Spiritual practice is extremely necessary if we want to live in the world rightly and want to make spiritual progress.

         In November 1882 Sri Ramakrishna, the great prophet of modern India, went to see a circus in Calcutta in the company of Rakhal (later, Swami Brahmananda) and some other disciples. At the circus there were exhibitions of various feats. One of these impressed the Master greatly. A horse raced around a circular track over which large iron rings were hung at intervals. The circus rider, an Englishwoman, stood on one foot on the horse's back, and as the horse passed under the rings, she jumped through them, always alighting on one foot on the horse's back. The horse raced around the entire circle several times but the woman never missed the horse or lost her balance. This feat, to be sure, must have taken years of practice to accomplish. The Master enjoyed it. It reminded him of what one should do in one's spiritual life. Sri Ramakrishna told one of the devotees present:

         "Did you see how the Englishwoman stood on one foot on her horse, while it ran like lightning ? How difficult a feat that must be !. She must have practised a long time. The slightest carelessness, and she would break her arms or legs; she might even be killed. One faces the same difficulty leading the life of a householder. A few succeed in it through the grace of God and as a result of their spiritual practice. But most people fail. Entering the world, they become more and more involved in it; they drown in worldliness and suffer the agonies of death. A few only like Janaka have succeeded, through the power of austerity, in leading spiritual life as householders. Therefore spiritual practice is extremely necessary; otherwise one cannot rightly live in the world. "