Surendra’s love for the Master grew deeper and deeper. The Master also loved Surendra dearly. Swami Saradananda wrote in Sri Ramakrishna, The Great Master: “The Divine Mother showed him [the Master] that four suppliers of provisions for him had been sent to the world. Surendra Nath Mitra, whom the Master called Surendar and sometimes Suresh, was, he said, a ‘half supplier.’ And Surendra used to make arrangements for the food and bedding for those devotees who spent nights with the Master at Dakshineswar to serve him.”
There is a saying: “If you have money, give in charity. If you don’t, repeat your mantra.” Sri Ramakrishna appreciated Surendra’s largehearted nature. M. recorded the following conversation in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna on 22 February 1885:
Master (to Surendra): “Come here every now and then. Nangta used to say that a brass pot must be polished every day; otherwise it gets stained. One should constantly live in the company of holy men.
“The renunciation of ‘lust and gold’ is for sannyasins. It is not for you. Now and then you should go into solitude and call on God with a yearning heart. Your renunciation should be mental.
“For you, as Chaitanya said, the disciplines to be practised are kindness to living beings, service to the devotees, and chanting the name of God.
“Why do I say all this to you? You work in a merchant’s office. I say this to you because you have many duties to perform there.
“You tell lies at the office. Then why do I eat the food you offer me? Because you give your money in charity; you give away more than you earn. ‘The seed of the melon is bigger than the fruit,’ as the saying goes.
“I cannot eat anything offered by miserly people. Their wealth is squandered in these ways: first, litigation; second, thieves and robbers; third, physicians; fourth, their wicked children’s extravagance. It is like that.”
The devotees listened with great attention to Sri Ramakrishna’s words.
Surendra: “I cannot meditate well. I repeat the Divine Mother’s name now and then. Lying in bed, I repeat Her name and fall asleep.”
Master: “That is enough. You remember Her, don’t you?” (Source: They Lived with God)
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna records two visits made by Sri Ramakrishna to Surendra’s garden house — one on 26 December 1883 and the other on 15 June 1884. On the first occasion he met a monk there and had some refreshments. On the second occasion Surendra arranged a festival and invited many people. It was a grand affair, and the Master went into deep samadhi several times during the devotional singing. Surendra loved to give joy to others in this way. That day the Master said: “What a nice disposition he [Surendra] has now! He is very outspoken; he isn’t afraid to speak the truth. He is unstinting in his liberality. No one that goes to him for help comes away empty-handed.” (Source: They Lived with God)
Gradually Sri Ramakrishna’s condition grew worse, so the doctors advised the devotees to move him out of the city, since the polluted air of Calcutta was harming him. A garden house was found in Cossipore, but the rent was eighty rupees a month, a large amount in those days. When Sri Ramakrishna heard this he called Surendra to him and said: “Look, Surendra, these devotees are mostly poor clerks and have large families to maintain. How can they pay the high rent of the garden house? Please bear the whole of it yourself.” Surendra gladly agreed to do so. Moreover, he contributed money for other expenses as well, and now and then bought things, such as straw screens for the windows of the Master’s room to reduce the sun and heat coming in. (Source: They Lived with God)
Surendra did not live long, however. He died of dropsy on 25 May 1890, at the age of forty. When he was seriously ill, Swami Adbhutananda and Swami Ramakrishnananda went to see him. At that time Surendra offered them five hundred rupees to build a shrine for the Master, but Swami Ramakrishnananda told him: “Wait until your health is better. Later we shall talk about it.”32 Surendra never recovered, but before his death he set aside one thousand rupees to be used for purchasing land near the Ganges for a monastery dedicated to the Master. Because of the great love the monastic disciples had for Surendra, they decided to keep this money for something special. When the Belur Math was built, this money was used to purchase the marble for the floor of the original shrine room where Sri Ramakrishna was installed for the good of humanity. (Source: They Lived with God)