We're all driven by lust and greed. That's the nature of the human existence. Actually all life seeks to preserve itself by accumulating resources and by reproducing itself. A more subtle allure is that of fame, which is called subtle sex life. It ensures the fulfillment of both of our instincts, namely our lust and greed.
The yoga path labels the goal as transcendent, with minor side effects being better health and mindset. So some people use yoga and the path of transcendence simply to improve their health and sex life. We are all selfishly motivated.
Some, on the other hand, perhaps driven by their suffering or failure at the ways of the material world and our pursuit of sex and money, may aspire to take up yoga, the path of transcendence, in order to escape their material suffering. Yet even this is a selfish motivation. A subtle one, yet still ego based.
Some take to the yoga path and the pursuit of mystic skills in order to attract fame. Or they join a yoga organization and find that they are materially skilled at the requirements of the organization, so they rise to the top of the social ladder. Even here the allure of fame grips the ego of the yogi. Acquiring many followers is fun, since they serve your whims and pay for your chapatis.
Thus, even the yogi can get bewildered by this fame and subtle sex. They may wear the robes of a renunciate, yet they wallow in the fame and adulation of more naive seekers, who are easy to groom into cult followers because they too are struggling with their feelings of lack. Lack of a father figure in early childhood and the search for a substitute, for example.
A few may escape that trap and retreat to a place of solitude to find peace and simply meditate and master their yoga. Who can blame them, when the ways of the world seem rather harsh? In the mood of renunciation of the mundane, they may cease to engage with the world, retire from work and become the observer. This is commendable.
Yet this is not the ideal. The perfection of yoga and the path of transcendence requires not merely abstaining from work, but from abstaining from the results of work. True masters know how to be in the world but not attached to the fruits of the world. They know how to work but remain aloof from the outcomes of their work.
After all, we still need to cook our food to eat. We still need to chop wood and carry water. Unless you're an avadhuta, or one who appears to have gone mad and is free from identifying with the body altogether. There's room for all sorts of people on the path, as long as they're genuine.
Few are genuine though, and most of us are pretenders or neophytes, still grappling with our mind and senses, or under the spell of some charlatans who are under the spell of their mind and senses. I've seen all sorts of characters going about doing their thing in the name of yoga and transcendence. And I've observed myself fall victim in various ways to all of these pitfalls over a lifetime as an aspirant in self-realization or individuation.
At this stage it's impossible to trust anyone, including myself. Therefore, I look to the original ancient texts on the art of yoga and transcendence in order to unlock the secret of life. Even the texts may be mired by translation or interpretation issues, but they are all we have, along with our own experience and the example of others.
The ancient wisdom reveals different approaches to the one goal. There are diverse styles of yoga or practice in transcendence. There are mystery schools and teachings that point the way to master our mind and senses and attain mystical heights, yet the middle way suggests that while on the path of transcendence, we continue doing our daily duties of chopping wood, making fire and carrying water.
We work in the world among society, yet become detached from the outcomes of our work, all the while keeping our eye on the goal, namely our return to the stars, in a manner of speaking, via linking up within and with the great source of everything.
If the outcome or fruits of our labor are good or bad, it does not matter because the yogi is detached, not dependent on the results. Life is no longer about satisfying lust or greed, or attempting to please anyone. That is a truly liberating place to be. Freedom is the sweetest pleasure for anyone.
When you are free from the dictates of your own mind and senses, when you're free from dependence on the opinion of anyone else, When you can walk anywhere at any time without fear of death, when you can trade without attachment or dependence on the outcome - that is a refreshing state of being.
It allows us to return, in a sense, to the ways of a child, before there was puberty and the demands of the sex hormones, before the demands of work to survive, feeling completely protected and nurtured, fed and loved on all levels. The two children playing in the garden under the sunshine, without a care in the world, living in the now, knowing that everything is going on by higher arrangement eternally.
Bhagavad Gita ch6:1
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अनाश्रित: कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति य: ।
स सन्न्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रिय: ॥ १ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ
kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca
na niragnir na cākriyaḥ
SYNONYMS
śrī bhagavān uvāca—the Lord said; anāśritaḥ—without shelter; karma-phalam—the result of work; kāryam—obligatory; karma—work; karoti—performs; yaḥ—one who; saḥ—he; sannyāsī—in the renounced order; ca—also; yogī—mystic; ca—also; na—not; nir—without; agniḥ—fire; na—nor; ca—also; akriyaḥ—without duty.
TRANSLATION
The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.
PURPORT
In this chapter the Lord explains that the process of the eightfold yoga system is a means to control the mind and the senses. However, this is very difficult for people in general to perform, especially in the age of Kali. Although the eightfold yoga system is recommended in this chapter, the Lord emphasizes that the process of karma-yoga, or acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is better. Everyone acts in this world to maintain his family and their paraphernalia, but no one is working without some self-interest, some personal gratification, be it concentrated or extended. The criterion of perfection is to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and not with a view to enjoying the fruits of work. To act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the duty of every living entity because all are constitutionally parts and parcels of the Supreme. The parts of the body work for the satisfaction of the whole body. The limbs of the body do not act for self-satisfaction but for the satisfaction of the complete whole. Similarly, the living entity who acts for satisfaction of the supreme whole and not for personal satisfaction is the perfect sannyāsī, the perfect yogī.
The sannyāsīs sometimes artificially think that they have become liberated from all material duties, and therefore they cease to perform agnihotra yajñas (fire sacrifices), but actually they are self-interested because their goal is becoming one with the impersonal Brahman. Such a desire is greater than any material desire, but it is not without self-interest. Similarly, the mystic yogī who practices the yoga system with half-open eyes, ceasing all material activities, desires some satisfaction for his personal self. But a person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness works for the satisfaction of the whole, without self-interest. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no desire for self-satisfaction. His criterion of success is the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and thus he is the perfect sannyāsī, or perfect yogī. Lord Caitanya, the highest perfectional symbol of renunciation, prays in this way:
na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye.
mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi.
"O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth."
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A C Bhaktivedanta, original Macmillan 1972 edition.
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