Now that the last days were approaching, the Master set himself with greater energy than ever to mould, in a calm and silent way, the spiritual life of these boys, particularly that of Naren. Every evening he would call Naren to his room and for two or three hours at a time would impart final instructions to him on various spiritual practices, and would advise him on how to keep his brother-disciples together, how to guide and train them so that they would be able to live the life of renunciation:

A significant incident that took place at Cossipore during this period is known from a letter which J. J. Goodwin wrote to Mrs. Bull on May 23, 1897. Mr. Goodwin, as we shall see, was to play a vital role in Swami Vivekananda's life. He evidently learnt of the incident either from the Swami himself, or from one of the other direct disciples of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna. He wrote: "When the Paramahamsa was passing away he called in all his disciples but Swamiji [Naren] and gave them an express command that they were always to pay every attention to Swamiji, and never to leave anything undone that could add to his health or comfort. Then sending them out and calling in Swamiji (Naren] he committed all his other disciples into his charge."

About this time Naren was called to the side of the Master, now suffering intensely and scarcely able to speak. The Master wrote on a piece of paper, "Narendra will teach others." Naren hesitated and said, "I won't do that." But the Master replied, "You shall have to do it." Some time before he had told Naren, "My Siddhis [powers] will manifest through you in time", meaning that in later years as a teacher, Naren would turn many of the worldly minded to spiritual life.

It was now only three or four days before the Master's Mahasamadhi. Shri Ramakrishna called Naren to him. Looking steadfastly at him he entered into deep meditation. Naren felt as though a subtle force, resembling an electric shock, were entering his body. He lost outer consciousness. When he came to, he found the Master weeping. Wondering, Naren asked him why he wept, and was told, "O Naren, today I have given you my all and have become a Fakir, a penniless beggar. By the force of the power transmitted by me, great things will be done by you; only after that will you go where you came from."

Naren had suddenly become the possessor of the spiritual wealth of his Guru, acquired by years of superhuman effort and by means of the sternest austerities. Shri Ramakrishna willingly deprived himself of his powers in order that Naren might be endowed with spiritual omnipotence. When that which was Ramakrishna had completed its task in its human manifestation, it gave itself wholly to Naren, for the good of the world.

A couple of days before the Master's passing away, when Narendra and a few others were standing by his bed at night, a curious thought flashed across Naren's mind: "The Master has said many a time that he is an Incarnation of God. If he now says in the midst of the throes of death, in this terrible moment of human anguish and physical pain, `I am God Incarnate', then I will believe." No sooner had Naren thought this than the Master turned towards him and, summoning all his energy, said, "O my Naren, are you not yet convinced? He who was Rama, He who was Krishna, He Himself is now Ramakrishna in this body: not in your Vedantic sense [according to which each soul is potentially divine], but actually so."

Naren was dumbfounded. He was stricken with remorse and shame for having doubted his beloved teacher even for a moment, in spite of so many revelations he had had from him (the Master) in the past. By these words Shri Ramakrishna Conveyed to his disciples the momentous truth that the per-sonalities of all the divine Incarnations of the past were the same Personality (the Purushottama), revealing Itself variously in different human forms according to the needs of the time: nay more, that he himself (Shri Ramakrishna) was that Personality which is called God.

A spirit of calm resignation settled on the hearts of the disciples, and somewhat assuaged their grief. Had he really gone? He who had sacrificed his life for their welfare-could he have left them for ever? Was he not their Lord, the Soul of their souls, the same in death as in life? Had not he himself said that he had simply passed from one room to another? Bereavement was transformed into the ecstasy they had so often felt while the Master was alive.

The last two days were sad ones for the disciples. They knew that all would soon be over. Earlier that month the Master had asked a disciple to read out from the almanac the days of the Bengali calendar. When the disciple had reached the end of Shravan, which fell on August 15, the Master had asked him to stop. Now, on the evening of the l5th, when a Dr. Navin Pal came to see him, the Master said, "Today my suffering has become too intense. No medicine is proving of any use. The disease has become incurable." The doctor said, "Yes." The Master said, "I feel like eating barrels full of rice and dal [lentils]." The physician was unable to do anything to give him relief. A little before dusk the Master complained of difficulty in breathing. Suddenly he entered into Samadhi, which was of rather an unusual kind. Narendranath asked the disciples to chant "Hari Om Tat Sat". The chanting continued for a long time. After midnight, Shri Ramakrishna regained consciousness of the physical world and said he was hungry. He ate a small quantity of porridge and seemed better. Leaning against five or six pillows supported by Shashi he talked up to the last moment with Naren, and gave him his last counsel in a low voice. Then uttering the name of Kali thrice he lay back gently on the bed. Suddenly, at two minutes past one that night (August 16), a thrill passed through the Master's body, the hair stood on end, the eyes became fixed on the tip of the nose, a divine smile lit up the face, and the Master again entered into Samadhi.

The disciples thought the Master would regain normal consciousness as usual. Narendranath started chanting "Hari Om Tat Sat" in a loud voice, and the others joined in. The chanting continued throughout, the night, hour after hour, but there was no sign of the regaining of physical consciousness. Shashi rubbed cow ghee over the backbone of the Master, but it proved useless. In the dead of night Ramlal, the Master's nephew, was called from Dakshineswar to see what had happened. He hastened to Cossipore immediately. After examining the Master, he said, "The top of the head is still warm. You had better send for the Captain Vishwanath Upadhyaya [a devotee of the Master]." The Captain came promptly in the morning in response to their call. He found that the Master's body had become rather stiff, that the hair all over it was standing on end, and that his eyes were fixed on the tip of his nose; but the backbone was still warm. The Captain asked them to apply cow ghee all over the body and to call Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar. The doctor came and, after examination, declared that the Master had left the body. The trance into which he had entered on the previous night thus proved to have been Mahasamadhi, from which there was no return.

The curtain had fallen on a great spiritual life. The immortal spirit, so long confined in a physical case, had burst through its limitations of name and form, and become one with the Infinite Spirit. The barriers of time and space had been broken down, and he who had been the light and guide of a few souls, had now become a spiritual beacon for the universe. Though the disciples knew all this, they were overwhelmed with grief. That smile would bewitch them no more; that radiant face would no longer inspire them, except as a memory; the lips which had spoken such words of wisdom and love were now sealed in death.

When the Holy Mother came upstairs to the bedside of the Master, she cried out, "O Mother Kali Where have you gone?" Such a scene it was as to print itself for ever on the memories of the young disciples who witnessed it. After a time the Mother was helped back to her room downstairs. That evening, when she was removing her ornaments and the other signs of a married woman from her person, as is the custom of the Hindu widow, the Master appeared before her and forbade her, saying, "Where have I gone? I am just here. It is like passing from one room to another." On two subsequent occasions, when she tried to take away her ornaments, Shri Ramakrishna caught hold of her hands and forbade her to do so. Thus it was that to the last day of her life she wore bracelets on her wrists and a sari with a red border though a border thinner than usual.

That morning (August 16), on being informed of the passing away of the Master, the devotees assembled at the garden house. They decorated the body and the cot on which the Master lay, with flowers and garlands, and sang devotional songs. About five in the afternoon a procession was formed and, to the sound of devotional music it moved towards the Cossipore burning-ghat on the bank of the Ganga, a little distance away. • All took turns in carrying the beloved burden. Some held flags in their hands, others the signs of various religions, such as Om, the Cross, the Crescent, and so on. At the cremation ground the Master's body was bathed with Ganga water, clad in new ochre clothes, and decorated and worshipped again with Rowers and garlands. The body was tenderly laid on the pyre prepared for it. The pyre was lighted; clarified butter and incense were poured on it; and in a couple of hours everything was finished.

The ashes and other remains of the body were collected and put into an urn. Slowly and heavily they retraced their steps and entered the garden-house that night shouting "Jai Rama¬krishna!'---"Glory to Ramakrishna!" The urn was placed on the bed of the Master in the room upstairs. The disciples spent the night in discussing the holy life of the Master and meditation. Narendranath occasionally soothed them by telling stories of Shri Ramakrishna's wonderful life. Thereafter the Master's relics were worshipped daily by the disciples in the garden house until they were removed elsewhere.