On the 9th of the month of Āṣāḍha in the Bengali year 1321, corresponding to the 23rd June 1914 of the Gregorian calendar, on the disappearance day of Śrī Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura Mahāśaya began to enact his special pastimes of illness. Just as Bhagavān is completely independent, the devotees are also completely independent. Before his disappearance, Ṭhākura Mahāśaya imparted many teachings to the assembled devotees and finally, with a choked voice, instructed them to engage in nāma-kīrtana. In all directions they began chanting. Then in the midst of the sound of the devotees chanting nāma–saṅkīrtana, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya blissfully remembering the afternoon pastimes of Śrī Śrī Gaura-Gadādhara and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda, entered Their eternal afternoon pastimes. The devotees, deeply afflicted by separation from the Ṭhākura, began to chant his divine glories, expressing their heartfelt pain with tears in their eyes. At that time, Śrī Jagadīśa Bhakti Pradīpa (Śrī Bhakti Pradīpa Tīrtha Mahārāja) was personally present with the Ṭhākurā.

Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived at Bhakti Bhavan from Māyāpura in the afternoon. However, before his arrival, the Ṭhākura’s other sons had completed his last rites.

According to the Vaiṣṇava smṛti, Śrī Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, on the eleventh day, a disappearance observance for the Śrīla Ṭhākura was held by offering bhoga to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Giridhāri. Mahā-mahopādhyāya Śrī Caṇḍī-caraṇa Smṛti-bhūṣaṇan and Sir Devaprasad Sarvadhikari C.I.E. and other esteemed personalities accepted mahā-prasāda while continuously describing the glories of the Ṭhākura.

(From Chapter 4 of ‘Param-Gurudeva Prabhupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’ by Śrī Harikṛpā Dāsa)