Go to a cave or stay at home, the process is still the same.
You will have to face yourself, study yourself, and be a constant vessel of change.
Like any achievement in life, hard work is necessary. Make this path your life. Not because you desire its fruit, 'karmaphal,' but because this is the reason for the human experience all together. We are not a bunch of 'Human Doings,' we are 'Human Beings.' Lets' at least figure out what it means to 'Be.'
What items you will need on the path.
Things to take with you- courage, vulnerability, unwavering faith and commitment, disinterest to the world of shape and form, and love.
Courage and Vulnerability: Here is the thing, Anger and Ego will dry up. 'Digging Deep' is short lived. Your 'competitive nature' will seek another spark of 'comparing yourself to others' to light the fire of achievement as thoughts of 'I'll be better than you or I'll get there faster than you' flood your mind. Who are you comparing yourself to anyways? If the same supreme animates all- isn't it just 'you' fighting 'you' alone? Let your courage and vulnerability be what 'takes you there' what makes you go to those deep recesses of your twisted being. This is your tapas, austerity. Swami Vivekananda would say, sit with your mind and see all the horrific, twisted and dark things that occupy it- you will be humbled and you will be pressed to move forward. Why the need to go to Netflix to be thrilled, repulsed and shocked- you have it all in your mind and it needs your courage to clean it up and your honest and sincere vulnerability to see it all.
See it, sift through it, sit with it.
Smear your body with ash or style your forehead with chandan, it doesn't matter, for this is an inner experience. Your integrity and honesty will let you know if your heart is pure or if you are putting up a show. You will know if you are fake and you will have to live with that falsehood. Leave your home, take off your clothes, come what may... Unless the principles are lived inside, it doesn't matter if you 'give up' something physical since it still occupies your mental space.
Smear your body with ash or style your forehead with chandan, it doesn't matter, for this is an inner experience. Your integrity and honesty will let you know if your heart is pure or if you are putting up a show. You will know if you are false and you will have to live with that falsehood.
Shraddha, or Faith. You will need this for sure. There will be moments of doubt. The mind and ego are restless in their pursuit to not have their hold on you undone. Have unwavering faith and commitment when things get bleak, for they will. This is why the Vedic tradition puts such an emphasis on having a Guru. Among the many divine reasons for the importance of a Guru, one I will highlight is that they are the living example. You need to look no further than their own expression to constantly fuel and even rekindle the flame in this pursuit. They are the reflection of your soul's highest desire, for they are an example of the goal attained- the ultimate achievement of the earthly pursuit realized in flesh. Often a Guru requires the disciple to surrender. The significance in this, is laying down the ego and taking up faith as your garb. This act is one where, with resolve, you know you will be taken care of on this path, that you are guided. Again, that YOU are guided, not your ego.
Yogananda mentioned, as many quote the Upanishadic glory, that the path is as fine as walking on a razor's edge. But Yogananda's reply to this was, it is only as fine or as dangerous as your mind makes it- until you make up your mind. Make up your mind that you must reach God in this life, and the razor's edge will no longer be so sharp. With this resolve, this shraddha, anything is possible. It is the power of shraddha, or faith, that makes you sleep at night- because you have the faith that you will wake up in the morning. It is shraddha or faith that makes eating enjoyable, because you have faith that you will be able to digest the food. Faith is not so far-removed. Faith is what carries us through life- the faith that our dreams will be realized carries us through periods of struggle. What ever it may be, you already have it in you. It is what makes us carry on. Don't you have faith that oxygen will be right there to meet your nose once you finish exhaling the CO2 from your lungs? You dont even consider it otherwise. This must be the shraddha that you have. Feel the faith that guides your being. It is faith that your legs will work, that makes you stand from your chair. Make up your mind and heart, and surrender at the feet of the divine your life- because shraddha is your true expression.
Disinterest and disillusionment to the world of shape and form: The philosophy of Vedanta, mentions this world to be unreal. The scientists and researchers of the inner realms, the Rishis, used method for understanding realty- " if I see this now, but when I sleep I see something different, then neither are 'real'. " Real, means permanent and unchanging. Think of something that is not subject to time and that is unchangeable- that alone is what the Rishi's note as 'real.' The only thing that is 'real' is the substratum of consciousness that underlies and is the causation of all these diverse shapes and forms. Align to this, and may it be constantly reminded that things of this world will always change but consciousness remains unchanged. For example, on a more mundane level, we age, things change, and when we become attached to them, 'things' will always disappoint. They are suppose to, they are subject to the change of this plane of existence. There will always be dissatisfaction, even a twinge of it in everyones heart, it is what propels people onto the path. Whether you fill the hole of this subtle and chronic dissatisfaction with consumerism, buying things, eating things, increasing your consumptive capacity evermore, or not, this slight feeling of incompleteness is a reminder that the path is still left unchartered. This consumerism and object craving is only building you up, to fall even harder. A situation comes your way where your heart is pained by the loss of these things or frustrated by a desire unfulfilled- at that moment you are shown just how much of your power and happiness has been given away to these objects to define your happiness. Death is a great teacher, it shakes you, sit with it, understand the impermanence of life like the Rishis and develop Tyaga or Vairagya - renunciation, dispassion and detachment. If something comes into your life, let it come. If something goes from your life, let it go.
Love: 'Bhakti' or devotion, makes it worth it, for who do you gravitate more to than those that you love? For how easy is it for you to sacrifice your time and energy than to those that you love? Who do you trust more or crave the time with more than those you love?
Fall in love with the path. Pray for devotion to enter your heart. And if it does, it is through God's or the Infinite's grace alone. Welcome love into your heart. Shed tears of ecstasy and yearning for your true nature to enter you. An ecstatic devotional phase in hindi is "utare mujh mein Adiyogi" or "Come inside me Shiva (name for the Divine)." A heart on fire.
This is the importance of linking your heart to an expression of the Divine. To have a 'beloved.'
Is it your Guru, is it a deity from the hindu pantheon or not?
RamaKrishna had Kali, Neem Karoli Baba had Hanuman, and Ramana Maharishi had Mt. Arunachala, or it could be the essence of the infinite free from shape and form called Brahman which is worshiped by Vedantins. Forms are used in order to captivate the mind and focus it on one point. A good example of this is how the mind can stay fixated on the form of a beautiful woman- almost entranced, thoroughly filled with just her image. This is not a random design of the cosmic play.
The development of the Hindu pantheon was founded in an understanding that souls will come to earth that will be drawn to different expressions of the divine and will need to hear the stories of these divine expressions to help them navigate life's hardships and develop a heart's interest in the soul's own evolution. But mind you, the destination is the same, the paths are many. The expressions are many, but the infinite consciousness is one. The path begins with dual- you and the divine reality of infinite consciousness. But the path ends in unity- merged into oneness.
Love gives lightness, happiness and innocence to the mind and heart. Ramana Maharishi put so much emphasis on the heart, that he would remind his devotees that the heart is where consciousness dwells.
If you are too rigid, you break. Just like with your belief systems. Think of a piece of dry wood-it will snap. Let love enter you, and you will become pliable, bending with the change of time, firmly rooted in the supreme effulgence unfazed by the passage of time- for you are the mystery of life realized.
Leave your home, take off your clothes, come what may... Unless the principles are lived inside, it doesn't matter if you 'give up' something physical since it still occupies your mental space.
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