The sadhaka's life looks shocking. He shaves his head, gives up worldly dress and society.
Material life looks good on the outside, but it is rotten within.
Whereas spiritual life looks foreboding on the outside, but it is heartening within. Sanga you mentioned how great souls may lie for the benefit of their students. The scripture speaks in veiled language to those, who like children, are attracted to material benefits, to things that are not good for them. While the real purpose of the scripture is to facilitate liberation from material life, the scripture offers fruits for adhering to its injunctions just to get people involved in religious life. Just as a parent offers candy to a child to induce him to take medicine, so the scripture offers material benefits to child-like persons to induce them to follow its injunctions.