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.

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.

In 1887 Gopal along with other disciples took up the monastic life and came to be known as Advaitananda (Advaita - Non-dualism, ananda - bliss).

He lived on madhukari i.e. begging small quantities of cooked food from various places, as per the injunctions of the scriptures.

Afterwards, when the new monastery in Belur Math was established, he used to stay mostly there and looked after gardening and other managerial affairs.

After his return to the monastery, Advaitananda's special duty was to look to the levelling of the newly purchased land at Belur and the repair of the old structures there.