Before you germinate your seeds you should keep them in a refrigerator at five degrees Celsius in an air tight light proof container, this helps them to break dormancy and the procedure is called stratification.
When you are about to germinate allow the seeds to warm to room temperature for ten minutes, next you need to select only the viable seeds, firstly a visual inspection of the seeds is needed, select plump seeds with good dark colour, pale green or white seeds are immature and won't germinate.
The next step is to test the seeds by pressing them firmly between your finger and thumb and roll them holding them close to your ear, if you hear them crack then discard them as they are not viable.
Now you can prepare the seeds for germinating by scuffing them with sandpaper or similar, the method I employ is to line the inside of a film canister with sandpaper and place the seeds inside then close the lid and shake hard for a few minutes, you will probably notice dust collecting in the bottom of the canister which has come from the seeds, this procedure is called scarification.
Now that your seeds have been correctly prepared for germinating you need only keep them hydrated by whichever you choose, (moist paper towel or directly in water or directly into soil) but it is important to keep a constant temperature of 26 to 27 degrees Celsius or 78 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and keep light exposure to a minimum, absolute darkness is not necessary.
If you choose to germinate them into soil then treat them like clones and make sure the soil is moist and not soaking wet.
Depending on age and seed health you can expect to see them split open within 2 days, I have had seeds open within 12 hours using this method with seeds which are less than 12 months old.