[3] Gangadhar first met Ramakrishna, the famous mystic and saint whom he later adopted as his Master, in 1884, when he was nineteen years old, in the temple of Dakshineswar.

In 1887, after visiting Kedarnath and Badrinath, he travelled to Tibet where he lived in Lhasa and elsewhere for three years, returning to India in 1890.

[6] Gangadhar's entire travel account is recorded in his book Smriti-Katha (From Holy Wanderings to The Service of God in Man).

After his return, he had frequent correspondence with Vivekananda, then at Ghazipur, who induced him to join him in travelling in some places of the Himalayas because of the latter's experience and familiarity in those terrains.

Accordingly, Akhandananda came to Baranagore monastery, and after spending a few happy months with his brother-disciples, sharing his experiences with them, he set out in July 1890, with Vivekananda on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas.

[7] Visiting important places on the way they reached Almora, but the illness of one or the other plagued their journey, and they returned via Tehri to Dehra Dun, from where Akhandananda proceeded to Meerut for treatment.

After five months of association, Vivekananda left them and Akhandananda followed him surreptitiously, going from one province to another in his search, but everywhere he narrowly missed meeting him.

In Jamnagar in 1892, he studied the Charaka-Sushruta Samhita with the help of the Sanskrit lexicon Shabdartha Chandrika Kosha and also Shukla Yajur Veda.

When hard work in Murshidabad took a toll on his health, she had him brought to Calcutta for treatment and took special care of him.

Akhandananda was the first monk of the Ramakrishna order, who gave shape to the cherished desire of Vivekananda to begin rural development work—even before the Mission was established.

Akhandananda practised till the very end of his life his Master's call: Worship jiva as Shiva.

His experience as a wandering monk, like those of Vivekananda, moved him to take steps to remove the distress and misery of the masses.

[10] The idea of working for the poor was conceived while he stayed in Jamnagar with Jhandu Bhatt, the famous ayurvedic physician, who served his patients with exceptional devotion.

He also contacted renowned landlords in the numerous village of Khetri, inspiring them to take some concrete steps towards removing the miseries of their poor labourers.

On 1 May 1897 Vivekananda inaugurated the Ramakrishna Mission, and Akhandananda opened a relief centre on 15 May in the temple premises of Mrityunjay Bhattacharya of Kedar-Mahula in Murshidabad to save people from an all-devouring famine.

A carpentry and a weaving section also were added to revive those perishing village industries and make the boys self-reliant.