Devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu is considered pure when one’s sole desire is to please the Lord. Situated in that perfect consciousness, a Vaiṣṇava has no further interest in wordly gains and is thus excused from any obligation to perform ritual sacrifices and follow austere practices of yoga. As the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12) states:

parīkṣya lokān karma-citān brāhmaṇo
 nirvedam āyān nāsty akṛtaḥ kṛtena

“When a brāhmaṇa recognizes that elevation to the heavenly planets is merely another accumulation of karma, he becomes renounced and is no longer corrupted by his actions.” The Bṛhad-āraṇyaka (4.4.9) and Kaṭha (6.14) Upaniṣads confirm:

yadā sarve pramucyante
 kāmā ye ’sya hṛdi śritāḥ
atha martyo ’mṛto bhavaty
 atra brahma samaśnute

“When a person completely gives up all the sinful desires he is harboring in his heart, he exchanges mortality for eternal spiritual life and attains real pleasure in the Absolute Truth.” And the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Pūrva 15) concludes, bhaktir asya bhajanaṁ tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ-kalpanam etad eva naiṣkarmyam. “Devotional service is the process of worshiping the Supreme Lord. It consists of fixing one’s mind upon Him by becoming disinterested in all material designations, both in this life and the next. This indeed, is true renunciation.”

The items the śrutis mention here are all measures of worldly success: svajanāḥ, servants; ātmā, a beautiful body; sutāḥ, children to be proud of; dārāḥ, an attractive and competent spouse; dhanam, financial assets; dhāma, a prestigious residence; dharā, holdings of land; asavaḥ, health and strength; and rathāḥ, cars and other vehicles that display one’s status. But one who has begun to experience the ecstasy of devotional service loses all attraction for these things, since he finds real satisfaction in the Supreme Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, who enjoys by sharing His own pleasures with His servitors.

We are each free to choose the course of our life: we can either dedicate our body, mind, words, talents and wealth to the glory of God, or else we can ignore Him and struggle instead for our personal happiness. The second path leads to a life of slavery to sex and ambition, in which the soul never feels real satisfaction but instead suffers continually. Vaiṣṇavas are distressed to see materialists suffering in this way, and so they always strive to enlighten them.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays:

bhajato hi bhavān sākṣāt
 paramānanda-cid-dhanaḥ
ātmaiva kim ataḥ kṛtyaṁ
 tuccha-dāra-sutādibhiḥ

“For those who worship You, You become their very Self, their spiritual treasure of topmost bliss. What further use have they for mundane wives, children and so forth?”