I will give a little insight into the vanaprastha stage for a yogi-guru. Normally people think that it is renunciation, but there is no such thing as renouncing the world. One goes through it like a ship goes through the ocean, on the water and onward. The water is not in it and so it does not sink. Vanaprastha simply means to begin the process of limiting your interactions with the mundane aspects of life, and with people whose priority is not yogic practice. In vanaprastha, teachings continue and interactions with seekers continue.
Having collected the force within for the onward journey in the years of brahmcharya and having gone through the experiences of a worldly life as a grihasta, a being takes a step back from the physical world as he enters vanaprastha, because to reach the final destination, all this has to be left behind. For a rocket to break the pull of gravity, it has to leave its excess weight. Leaving does not imply running away; the thought of the physical has to go.
A rishi left his family and home to do meditate in the Himalayas. The rishi had followed the daily ritual of offering milk to a shivalingam. As he went to the Himalayas, people from nearby villages would bring him milk and he would carry on with his practice. Once no one came to give milk; the rishi simply offered water to the lingam. This happened quite often as villagers would forget to bring him milk. The rishi then decided to keep a cow so that he does not have to depend on the villagers.
When the rishi went to village to get the cow, the villagers advised him to also take a woman with him to take care of the cow as he would be in dhyan for long hours. The rishi agreed. Five years passed. The villagers then asked the rishi to marry the woman since no one else would take her. The rishi agreed. He married her and they had a family. So, whatever he had left, was created back again for him because of his one thought. That is why it is said, that one needs to silence modifications of mind to access what lies beyond the five senses. Vanaprastha is the preparatory stage that leads to sanyas.
After a stage a yogi needs to limit interactions with normal people. Otherwise the intermingling of thoughts and energy patterns would lead the yogi to the stage before vanaprastha. Vedic masters say, and modern science agrees that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When you resort to pleasures of the five senses, as an equal and opposite reaction, the body begins to age. This ageing has to be held back to garner energy to make the final journey beyond the five senses and also take disciples beyond. So during the phase of vanprastha, you limit your interactions otherwise the body ages very fast.
A guru is someone who does not charge you a fee because someone who is tied in maya cannot release you. He exudes the glow and attraction associated with yogic practices; diseases disappear in his presence, whatever he says happens, and he is established in the five yamas. So my suggestion is look for a guru, give the subject priority and you will be called on board on this beautiful journey called yog.
