Question: Swami, you have spoken about the Path of Liberation, moksha-dharma, its greatness, and how it differs from other paths. What is needed to practice moksha-dharma in your tradition further deeply?

Answer: If you decide to enter the Teaching, become a disciple of the Guru, and become part of the Sangha, our spiritual family of sadhus, to enter the transmission lineage, you must start with Three Great Ones.

- Great skepticism about all Sansara ignorance and karmic illusions and disillusionment about the meanings and values of Sansara (Skepticism does not mean nihilism and denial, but proper understanding).

- Great faith in Sanatana Dharma, the teachings of the Advaita Siddhas, i.e., moksha-dharma, the Refuge, the Guru lineage, the indigenous Guru, and the teachings of the saints.

- Great determination (Virya) to follow this Path, unyielding intention to go to moksha (Mumukshutva).

Refuge

Then one must realize from scriptures, teachings, precepts, and commentaries the principles of guru-yoga, Samaya, the qualities of the Guru and the Disciple, the ethics of relationship, and pure vision.

Then one must become familiar with the Tree of Refuge of the deities and saints of the two main transmission lines and study how Refuge should be handled, what Refuge (Sharanam) is, and what it is for.

To understand how to properly honor and respect the Refuge, how to praise and invoke it, how to worship and serve it, and what offerings to make so that it will confer incalculable merit and blessings.

For example, how to perform simple daily veneration of the deities and saints of Refuge at the altar (upasana) and how to do so on special days (statutes).

Creed

In addition, one must familiarize oneself with the short and pentatonic creed (Pancha-Shraddha) and its unfolded version and accept it sincerely, with all one's heart, and outwardly - in absentia, oneself at the altar and then personally with the monk.

You are supposed to make the altar (puja Ghar) following the accepted guidelines for placing deities or go to an ashram, a group that already has one. It gives you blessings, purifies karma streams, harmonizes destiny, and encourages you to Sadhana, Seva, study, and perform basic practices.

Studying texts, the teachings of tradition, and Seva

After that, you may start studying sacred texts, the teachings of the lineage, and basic practices - analytic meditations, concentration, mantras, etc. It should be taken seriously, trying to practice and study thoroughly, with diligence.

One should pray to the saints of The Tree of Refuge and the Goddess Saraswati for blessings for the successful comprehension of The Teaching and the bestowal of good qualities of the true disciple, free from the three defects of the vessel: a leaky, impure, and overflowing.

In parallel, it is also essential to practice karma yoga, and Seva, i.e., to find a service of one of the established traditions to one's liking—Dharma service.

It purifies one's destiny and opens new opportunities, giving blessings and strengths needed on the Path.

Initiation - Diksha

Finally, the time comes for taking а spiritual name initiation and guru-mantra, i.e., Diksha, the status of karma-sannyasi. Along with the Diksha come spiritual and ethical obligations - the Vratas and Samayas. When the Diksha is received, you become fully admitted into our spiritual tradition and spiritual family (guru-kula), the holy sadhu community (Arya-Sangha).

Entering the stream of awakening

Then you line up your daily study and Sadhana, enter into monthly and annual retreats, and perform daily veneration and invocation of deities and saints at home or in an ashram if there is an ashram nearby. So begins the Great Path to Liberation, to God, which once started, never ends, for it is infinite and timeless. And it's up to you to walk it. And may it be blessed, and be auspicious, and prosperous.