Every year during makar-sankranti (an auspicious day in the middle of January) monks and pilgrims from all over India go to Gangasagar, the confluence of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal, for a holy bath. Many pilgrims go by boat from the Jagannath ghat of Calcutta. Gopal had a little money and wanted to acquire virtue by offering cloths to holy people on that auspicious day; so he bought twelve pieces of cloth and twelve rosaries of rudraksha beads to distribute among the monks. He dyed the cloths in the ochre colour himself. When the Master heard about it, he said to Gopal: “You will attain a thousand times more virtue if you present those ochre cloths and rosaries to my children rather than giving them to the monks of Jagannath ghat. Where else will you find such all-renouncing monks? Each of them is equal to a thousand monks.” This changed Gopal’s mind.
On Tuesday, 12 January 1886 (makar-sankranti), Gopal gave the ochre cloths and rosaries to the Master, who touched them and sanctified them with a mantram. He himself then distributed them among his young disciples. They put on the ochre cloths and saluted the Master. Sri Ramakrishna was pleased to see them in monastic cloth and blessed them. The disciples who received the ochre cloths were: Narendra, Rakhal, Niranjan, Baburam, Shashi, Sharat, Kali, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, and Gopal. The twelfth cloth and rosary, according to the Master’s instruction, were set aside for Girish Ghosh. Later Girish touched them to his head and felt the Master’s special blessing. In this sense it may be said that the Ramakrishna Order was founded by Sri Ramakrishna himself, although it did not come into official existence until after his death. (Source: God Lived with Them)