In the middle of 1885 Ramakrishna contracted throat cancer. For the convenience of his treatment he was first taken to Calcutta and then to Cossipore, a suburb of Calcutta. Without concern for his body, he continued to train his disciples. When they begged him not to strain himself, he replied: “I do not care. I will give up twenty thousand such bodies to help one person.” Sarada Devi, the Master’s wife, cooked for him, and Narendra and other young disciples took charge of nursing him. One day the Master distributed ochre monastic robes to Narendra and some of his young disciples and thus formed his own monastic order. He later told Narendra: “I leave them all to your care. See that they practise spiritual disciplines even after my passing away and that they do not return home.”
Another day he wrote on a piece of paper, “Naren will teach people.” When Narendra expressed opposition the Master said: “But you must. Your very bones will do it.”
Ten years later Narendra described his Master’s message to humanity: “First make character — that is the highest duty you can perform. Know Truth for yourself, and there will be many to whom you can teach it afterwards; they will all come. This was the attitude of my Master. He criticized no one. For years I lived with that man, but never did I hear those lips utter one word of condemnation for any sect. I learned from my Master that the religions of the world are not contradictory or antagonistic. They are but various phases of one eternal religion.” (Source: God Lived with Them)