Six months before Swami Yogananda’s death, Sri Ramakrishna appeared before him. Yogananda said: ‘Master, I don’t want to be born again. The lesson of this life is enough for me. Please give me final liberation.’ The Master replied: ‘You will have to come once more.’ ‘No, I won’t come.’ Swami Yogananda demanded, ‘Please release me forever.’ Immediately Sri Ramakrishna disappeared. Swami Yogananda went through six months of physical suffering, hoping that the Master would grant his request.
Knowing Swami Yogananda’s resolution, Girish at last said to him: ‘Brother, don’t you know that you have been suffering terribly these last six months? Your pain is causing pain to all of us. Please agree to the will of the Master. Don’t refuse to come back with the Master. Look here, Jogin! Don’t seek nirvana. Don’t think of the Master as pervading the entire universe, the sun and the moon forming His eyes. Think of the Master as He used to be with us, and thus thinking of Him, go to Him.’ At this Swami Yogananda said: ‘What! I have been suffering in the bed for the last six months? All right. Let the Master’s will be done. I am his servant. Whatever He asks me to do, I will do.’ Saying so, Swami Yogananda fully resigned himself to the Master.
Swami Yogananda passed away in Samadhi at 3:10 p.m. on 28 March 1899. Before his passing away, he said to Holy Mother, ‘Mother, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Sri Ramakrishna have come to take me.’ In the morning while performing worship, Holy Mother saw that the Master had come to take Swami Yogananda.