestyle automatically means that you deem all others to be lower. you are aware of this. what are those 6 lifestyles? lets see how many brahmins follow them today
. U are eyeing for those 6, but you messed up basic morality/ethics/rules. modhalukkey mosam aaiduchey.
You are asking this question because you know what you are doing is fraud and forgery, but u have deep nappasai, like nagarathar-vellalar. you are searching for somebody who will tell you it is ok, and allay this guilt. you will get plenty.