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to the temple, had darsan of the Lord in the sanctum sanctorum, and while doing pradakshina around the temple, saw the Siddha Purusha. He was thrilled at the sight and tears welled up in his eyes. Spontaneously, he lifted his hands above his head in salutation and prostrated at the feet of Iswara. He then got up, and prayed that he, a humble being, may also be accepted as a disciple. Having come to earth solely to bestow grace on Manikkavachakar, Iswara, through His mere look, gave him jnana upadesa (initiation into knowledge). Manikkavachakar felt indescribable happiness and the upadesa given by Iswara took deep root in his heart. With folded hands and tears of joy, Manikkavachakar went round the guru, offered salutations, stripped himself of all his official dress and ornaments, placed them near the guru and stood before him with only a kowpeenam on. A deeply felt inspiration resulted in his spontaneously composing and singing beautiful and moving devotional songs in praise of his guru. Iswara was pleased, and addressing him as ‘Manikkavachaka’, commanded him to remain there, worshipping Him and singing His praise. His mission fulfilled, the Lord disappeared.
Fully convinced that he who had blessed him was no other than Iswara Himself, Manikkavachakar was stricken with unbearable grief and fell on the ground weeping and saying, “Oh! My lord, Why did you go away leaving me here?” The villagers were very much surprised at this and began a search for the person who was till then working in their village as a schoolteacher but could not find him anywhere. Then they realised that it was the Lord's leela. Some time later, Manikkavachakar got over his grief, decided to act according to the injunctions of Iswara, sent away his retinue to Madurai, spent all the gold with him on the temple and stayed there alone.
Hearing all that had happened, the king immediately sent an order to Manikkavachakar to return to Madurai, but then how could he go to the king without the horses?
