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Bhaktivinoda Thakur was born at Birnagar West Bengal in the home of his maternal grandfather and his parents, Anandacandra Datta and Jaganmohini Devi, gave him the name Kedaranatha.
Bhaktivinoda composed his first poem when he was only two years old.
At only six, had learned all the details of the epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana. At six years of age, Bhaktivinoda went to study Sanskrit at the school of Vidyavacaspati. Then at the age of seven, his grandfather sent him to study at Krishnagar College. The next year, an English-language school was established in Ula in which Bhaktivinoda was enrolled.
Bhaktivinoda began researching astrological texts when he was nine years old, but according to his autobiography, he began inquiring into spiritual truth at the age of ten.
When he was only eleven years old, his father died. According to the custom prevalent at that time, his mother arranged for her twelve-year-old son to be married to a five-year-old from nearby Ranaghat. When his maternal grandfather died, he and his mother came to live in Calcutta at the family home at the corner of Beadon Street and Hedua in Bhawanipur. He recommenced his studies at the Hindu Charitable Trust School. After four years there, he was admitted to the Hindu School in 1856. Amongst Bhaktivinoda’s fellow students were Satyendranath and Ganendranath Tagore. Principal Clint, Reverend Duff, George Thompson, and Keshab Chandra Sen were attracted by the young man’s mastery of the English language and literature. Toward the end of 1856, Bhaktivinoda published an English poem, The Poriade, which was well-received in educated circles in Calcutta. All the Thakur’s English poems were published in the paper, Library (Literary) Gazette. He delivered a lecture to the British Indian Society in 1856 on the evolution of matter which was much applauded. During this time, the Thakur also studied the Brahma Dharma, Christianity, the Bible and Qur’an and many other religious traditions and books.
In 1858, Bhaktivinoda went to Puri. On the way back to Calcutta, he stopped at Chutigram, where his grandfather Krishnavallabha Datta was living. His grandfather said prophetically that Bhaktivinoda would be a great Vaisnava philsopher. Immediately upon making this prediction, he passed away.
On Ishvara Candra Vidyasagara’s recommendation, Bhaktivinoda took a job teaching at the Cuttack Government Secondary School and shortly thereafter, the headmaster’s position at a school in Bhadrak in 1860. During this time, he wrote a book on the various religious institutions of Orissa, ‘Maths of Orissa’, which Sir William Hunter made much use of as a reference work in his Orissa. He also wrote a work named Sri Caitanya-gita under the pen name Saccidananda Premalankara. He was given the title Bhaktivinoda by the Sri Gaudiya Goswami Sangha on the 400th anniversary of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance (1885). From this time he became known in the Vaishnava society as Sri Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda.
Bhaktivinoda also taught at a school in Midnapore and during that time his first wife died and he was later married for a second time, to Bhagavati Devi. From Midnapore, he went to Burdwan to preach. While there, he published an English book, ‘Our Wants’, in 1863. He was involved in the arguments between the Brahmo Samaja and Christians and tried to mediate between the two religions. In two lectures he showed the problems with both groups’ positions. While in Burdwan, he started a group called the Bhratr-samaja.
In 1868 he travelled to Dinajpur where he was engaged as Deputy Magistrate. In Dinajpur, he found that there was a dispute between Hindus and Brahmos in which he intervened, giving a speech on ‘The Bhagavat: Its Philosophy, Its Ethics and Its Theology’.
He travelled to Jagannatha Puri where he was engaged as a director of the temple to oversee its management. He lived in Puri continuously for over five years, from 1869-1874.
While living in Puri, Bhaktivinoda took the opportunity to study the theological works of Gaudiya Vaisnavism such as the Bhagavatam, the Sandarbhas of Jiva Goswami, the ‘Govinda-bhasya’, ‘Siddhanta-ratnam’, ‘Prameya-ratnavali’, etc., of Baladeva Vidyabhusana. He also studied Rupa Goswami’s ‘Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu’ in great detail. During this time, he also studied Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami’s ‘Caitanya-caritamrita’ and Narahari Chakravarti’s ‘Bhakti-ratnakara’. He also wrote the Sanskrit work, ‘Datta-kaustubha’ and began writing the Sanskrit verses of ‘Sri Krsna-samhita.’
Ten months after the birth of his seventh child (Bimala Prasada who later became Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati), Bhaktivinoda returned to Bengal with his family, this time going to Ranaghat. Between 1877 and 1910, Bhaktivinoda travelled exstensively in Bengal and Uttar Pradesh giving lectures on the philsophy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
In 1887, Bhaktivinoda was transfered to Krishnanagara. It was while he was stationed here that he rediscovered the birthplace of Caitanya Mahaprabhu which had been lost for centuries.
In 1894, Bhaktivinoda retired from government service and came to live permanently in the holy land of Navadvipa where he once again gave discourses on the Vaishnava scriptures. In 1908, Srila Bhaktivinoda took the dress of a renounced Vaishnava and continued to write literature expounding the philosophical principles of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
In 1896 Bhaktivinoda sent copies of his English book 'Sri Caitanya- His Life and Precepts' to various universities around the world. he also sent a copy of his 'Krsna Samhita'to the famous American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Bhaktivinoda was very eager that the philosophy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu should be studied and understood by the western world.
A few days before his disappearance, Bhaktivinoda left Navadvipa to come to his residence in Calcutta and at midday on June 23, 1914, Bhaktivinoda passed away.
His Contribution to the Gaudiya Vaisnava Philosophy:
Bhaktivinoda can be said to be one of greatest expounders of the philosophy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in modern times. Not only did he reestablish the dignity of Mahaprabhu’s teachings at a time when common people considered Vaishnavism to be immoral and backwards – he wrote a plethora of literature to show the sanctity and depth of the Acintya-bhedabheda philosophy of the Gaudiyas. Bhaktivinoda wrote almost 80 philosphical works. Two of his works deserve special mention: in 1893 Bhaktivinoda wrote ‘Tattva-viveka’ (A treatise on Realizations of Eternity, Knowledge and Bliss) a treatise which explores the fundamental aspects of various religions and philosophies, both eastern and western, in the light of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Another important work of Bhaktivinoda was ‘Jaiva-dharma’ (the constitutional function of the soul)– a groundbreaking spiritual novel in which Bhaktivinoda reveals the development of the path of devotion to Krishna. Jaiva-dharma contains numerous dialogues on various spiritual topics. Many consider this book to be Bhaktivinoda’s greatest literary achievement.
A list of Bhaktivinoda’s works as well as the year they were published is as follows (this does not include the various essays that he penned for his periodical ‘Sajjana-toshani’):
1 Hari-katha: Topics of Lord Hari, 1850
2 Sumbha-Nisumbha-yuddha, 1851
3 Poriade, 1857-58.
4 Mathas of Orissa, 1860.
5 Vijana-grama, 1863.
6 Sannyasi, 1863.
7 Our Wants, 1863
8 Valide Rejistri, 1866.
9 Speech on Gautama, 1866
10 The Bhagavat: Its Philosophy, Its Ethics, and Its Theology, 1869
11 Garbha-stotra-vyakhya, 1870
12 Reflections, 1871
13 Thakura Haridasa, 1871
14 The Temple of Jagannatha at Puri, 1871
15 The Monasteries of Puri, 1871
16 The Personality of Godhead, 1871
17 A Beacon of Light, 1871
18 Saragrahi Vaisnava, 1871
19 To Love God, 1871
20 The Atibadis of Orissa, 1871
21 The Marriage System of Bengal, 1871
22 Vedantadhikarana-mala, 1872
23 Datta-kaustubham, 1874
24 Datta-vamsa-mala, 1876
25 Bauddha-vijaya-kavyam, 1878
26 Sri Krsna-samhita, 1880
27 Sri Sajjana-tosani, (monthly magazine) 1881
28 Kalyana-kalpataru, 1881
29 Review of Nitya-rupa-samsthapanam, 1883
30 Visva-Vaisnava-Kalpatari, 1885
31 Dasopanisad-curnika, 1886
32 Bhavavali (commentary), 1886
33 Rasika-Ranjana, (commentary on Bhagavad Gita) 1886
34 Sri Caitanya Siksamrta, 1886
35 Prema-pradipa, 1886
36 Published Sri Visnu-sahasra-nama, 1886
37 Manah-Siksa (translation and commentary), 1886
38 Sri Caitanya-Upanisad (commentary), 1887
39 Sri Krsna-vijaya (published), 1887
40 Vaisnava-siddhanta-mala, 1888
41 Sri Amnaya-sutram, 1890
42 Siddhanta-darpanam (Bengali translation), 1890
43 Sri Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya, 1890
44 Sri Godruma Kalpatari (essays on nama-hatta), 1891
45 Vidvad-ranjana (commentary on Bhagavad Gita), 1891
46 Sri Harinama, 1892
47 Sri Nama, 1892
48 Sri Nama-tattva-siksastaka, 1892
49 Sri Nama-mahima, 1892
50 Sri Nama-pracara, 1892
51 Sriman Mahaprabhura Siksa, 1892
52 Tattva-vivekah or Sri Saccidanandanubhutih, 1893
53 Saranagati, 1893
54 Gitavali, 1893
55 Gitamala, 1893
56 Soka-satana, 1893
57 Nama Bhajana, 1893
58 Tattva-sutram, 1894
59 Vedarka-didhiti (commentary on Sri Isopanisad), 1894
60 Tattva-muktavali or Mayavada-satadusani, (translated and published), 1894
61 Amrta-pravaha-bhasya (commentary on Caitanya caritamrta), 1895
62 Sri Gauranga-lila-smarana-mangala-stotram, 1896
63 Sri Ramanuja Upadesa, 1896
64 Jaiva-Dharma, 1896
65 Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, His Life and Precepts, 1896
66 Brahma-samhita (commentary), 1897
67 Sri Goloka-mahatmya (Bengali translation of Brhad Bhagavatamrta), 1898
68 Sri Krsna-karnamrtam, (translation), 1898
69 Piyusa-varsini-vrtti (commentary on Upadesamrta), 1898
70 Sri Bhajanamrtam (translation and commentary), 1899
71 Sri Navadvipa-bhava-taranga, 1899
72 The Hindu Idols, 1899
73 Sri Harinama-cintamani, 1900
74 Sri Bhagavata Arka-marici-mala, 1901
75 Sri Sankalpa-kalpadruma (Bengali translation), 1901
76 Sri Bhajana-rahasya, 1902
77 Sri Prema-vivarta (published), 1906
78 Svaniyama-dvadasakam, 1907
