How can a soul trust its decision to exclusively follow the spiritual path of nivrutti?

[Smt. Priyanka asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Thank You for the excellent discourse on a soul's free will in choosing Nivrutti and Pravrutti. I have a few follow-up doubts regarding the same topic. I request You to kindly answer the same. At Your divine lotus feet, Priyanka

Q1. How can a soul trust its decision to exclusively follow the spiritual path of nivrutti?

You said the final responsibility/ free will lies with the soul itself to enter Nivrutti, and that a soul has to decide based on its own willpower and strength of interest to stand firm in Nivrutti. But, at times, a soul does not know whether to trust its own consciousness or inner voice. Souls may not be able to hear it properly or interpret it properly...[Click to read detailed question→]

a) Can it be said that when a soul is having such a doubt about which path to choose, the soul isn't really ready for Nivrutti?

b) Does God advise souls about the difficulties and merits in the spiritual path?

Generally, people are advised to take an informed decision before taking any big step in life. Should this be applied even in Nivrutti? For example, if a person wants to become an IAS officer, that person should be informed about the difficulties in that course and their examinations and what kind of challenges they may face in the line of duty in the future. They can also be told about the advantages of becoming an IAS officer. After hearing everything, if that person still wants to become an IAS officer, then he/she can be encouraged and guided to reach the goal of becoming an officer. Similarly, when a devotee asks God about choosing the Nivrutti path with God as the goal, does God Himself advise him/her about the difficulties, tests and merits of the path and then give the free will to the soul whether to choose Nivrutti or not? Or should the devotees themselves ask God for advice in the first place and look up past examples of great devotees to learn how a life of a devotee can be?

c) Does God only guide souls who expect nothing and are aware of the difficulties in the spiritual path?

If the devotee chooses the Nivrutti path upon hearing that the path can be full of thorns and does not expect anything in return from God, is it only then that God guides that devotee in the Nivrutti path?

d) When is a soul discouraged in Nivrutti?

You said if a soul is trying for a higher level (Nivrutti), that cannot be discouraged by any advisor and that it is best to ask Sadguru for advice. At the same time, God prevents souls from entering Nivrutti and discourages it in certain situations. Is this done to filter out devotees, who have real love towards God vs. devotees, who approach God only for selfish benefits? Can You please elaborate on this further?

e) Does trust in God bring the confidence to succeed in nivrutti?

Souls may believe that they can pass the tests of God and reach God. For example, souls may believe they will survive the IAS course and examinations because of their strong interest in that subject. But, once they start, they may realize it is not that easy and that the tests are also very difficult. Here, a soul has 2 options in Pravrutti. Either he/she can drop out of this course and choose another path or have the determination to repeat the course and go through re-examinations and training until it finally reaches its goal of becoming an officer. Similarly, when a soul enters Nivrutti, it can fail some tests of God and realize that this path is not easy. If a soul decides to give up and choose Pravrutti (provided they are following Dharma), is it given another chance at Nivrutti in the next life because it attempted Nivrutti in this life? Another option is to never give up irrespective of failing God's tests until it reaches its goal, which is God. A soul never knows its future and at the most, it can know only about its determination to reach God. Does the confidence to know whether a soul will succeed in Nivrutti come from having complete faith in God, by trusting that God will constantly guide that soul in the journey towards reaching Him since that soul decided never to give up on its goal to reach God?

Q2. How can a soul develop patience when God creates hurdles in Nivrutti?

Swami, You said that God will create hurdles to test the degree of intensity of love to Him and such hurdles will help the soul to develop the intensity of love to God in a very short time just like a culvert in a water canal develops the speed of flow of water. You also said that in Nivrutti, the effort is from the devotees' side and God even opposes it by creating those hurdles. When God puts hurdles, a devotee is expected to have patience as well as cross them to reach God. You said it depends on the strength of the attraction of the devotee towards God in deciding whether the devotee jumps over the Pravrutti to reach God or the devotee controls the attraction and proceeds in Pravrutti only. Should a devotee cross all the hurdles due to strong attraction towards God, only when it is asked to cross by God? Is the devotee expected to have patience until God tests us? When & how should a devotee develop patience when these hurdles are created?

Q3. What divine background is required for success in the spiritual path?

Swami, You said that the twelve Gopikas, who succeeded in Nivrutti have no divine background since they were ordinary souls putting a lot of severe effort for God during their millions of previous births. A doubt arises here. Does their severe penance for God in their previous births as well as attaining divine knowledge over those births count as having a divine background or only direct incarnations of God like Radha being an incarnation of Lord Shiva, count as having a divine background? Were some of the sages in constant association with God Dattatreya before He disappeared into the lake for 1000 years? If yes, then they were in association with God on Earth while attaining divine knowledge from God directly and discussing divine knowledge among themselves over many years. Can all this be considered as divine background or is it strictly confined to human incarnations of Gods?]

Swami replied:- If the soul is unable to arrive at a final decision even after lot of discussions with spiritual people and Satguru also, such a soul can never arrive at any decision in the future in the spiritual field. The human birth is not guaranteed in the future and the human birth is also very short. The whole human birth will be spent in arriving at the decision and such time of decision will be on the death bed only (Dīrgha sūtrī vinaśyati).

Parvati wanted to do penance for God Shiva. She was discouraged by all her family members and she did not go back even by an inch. Even God Shiva Himself came in disguise and discouraged her a lot. But, she did not go back even by a millimeter. All the advises given by surrounding people and even Satguru are only the tests done to estimate the strength of the interest or willpower of the devotee towards God only. If the interest is in climax, such a devotee will not stop from going forward even if God Himself appears and discourages. Krishna Himself discouraged Gopikas threatening them that they will go to hell if they do not hear His advice. Gopikas did not follow Krishna’s advice and gave counter threat that they will jump into the river Yamuna if Krishna refuses them. Their interest and willpower were in climax and hence got a newly created highest fruit called Goloka, which is above the abode of God. Moreover, the field of Nivrutti is not created by God and it was created by the greatest devotees, who were sages doing penance for millions of births for God. In Pravrutti, God always encourages the soul with rewards. In Nivrutti, God always discourages the soul with horrible threatening. In Nivrutti, a soul can succeed only if its love to God is greater than God Himself!

If the devotee wants to take the decision after getting answers of all the details of the path to achieve the goal, it means that the interest of the devotee is not in climax. The reason is that the details of the path shall not crack the firm interest of the devotee. Collecting the details and thinking about the solutions of the problems in the path is certainly a wise thing, but, such wisdom shall not delay the decision or shall not destroy the decision. If both these negative effects are avoided completely, wisdom about the solutions is not wrong. The wisdom is good, but, shall not delay or destroy the climax interest to God. The goal can’t be compared to an inert position like IAS officer because God is non-inert unimaginable awareness. Even the goal is not an imaginable awareness or a human being with less knowledge and less potency. The human being can change itself neglecting the climax interest of the other side succumbing to selfish limitations. God is omnipotent and if God recognizes the climax interest of the devotee, He will bless the devotee to succeed in reaching the goal even though He is strongly opposing externally. When God Shiva in disguise was scolding Himself before Parvati while hearing her opposing answers was hiding His pleasure inside (Apṛcchadavyañjita harsalaksaṇaḥ— Kumāra Sambhavam). God wants to prove the climax interest of the devotee to angels and sages before giving the climax fruit so that they will not blame God with partiality.

If God knows that a devotee is not deserving and lacks the climax interest, He may discourage the devotee from Nivrutti. But, God also discourages a deserving devotee also so that such a deserving devotee can prove his real climax of devotion to God. Both these situations can’t be isolated because the undeserving devotee also may be feeling that he/she is also deserving. Both shall be isolated through the test only so that no devotee blames God for advance conclusions.

If the goal is a worldly item other than God, justice shall not be crossed in the path. But, if it is God, even justice shall be crossed, which is not a sin even if God is telling in opposite way since God is testing the devotee for the climax interest at that point. In Nivrutti also compartmental pass is allowed as said in the Gita (Bahūnāṃ janmanāmante…). But, the devotee believing this present human life as the ultimate period is the wisest provided the devotee has unshakable climax devotion to God.

Hurdles in Nivrutti are created by God not only to test the climax interest of the devotee for the sake of the knowledge of the devotee himself/herself but also for the knowledge of angels and sages, who are observing these tests of God. Intention of God is that these hurdles shall develop the intensity of flow of water-devotion of the devotee so that the devotee can succeed in Nivrutti. But, if the quantity of water itself is less, where is the possibility of increase in the flow? Hence, the devotee is fully responsible for the defeat or for the success in Nivrutti. God will not show partiality in helping the devotee, which is against the justice of observation of angels and sages.

The divine incarnations of God in Nivrutti are only to guide the ordinary souls trying to succeed in Nivrutti. The divine incarnations always succeed because the actor in all these incarnations is only God. A successful candidate in the path always inspires a candidate trying for success in the same path. All the conditions mentioned by you can help for the success because they may also increase the intensity of interest on God to reach the climax devotion. In any case, in Nivrutti, the entire factor of success is only the self-effort and self-determination only and no help from God comes to candidate. God is not like a politician trying to impress the voters for their votes. God is also not like a false lover trying to request the other side lover to help him/her in increasing his/her love to the other side since his/her is not increasing by itself naturally. In Pravrutti, God helps the devotees trying to follow the justice and trying to destroy the injustice because God’s personal affair is not existing in it.