In the year 1928, Sree Narayana Guru was resting in his later years. His disciple T.K. Madhavan came to him with an earnest request. He asked the Guru to attend a special gathering of the SNDP Yogam at Nagampadam in the Kottayam district. The Guru agreed and made the journey. This became his final public gathering. At the meeting, he sat before the people and handed out registration certificates for one hundred and eight branches of the organization. He gave his time to the work of the people, ensuring the branches were properly formed.
After the work was done, the Guru went to rest at the Nagampadam mandir. The day was quiet. Two devoted men, Vallabaserry Govindan Vaidyan and T.K. Krishnan, approached the place where he rested. They folded their hands and shared a thought they held in their hearts. They asked if they could begin an annual pilgrimage to Sivagiri. Sree Narayana Guru listened to their request. He gave them his permission and his blessing for the journey they wished to start.
Soon after this day, a deep illness took hold of the Guru. He suffered from a severe prostate disorder that caused a painful blockage of urine. The pain was heavy, and his body grew weak. Seeking relief from the suffering, he left Nagampadam and traveled to the Vellor Mutt in Vaikom. His disciples traveled with him, hoping the change of place and proper care would ease his condition.
At the Vellor Mutt, word of his illness brought physicians to his side. A physician named Dr. Rao came and treated him with care. Later, Dr. Raghavan, who was the son of the Guru's devoted follower Dr. Krishnan, also arrived to offer his medical skills. The doctors tried all they knew. They gave him medicine and tended to his needs, but the treatments brought no physical relief to his body. The pain remained.
Seeing that the medicine could not heal the body, the Guru decided to return to his own ashram. He made the journey back to the Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala. The days passed until the twentieth of September, which was the fifth day of the month of Kanni. On this day, the air in the ashram was still. The Guru knew his time in the physical body was coming to an end.
A disciple walked quietly into the Guru's room to check on him. The Guru looked at the disciple. He spoke plainly in the quiet room. He said that Rahu had eclipsed them, and now it was time to go. The disciple heard these words and understood that the departure was near.
Later that afternoon, the light outside began to change. The Guru spoke again to the disciples gathered near him. He told them they must get up, for he felt a great peace. His disciples stepped forward and gently helped him move. They supported his body and helped him sit up on his bed. They arranged his legs into the crossed lotus position.
Mambalam Vaidyananda Swami sat down right beside the bed. He opened the ancient pages of the Yoga Vasistha. He turned to the chapter on liberation in this life. He began to read the words aloud in the quiet room. The text spoke of the soul and the path to true freedom. The sound of the reading filled the space around the Guru as he sat in peace.
The reading of the text went on. The Guru then looked at the disciples who stood watch. Sreedharmatherthar Swami, Narasimhaswami, Sugunanada Swamikal, and Vaidyananda Swami were there. The Guru instructed them to recite his own prayer, the Daiva Dasakam. The disciples began to japa the ten verses to God. Their voices rose together, carrying the words the Guru himself had written.
The japa reached the final verses of the prayer. As the disciples spoke the last words, Sree Narayana Guru gently closed his eyes. He drew his mind inward and immersed himself in deep dhyana. Without struggle, he shed his physical body and attained his final rest.
The moment he passed, the silence broke. The mandir bells of the Sree Narayana Mutt began to ring. They rang continuously, sending a clear, heavy sound echoing across all of Varkala. The bells announced to the world that the Guru had departed. Hearing the sound, thousands of people left their homes and streamed into the Sivagiri Mutt to see him one last time. His physical remains were carried to the top of the Sivagiri hill and interred there, where a pavilion was built for those who travel to sit by his resting place.
The households of the Narayana Gurukula movement tell this differently. They do not read the story of his final days. Instead, they sit and read his philosophical writings, the Atmopadesa Satakam or the Darsana Mala. They read how the physical world is an illusion and how the individual self and the universe are one, following the steps to spiritual realization.
Those who read the story of his final days finish by saying the last lines of his prayer. They say, in the ocean of Your glory, of great profundity, let us all, together, become sunk, to dwell therein everlastingly.
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