About spiritual practices in modern times Latu Maharaj once said to Bihari Babu, ‘You see in the scriptures many things are written. Very hard practices are there; but people in modern times are weak and short-lived, it is not possible for them to observe all that. So Master used to advise his devotees, “You leave off the head and the tail and take the main body—leave the unessentials and perform the essentials.”
One should adopt things suitable to the age. The elaborate rituals of the ancient days modern man cannot follow today; for him is the path of Bhakti, devotion. He is too weak to fast, too short-lived and too full of diseases to continue the long drawn elaborate rituals. The coins of Akbar’s times are no longer a legal tender today, during the British Raj. Know it for certain the ideal of this age is Master and Swamiji. You cannot but follow them. Those who will, will achieve salvation. The intelligent understand whither the wind blows. Sri Krishna showed his cosmic form to both Arjuna and Duryodhana (at different times). Arjuna believed in it and was saved, Duryodhana took it to be a trick of black magic and perished. The hint is there, it is for man to take it or to reject it.’
( Source: Swami Adbhutananda As We Saw Him P.463 )