The darkness of a crisis in life often acts like the twilight before dawn leading to the effulgence of the sun. When Gopal Chandra Ghosh of Sinthi (Calcutta) lost his wife and was heart broken, that very grief led him to Sri Ramakrishna, seeking relief. The contact thus established through a crisis ultimately led to glorious spiritual heights.
Gopalda -- as he was endearingly called -- was older than even Sri Ramakrishna. Nevertheless, the attitude of reverence and devotion he cherished towards Sri Ramakrishna, his guru, was unflinching. It was his good luck that made him instrumental in the birth of the future Ramakrishna Order of monks by gifting a few pieces of ochre-colored cloths to Sri Ramakrishna who personally distributed them among Narendra, Rakhal and others including Gopal himself, during his last days at Cossipore.
Along with Tarak (Swami Shivananda), Gopalda was the first to join the Baranagore monastery after the departure of the Master from this world. The monastic name given to him was `Swami Advaitananda'. He spent a few years at the monastery, shifted to Varanasi for about five years and returned to the newly established Math at Alambazar, and later at Belur.
His advanced age prevented him from taking active part in the missionary activities of the new organization.
His personal cleanliness, neat and methodical ways of doing any work, has been admired even by Sri Ramakrishna.
The Swami passed away on the 28th December 1909 at the ripe old age of eighty-one.