Bankey Bihari Temple was established by Swami Haridas (Lalita Sakhi in Dvapara Yuga),[5] a guru of the famous singer Tansen. Once at the request of his disciples Swami Haridasji sang the following verse in Nidhivan, Vrindavan "Mai ri Sahaj Jori pragat Bhai Ju rang ki gaur Syam ghan damini jaisen. Pratham hun ahuti ab hun aagen hun rahihai na tarihai taisain..
Ang ang ki ujraii sugharaii chaturaii sunderta aisain... Shri Haridas ke swami syama kunjbihari sam vais vaisain.." On singing the verse, the Celestial couple Shyama-Shyam (Radha Krishna) appeared in front of him and his devotees. At the request of Shri Swamiji, the couple merged into one and the idol of Banke Bihari appeared there (the same idol is seen in the temple). The idol was established in Nidhivan.
The image of Bihariji installed in Shri Bankey Bihari Mandir is the one granted to Swami Haridas by the celestial couple Shyama-Shyam themselves. Submitting to the desire of devotees, The Lord appeared in person with his divine consort and left-back a black charming image before disappearing.
Swami Haridas was born to Shri Ashudhir and his wife Srimati Gangadevi on the day of Radha Ashtami i.e. eighth day of the second (bright) fortnight of Bhadrapad month of the year 1535 Vikrami (1478 A.D.). He was born in a small village, now known as Haridaspur, near Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.
The lineage of the family can be traced back to Shri Gargacharya. Shri Gargachrya was the Kulaguru (family guru) of Yadavas and visited Brij secretly for conducting the Namakarana Samskara (naming ceremony) of young Krishna and Balarama on request of Sri Vasudeva. A branch of the family migrated to Multan (now in Pakistan), but some of them returned after a long time.
Sri Ashudhir was one such migrant who after returning from Multan settled at the outskirts of Brij, near Aligarh.
Swami Haridas was the reincarnation of Lalita ‘sakhi’ (female friend), of the inner consortium of Lord Krishna. This easily explains the fact that even in his childhood, he was more into meditation and scriptures, while other children of his age were busy playing. He was married at a suitable age according to the time to Harimati.
Even after his marriage, young Haridas stayed away from worldly pleasures and concentrated on meditation. Harimatiji was such a saintly soul herself that on realizing the inclination of her husband, she prayed intensely and was bodily transported to the heavenly abode of Lord by entering the flame of a small lamp in the presence of Haridas. No physical remains were left behind.
Soon after that Haridas left his village for Vrindavan, which was a dense forest at that time and chose a secluded spot, which is now known as Nidhivan, to practice his music and to enjoy the eternal bliss of meditation. He constantly and continuously meditated on Nitya Ras and Nitya Bihar of Lord at Nitya Vrindavan.
His way of Sadhna was to compose and sing songs in the praise of the Lord. While on earth, living in a mortal state, he facilitated his regular unobstructed entry in the Nitya Bihar and always enjoyed the pleasure of closeness of Lord. He chose a secluded and densely forested area, Kunj, in Nidhivan as his gateway to the nirvana and was mostly sitting there, singing, meditating and surfing in the ocean of eternal bliss.
His disciples were curious about this place and one day with the permission of Swamiji, they all entered the Kunj. But instead of seeing anything, they were almost blinded by bright, intense light, which seemed to fill the whole place. On knowing of their plight Swamiji himself went there, and then after his requests, the lord appeared in person with his divine consort, pleasantly smiling and in a playful mood and casting a spell of charm on every living being present there.
Those who witnessed this were so spell bounded by the beauty of the Lord and his consort, that they couldn't even blink their eyes; it seemed that all of them had turned into stone statues.