In 1898 the Ramakrishna Monastery had been moved from Alambazar to Nilambar Babu’s garden house at Belur. On Tuesday, 22 February 1898, Akhandananda arrived there to attend the festival of Sri Ramakrishna’s birth anniversary. He carried from Behrampur two pāntuās (a sweet made of cheese fried with butter and soaked in syrup) which weighed sixty-four pounds, and had been presented by a rich devotee. Swamiji saw those large sweets and asked him to offer them to the Master in the shrine.
Vivekananda then told a disciple: “Look, what a great hero he [Akhandananda] is in work! He is unaware of fear and death, and doggedly does his work ‘for the good of many and the welfare of all.’” The disciple commented: “Sir, that power must have come to him as a result of great austerities.” Swamiji replied: “It is true, power comes through practising austerities; again, working for others is also austerity. The karma yogis consider work itself as a part of austerity. As on the one hand, the practice of austerity intensifies altruistic feelings in an aspirant and actuates him to unselfish work, so also the pursuit of work for the sake of others purifies one’s heart, and that leads him to the realization of the supreme Atman.” (Source: God Lived with Them)