In 1869, Bhaktivinode Thakur addressed an audience of Bengali intellectuals with an attitude of religious freedom and reform. He embraced universalism, rationalism, and cosmopolitanism with an emphasis on free thinking, liberty, and truth. He presented a synthesis of modern thought and traditional Vaishnavism.
He began by asserting that readers should read to create in the form of correction and development, not for “fruitless retention.†Thought is progressive.
He accepts the conclusions of Plato, Vyas, Confucius, Jesus, Schlegel, Spinoza, Kant, Goethe, and Emerson as equal in reaching the same conclusion but in different language according to time and circumstance. He saw party spirit as the great enemy of truth.
His son and disciple, Lalita Prasad Thakur charged me with spreading his teachings in the West.
