On the day of Shivaratri (the spring festival of the Lord Shiva) Saradananda and Turiyananda went to visit Nilkantheshwar Shiva, sixteen miles from Rishikesh. It was on a remote hill in a jungle full of ferocious animals. On their way back that evening they lost their way. They decided to take two separate routes, so that both lives would not be endangered at once. Luckily, Turiyananda reached a solitary ashrama, and the next morning he and another monk went out to locate Saradananda. After a long search they saw him meditating, seated on a piece of rock. When he was asked why he did not try to find shelter, Saradananda replied, “When death is certain, it is better to die chanting God’s name without being anxious.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
In October he received a cable from Swamiji, who was then travelling with the Western devotees and had become very ill in Srinagar, Kashmir.
Saradananda immediately left for Rawalpindi by train, and then took a tonga (horse carriage) to Srinagar. On the way a terrible accident took place: Suddenly there was a landslide in front of the carriage, and the horse began to run down the road frantically. While trying to gain control of the carriage, the coachman muttered to himself, “I will see whether Allah protects me this time.” Then another carriage came from the opposite direction around a turn, and the startled horse jumped in the air. One of the carriage wheels bounced against a rock, and the carriage rushed towards a ravine several thousand feet deep. The luggage was thrown off, a dislodged boulder crushed the horse to death, the coachman fell from the carriage and lost consciousness — but luckily the carriage was stuck in a tree before it could fall into the ravine. Throughout all this, Saradananda remained calm. He jumped from the carriage into thorny bushes; he hurt his feet, but was otherwise unharmed. He rescued the coachman, took him to the nearest village, and then left for Srinagar by another carriage. (Source: God Lived with Them)
“Service to man is service to God.” This message of Vivekananda was exemplified in Saradananda’s life. He acted as the mother of the Order. Whenever Holy Mother or any of the direct disciples were sick, he was always present to look after their treatment. Once when Brahmananda was living in Belur Math he was suffering from an abscess and needed minor surgery. Saradananda accompanied Dr. Kanjilal (a devotee and disciple of Holy Mother) from Calcutta, and they left for the monastery by boat. In the middle of the Ganges, a heavy storm arose and the country boat began tossing violently. Saradananda was calmly smoking his hubble-bubble, but the panicky doctor could not control himself. Angrily he threw the hubble-bubble into the Ganges, and told Saradananda: “You are a strange man! The boat is about to sink, and you are enjoying your smoke!” The swami calmly said, “Is it wise to jump into the water before the boat sinks?” He then advised the boatman to put the sail down. Gradually the storm subsided and the boat safely reached the Belur ghat. This incident indicates that the knower of Brahman conquers the fear of death, and that nothing in this world can perturb him. (Source: God Lived with Them)
Mārīca now thought that if he did not heed Rāvaṇa, he would be killed right away, while if he did as his brother wanted, he would die at the hands of Śrī Rāma. The first time round Rāma had saved him (from death) but now He would not let him off. Mārīca thus had to decide at whose hands he wanted to die, those of Rāvaṇa or those of Śrī Rāma. Death was certain and death at the hands of Śrī Rāma was any day preferable for what was there to gain by being killed by Rāvaṇa? (Source: Discources on Shri Ramacharitmanas by Swami Tejomayananda)
Extremely nervous men succeed as religious men. They become fervent over whatever they take into their head. “All are mad in this world; some are mad after gold, others after women, and some are after God; if drowning is to be the fate of man, it is better to be drowned in an ocean of milk than in a pool of dung”, a devotee replied who was charged with madness. — Swami Vivekananda
One day Manomohan was coming from Konnagar to Dakshineswar by a passenger boat when a severe rainstorm suddenly came up. Some of the passengers asked the boatman to return to the shore at once, while others were afraid and started to cry and pray. Seeing the pitiable condition of these people, Manomohan laughed. This irritated an old man, who exclaimed: “What a fool you are! You are going to die and you are laughing!” Manomohan smiled and said: ”Sir, I am laughing because I shall die. Why should I die crying? I have reached the other shore of the ocean of maya, and I am going to him who took me there, so I have no fear of death.” The old man frowned. In the meantime the boat reached Dakshineswar.
The Master was surprised to see Manomohan. He said to him: “You have come to see me in the midst of a cyclone! It proves that you love me.”
Manomohan: “Sir, if I do not love you, then whom else shall I love?”
Sri Ramakrishna: “Why? Who am I to you?”
Manomohan: “You are the saviour of my soul. I have no fear when I come to you.”
Sri Ramakrishna smiled. (Source: They Lived with God)