On Christmas day (25 December) of 1887 (when the holidays had begun), Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came to Kuliyā Navadvīpa. He has written the following words in his autobiography that relate to his stay in Navadvīpa during this time. “Although I searched everywhere for the Lord’s birthplace in Navadvīpa, I could not find it. I was…
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura never presented bhāgavata-dharma and prema-bhakti in such a way that it would suit the needs of the ignorant. He again preached the anyabhilāṣitā-śūnya verse to the educated society of the 19th century. This verse delineates the essence of the svarupa-rūpānuga line of pure devotion…
In the month of Śravaṇa 1880, when Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was staying in the kuñja of Śrī Rūpa dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura arrived at the kuñja of Śrī Rādhā-ramaṇa Vasu with the intent of having darśana of Śrīdhāma Vṛndāvana. At that time, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was searching for certain lost scriptural…
The glories of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura are so great that even Lord Brahma, with his four mouths, cannot completely describe them. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was a transcendental personality and we are not transcendental, so how then can we touch his glory? Only a transcendental person can expound on his glory.
We have heard from our gurudeva and other Vaisnavas, and we have also read in authentic books, that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was given the title ‘Seventh Gosvami.’ From the time of the Six Gosvamis up to his time, no one else was ever designated as such. During his manifest stay in this world (1838-1914), learned persons and devotees saw his glorious activities and gave him this title. It was he who once again illuminated the true principles of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. If he had not appeared when he did, all the teachings of pure Gaudiya Vaisnavism would have been forever drowned in an ocean of oblivion.
If this great self-realized soul had not descended in this world, no one would have known the meaning of pure bhakti. No one would have known the identity of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the book Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, or the books and glories of the Gosvamis…
Jive doya means to have mercy upon the living entities. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has ordered us: Tell them that they are spirit souls; they are not this physical body. They are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, but they have forgotten this. Now they should engage in the process of bhakti-yoga and be happy. To turn anyone’s interest or tendency toward Krsna, is more valuable than establishing thousands of schools, hospitals, public gardens and performing charitable works. We should try to help others…
He revealed the place of Shri Gauranga’s appearance at the yoga-pitha in Shri Mayapura and also begot Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Furthermore, by his influential and impeccable discourses, articles and books about pure bhakti, and by his establishing shri nama-hatta, or the marketplace of the holy name, in every town and village…
If Srila Thakura Bhaktivinoda had not appeared in this world, the pastime places and instructions of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu would have disappeared from the world. The entire world of Gaudiya Vaisnavas will therefore remain indebted to him forever. It is for this reason that he has been awarded the highest honor in the Vaisnava community by being addressed as the Seventh Gosvami…
I want a revolution like this: we should come to the real path, in the real sense. Krsna will arrange for someone to come after me; and after that anyone else will come, and this will not be ruined. The world will be ruined, but this line is eternal. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said that this line is eternal…