Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared in an educated and cultured family on September 2, 1838, in the village of Viranagara, which is near the place of Mahaprabhu's appearance, Sri Dhama Mayapura, in West Bengal. His childhood name was Sri Kedaranatha Datta. He was a scholarly and ingenious student.

During his household life, he held a high position as a government official under the rule of the British Raja. During that time he served the innermost desire of Sri Gaurasundara by translating the Upanisads, the Brahma-sutra, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhagavad-gita, the commentaries of the Gosvamis, composing his own devotional books, and by publishing weekly and monthly spiritual journals. In addition, he established nama-hatta programmes for the distribution of harinama-sankirtana and hari-katha from village to village and town to town, and he revived many forgotten holy places.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is an intimate eternal associate of the saviour of the masses in the age of Kali, Sacinandana Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. After the associates of Sri Gaurahari such as the Six Gosvamis, Sri Krishnadasa Kaviraja, Sri Narottama Thakura and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura left this world and entered the unmanifest pastimes, the one-hundred years that followed are considered a dark period for the Gaudiya Vaisnava line.

This is because during this period in the Gaudiya line no powerful acarya appeared who could carry forward the teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu in their pure form as was done previously. As a result, in a short span of time, on the pretext of following and preaching the prema-dharma taught by Sriman Mahaprabhu many false sects like Aul, Baul, Karta-bhaja, Neda-nedi, Sai, Sahajiya, Sakhi-bhekhi, Smarta and Jati-gosai appeared and, while engaged in abundant misbehaviour, started preaching their own imaginary and materially motivated deceitful principles. They defamed Gaudiya Vaisnavism to such an extent that educated and respectable people started viewing it with abhorrence. Gradually the Gaudiya conception of devotion began disappearing.  

At this time, Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura auspiciously appeared. By compiling approximately one-hundred authoritative books on the science of bhakti in Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, English and various other languages, he ushered in a new era in the Gaudiya Vaisnava line and re-established its lost glory. For this great effort, the Gaudiya Vaisnavas will remain eternally indebted to him. In the modern age, Srila Bhaktivinoda

Thakura set in motion once again the bhakti-bhagirathi, or flowing river of pure devotion.

Due to his having propagated in different ways the pure philosophy of divine love (prema-dharma) exhibited and preached by Sriman Mahaprabhu, he is famous as the Seventh Gosvami. Because he manifested Mahaprabhu's holy names (sri-gaura-nama), Mahaprabhu's holy land (sri-gaura-dhama), Mahaprabhu's innermost desire (sri-gaura-kama) and the narrations of Mahaprabhu's pastimes (sri-gaura-lila), he is considered the incarnation of Vyasa in Mahaprabhu's pastimes.

In the end he renounced his wealth and family and took up permanent residence at Sri Svananda-sukhada-kunja, a garden in Sri Godruma which is situated on the banks of the divine Bhagirathi River within the boundary of Sri Dhama Navadvipa. There he remained possessionless and established the ideal of the system for practicing spontaneous devotional worship (raganuga-bhajana). If he had not appeared in this world, Mahaprabhu's birthplace, the places where Mahaprabhu performed pastimes and Mahaprabhu's instructions would still be concealed.

By his influential and impeccable discourses, articles and books about pure bhakti, and by his establishing Sri Nama-hatta, or the marketplace of the holy name in every town and village, he laid the foundation for widespread distribution of rupanuga-bhakti throughout the world.

Today, in all corners of the world, hari-nama-sankirtana is being joyously celebrated and the very high waves of Sri-gaura-krsna bhakti are inundating the entire world. Thousands of educated Western youths are drinking the mellows of devotion (bhakti-rasa) and dancing, being overcome with spiritual joy.

It is none other than Bhaktivinoda Thakura who again inaugurated this flow of bhakti. He composed approximately one hundred books in Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, English, Oriya and other languages. The names of a few of them are as follows: commentaries on ancient scriptures such as Brahma-sutra, Bhagavad-gita, some of the Upanisads, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta; and his own compositions such as Jaiva-dharma, Sri Caitanya-siksamrta, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhura Siksa, Datta-kaustubha, Sri Krishna-samhita, Tattva-viveka, Bhajana-rahasya, Dasa-mula-siksa, Saranagati, Gitamala, Kalyana-kalpataru, Harinama-cintamani, Prema-pradipa, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu - His Life and Precepts. He disappeared from this world on June 23, 1914.