 He had formal education only up to High School levels when he had to abandon it due to financial constraints and take up part time jobs such as a collection agent, tuition teacher and cloth merchant.It was during this time, he was influenced by the thoughts of Sahodaran Ayyappan and participated in the "Mishra Bhojanam", a grand feast organized by Ayyappan where around 200 people including people of the lower castes sat together to eat.Subsequently, he joined Arya Samaj and adopted the name Kesava Dev to get rid of his last name "Pillai" which denoted his caste.