Overview
In this short essay, Manuṣya Ki? (What is a Human?) from Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Volume 2, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura demonstrates the futility of modern science in understanding the subtle body and the spiritual body.
by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
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How this question is answered by materialistic people, who have turned their faces away from the Lord, is indicated by the words found in the philosophy of a proud western scholar. He said that a human being is 1 pound of carbon, 2 pounds of lime, 20 ounces of phosphorus, 1 ounce of iron, potassium, magnesium, silicon, 5000 cubic feet of oxygen, 1000 cubic feet of hydrogen and 52 cubic feet of nitrogen gas, which are mixed together in a decorated form.
It is a pity that the aforementioned mundane scholar only saw the gross part of the body and nothing else. He simply concentrated upon those substances that comprise the human body. In addition, there is a liṅga-svarūpa – a subtle body of mind, intelligence and false ego. Again, apart from those two, there is another tattva known as the spiritual body. Since the respected speaker, while weighing the human being, could not find anything apart from the gross body, he did not accept the mind and soul as being included in a human being’s basic existence. Alas, the advancement of such materialistic science is the cause of our total destruction.
(‘Manuṣya Ki? – What is a Human?’ by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī, Volume 2 and translated into English by Swami B.V. Giri)
More Articles by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
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In 'Daśa-mūla Niryāsa (The Essence of the Ten Foundational Principles), published in Sajjana Toṣaṇi, Vol.8, Issue 9 in 1897, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura outlines in detail the famous ten foundational principles found in the teachings of Śri Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Talks Regarding the Two Dramas, Śrī Vidagdha-Mādhava and Śrī Lalita-Mādhava (Śrī Vidagdha-Mādhava o Śrī Lalita-Mādhava Nāṭaka-Dvaya Sambandhe Vaktavya)
Śrī Vidagdha-Mādhava o Śrī Lalita-Mādhava Nāṭaka-Dvaya Sambandhe Vaktavya (Talks Regarding the Two Dramas, Śrī Vidagdha-Mādhava and Śrī Lalita-Mādhava) is an undated and unpublished work of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura which first appeared in the 20th volume of The Gauḍīya in 1942. In this article, Bhaktivinoda speaks about Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's two dramas Vidagdha-Mādhava and Lalita-Mādhava, and examines the rasa within them as regards pārakīya and svakīya bhāva.
Preface to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta
The preface to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta was first published in Sajjana Toṣaṇī Vol.10. issue 1 in 1898. In this preface, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains the importance of Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛta to Śrī Caitanya, and how Śrī Bilvamangala Ṭhākura’s life reflects the lives of the jīvas in this world.
On 18th August 2012, on the occasion of his Vyāsa Pūjā, Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja announced to the devotees that he had a strong desire to create a website called “Bhaktivinoda Institute” in honour of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his teachings in order to preserve and propagate them. 
