Talk:The Āḻvār Saints:Sant Kanakadāsa
By Vishal Agarwal
Kanakadāsa was a humble cowherd who wandered from village to village singing the praises of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Vyasatīrtha, a very famous scholar of Vedānta, accepted him as his student. Very soon, Kanakadāsa became his favourite student.
The other students grew jealous because Kanaka was not only from a very humble family, but also uneducated in the scriptures. Vyasatīrtha decided to teach his students a lesson. He called all of them and gave each a banana, saying, “These are sacred bananas. If you eat them, you will be blessed. However, you must eat your banana in a secret spot where no one can see you. Then, come back and tell me where you ate your banana.”
After a day or so, everyone returned and reported that they had eaten their blessed banana at such-and-such spot. Surprisingly, Kanaka had still not eaten his banana. When Vyasatīrtha asked him why, Kanaka replied, “Reverend teacher, I was not able to find a single spot where Bhagavān could not see me.”
Vyasatīrtha looked at his students and said, “For you, Bhagavān is merely someone whose name you chant in prayers. But for Kanakadāsa, Bhagavān is a real presence whom he sees everywhere.”
After some time, Kanakadāsa resumed his travels to sing the praises of Viṣṇu. One day, he arrived at the famous Kṛṣṇa temple at Udipi, in the Indian state of Karnataka. It had long been his desire to have a darśana of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa at the temple.
Unfortunately, the priests refused him entry, saying that as a lowly cowherd, he could not enter the temple. Disheartened, Kanakadāsa went to the rear wall of the temple and began worshipping Kṛṣṇa from there. While the priest was chanting his Sanskrit prayers inside, a miracle occurred the mūrti of the Bhagavān began to turn around. A hole appeared in the rear wall, and the face of the mūrti gazed directly at Kanakadāsa worshipping outside. Quite clearly, Kṛṣṇa turned His back on the priest who had turned away His gentle and loving devotee.
A window was later installed in the hole through which Kanakadāsa had the darśana of Kṛṣṇa, and this window, which exists even today, is called Kanakana Kindi in honour of the saint. Even today, devotees have darśana of Kṛṣṇa through this window.
The story of Kanakadāsa shows how a devotee always experiences Bhagavān and knows that Bhagavān sees him at all times. Likewise, Bhagavān always keeps His eye on the devotee who always sees Him.