Advaitananda (28 August 1828 – 28 December 1909) one of the direct disciples of Ramakrishna, a Hindu saint from Bengal in the late nineteenth century, was also known as Buro Gopal or the aged Gopal. He was older than Ramakrishna, and took monastic vows at an advanced age. He played a crucial role during the early years of Ramakrishna Mission. Biography Pre monastic days Gopal Chandra Ghosh was born on 28 August 1828 in Rajpur (Jagaddal) village in 24 paraganas, a few miles from Calcutta, to Govardhan Sur (Ghosh). He lived in Sinthi in Calcutta. Little is known about his early life and education. He was an employee in a shop in Chinabazar, which belonged to Beni Madhav Pal, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, whose name appears in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Gopal was married and at the time of meeting Ramakrishna for the first time he was more than 50 years old. At the death of his wife, he was taken by a friend to Ramakrishna to assuage his grief. On his first visit Gopal was not very impressed with Ramakrishna, but after a few more visits he became devoted to him, and served him in various ways, by buying provisions and running errands. Gopal distributed the twelve ochre clothes in the presence of Ramakrishna to the first bunch of monks of Ramakrishna order, which included Vivekananda. After death of Ramakrishna, the "Baranagar Math" was started with Gopal as the first inmate. He was soon joined by Narendra Nath Dutta (later Vivekananda), Rakhal (later Brahmananda), Kali (later Abhedananda), Latu (later Adbhutananda) and other direct disciples of Ramakrishna. Monastic life In 1887 Gopal along with other disciples took up the monastic life and came to be known as Advaitananda (Advaita - Non-dualism, ananda - bliss). After staying for a few years in Baranagar Math, Advaitananda travelled to Benaras where he stayed for around 5 years. Here he stayed in a small room, where he rose at 4 AM every day and bathed in the Ganga river, after which he did his spiritual practices for the day. He lived on madhukari i.e. begging small quantities of cooked food from various places, as per the injunctions of the scriptures. He spent time mostly in contemplation. When Vivekananda returned to India after his visit to the west, Advaitananda returned to Alambazar, where the Ramakrishna Math had moved to. Afterwards, when the