In April 1926 the first convention of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission was held in Belur Math. Some direct disciples of the Master along with other monks and devotees discussed the past, present, and future of the Order. Akhandananda gave a talk on 7 April during the final session of the convention:
….. Sri Ramakrishna was never for a moment heard to denounce anyone because of his religious belief or profession if only he were sincere. He took man at his best and always gave him a lift from the plane where he stood… . If there was anything which he was never tired of denouncing most emphatically, it was hypocrisy. I remember one day a man denied the idea of the existence of God before him. And mark you what the Master, who was ever so deeply absorbed in ecstatic communion with the Divine Mother, said to him in reply: “Well, who told you that there is God? I would not ask you to believe in any such idea. But then, you cannot with reason deny that there is a Power working behind the universe. One may attribute any name to it, but it remains there all the same. Why not take it in that spirit and try to know more intimately what you believe in. Know this and be happy. To be sure, mere belief cannot give rest to your inner cravings. Knowledge — true knowledge of the mysteries of this phenomenal existence — alone can do that.”
The same attitude of universal tolerance and sympathy for all irrespective of their religious beliefs and social or spiritual standing, we find manifested in Swami Vivekananda. And upon us also, the humble disciples of the Master, the full implications of this idea began gradually to dawn. The Master and Swamiji are really one; the one spirit as it were, manifested in twin personalities. What we find in the Master in the form of a seed, becomes fully developed in Swamiji. Swamiji is to Sri Ramakrishna what the commentary is to the Vedanta Sutras. The one is complementary to the other. They are in fact inseparable — the obverse and reverse of the same coin… . (Source: God Lived with Them)