18 “My illness serves as convincing proof of the absolute dominion of Spirit over matter in this epoch of materialism and scepticism”.
2“My Divine Mother has placed this illness in my body to demonstrate to the sceptics that the true being of man is of divine nature, that the consciousness of God is today as certain and real as it was in Vedic times, and that when man attains perfection all limitations vanish”.
3He had verified that the God who was in him was not satisfied with his personal salvation, that he demanded of him love and service toward his fellows.
4Therefore he grasped with firmness the helm of all those boats and brought them to the shore of God.
5He desired to make each one of those men capable of transmitting and teaching to the world the word of Truth.
6He urged them to raise up, in the midst of Humanity, a mountain of God, from which rivers of light and of compassion would pour out upon all men and for all times.
7He impelled them to open themselves to themselves and to others, so that together they might reconstitute the omnipotent Unity.
8For that it was necessary that they give themselves entirely, that they “create anew”, by the common effort, the Being that would nourish the men and women of the centuries to come.
9The task was arduous.
10He needed to choose a spirit of powerful wings joined to a vigorous body, with strong arms to move the earth and powerful legs to traverse it.
11His body could no longer be the receptacle of his soul and his spirit.
12The moment had come to choose his spiritual heir, who would sow through the world the seed of his thought.
13His eyes come to rest on that rebellious adolescent, his ornamented disciple Narendra, who debated everything, and of whom Ramakrishna will say to his disciples: “See, see what power of penetration… he is a roaring blaze that consumes all impurities...” And Vivekananda was his successor.
14Ramakrishna transferred to him all the powers and said to him: “With this influence you will do an immense good to the world”.
15And so it was.
16And the divine Master entered into ecstasy pronouncing three times in succession the name of the Divine Mother Kali, who took him in her arms for ever.
17ON MA NI PADME HUM
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.