Is renunciation and celibacy important for attaining Moksha? If celibacy is not important then why do monks take that path? How does renunciation help the monks better than laymen? In what ways is their path better compared to those who lead a married life? Request you to answer this for me.

I’m in my late 20’s and started a spiritual journey shortly after entering the corporate world 5 years ago. Since then, I’ve read countless books on the topic of ego, happiness, and spirituality. My biggest internal conflict seems to be this: Is having a core value of “accomplishment” or “achievement” directly related to the ego? I’ve always been a high-achiever since a young age, and often cannot tell whether my desire for accomplishment is from childhood conditioning or if it’s truly to serve the overhanging purpose of helping others and financial freedom. My real life example for this conflict looks like this, in case you may be asking “WHY do you want to achieve?”: I’ve finally decided to leave the corporate world in the next 8 months and pursue full-time the real estate business I’ve been cultivating on the side for 3 years. This real estate small business will allow me freedom to live each day with much more flexibility of time for my ultimate goals: to someday be a mom working from home, and further pursue my writing career (at a pace without pressure). The pleasure I receive from the real estate business is mainly the ability to generate income and the flexibility offers for my future family–is this acting out of ego?