After the disappearance of Śrī Kṛnṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rāmānanda Rāya, the Six Gosvāmīs, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura and Śyāmānanda Prabhu, a dark age descended on the world of Gauḍīya Vainṇava-dharma. Those unable to understand the transcendental purity of Mahāprabhu’s teachings of divine love started numerous pseudo sects or apasampradāyas. Totārāma Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja named thirteen such pseudo sects:

āula, bāula, kartābhajā, neḍā, daraveśa, sāiñ
sahajiyā, sakhībhekī, smārta, jāta-gosāñi
atibāḍī, cuḍādhārī, gaurānga-nāgarī
totā kahe ei teror saṅga nāhi kari

Educated upper-class Bengali society, by seeing the odious practices of these pseudo sects, came to identify Mahāprabhu’s religion with the lower classes, the uneducated and immoral. People of the educated classes thus had no understanding or faith in Mahāprabhu’s true religion. The most munificent form Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took pity on the living entities and in order to bring about their greatest welfare sent His personal associate Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura into this world. Possessed of divine prowess, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wrote more than a hundred books in several different languages with the goal of defeating all the unorthodox views opposed to the true doctrines of Mahāprabhu’s religion. The result was that many members of discerning society and others from all over the world came to recognize the unequalled value of Mahāprabhu’s teachings. The founder of the Sree Chaitanya Math and the worldwide Sree Gaudiya Maths, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, based his mission on Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s books and teachings, and accomplished the fulfilment of Mahāprabhu’s message found in the Caitanya Bhāgavata:

pṛthivī paryanta āche yata deśa-grāma
sarvatra sañcāra haibeka mora nāma

My name will pervade every village and country in the world. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.4.126)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura thus made an unequalled contribution to the ultimate, spiritual welfare of humankind. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda wrote in his preface to the Jaiva-dharma: “Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is an extremely dear associate of Śrī Caitanya Candra. In the course of time, when those who preached the message of Caitanya Deva had left this world to enter the Lord’s eternal pastimes, the sky over Bengal slowly darkened, covered by the thick clouds of sensual enjoyment and false renunciation. The sky was covered and the world was bereft of the rays of light coming from the saṅkīrtana propagated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. One by one, the sun, the moon and the bright stars of that sky faded from view, leaving only the flash of lightning to disrupt the unending darkness of ignorance. Almost 350 years after the appearance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came to illuminate the Gauḍīya sky in Birnagar village in Nadia district.

“All the great virtues are present in the body of a Vainṇava. All the good qualities of Kṛnṇa are seen in His devotees. All these transcendental qualities are the characteristics of pure Vainṇavas, and they cannot be fully explained, but I shall try to point out some of the most important. Devotees are always merciful; they are not bellicose. They are truthful, equal to all, faultless, generous, mild and clean. They are without material possessions, and they work for the welfare of all. They are peaceful, surrendered to Kṛnṇa and desireless. They are indifferent, resolute, and completely control the six character flaws of lust, anger, greed and so forth. They eat only as much as required and are prudent, respectful, and free from false prestige. They are grave, compassionate, friendly, poetic, expert and silent. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.22.75-80)

“All of these qualities of the devotees were perfectly displayed in the pure devotional life of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. The ocean of compassion, Śrī Gaurahari, displayed this never-ending merciful nature to the conditioned souls in nine different ways. The same kind of distribution of mercy is seen in the life and work of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.”

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is the root of the daily activities in the Sree Chaitanya Math, Sree Gaudiya Math, the Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, and its sister institutions. The Gaudiya Math institutions cannot be separated from Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. These institutions are entirely indebted to his sublime contributions.

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has written, “Devotees in the line of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī do not put faith in their own powers, but rather attribute everything to its original source. We also do everything for the sake of Śrī Kṛnṇa Caitanya, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and our divine spiritual master.” (From Patrāvalī, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s letters, vol. 3, p. 89)

Devotees of Śrī Brahma-Mādhva-Sārasvata-Gauḍīya lineage pay their respects daily to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura as follows:

śuddha-bhakti-pracārasya
mūlībhūta ihottamaḥ
śrī-bhaktivinodo devas
tat-priyatvena viśrutaḥ

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is the transcendental personality who is the root of the preaching movement of pure devotion. He is renowned as being very dear to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.