A Srivaishnava once asked Bhattar to teach him thiru- ArAdhana-k-kramam. Bhattar then taught him the kramam as done by Ramanujar. The Srivaishnava followed that for a long time.

At one time he was staying with Bhattar and was watching Bhattar do thiruvArAdhana-k-kramam. He noticed that Bhattar was not following anything that he had taught him.

What Bhattar was doing was this: He would take a bath, wear clothes, wear thirumaN kAppu, go to where he normally ate, ask his disciples to bring his personal perumAL, present the food and water to that perumAL and then himself eat.

The Srivaishnava then fell in Bhattar's feet and told him "adiyEn has a question, but I am afraid to ask".

Bhattar said "Have no fear. Ask your question".

He said "You taught me the thiruvArAdhana-k-kramam in one way, but you are doing something totally different. Why is that?"

Bhattar replied "Looking at all sastras, I did not find anything different to teach you. Looking at the same sastras, I did not see anything different for myself to do".

That is, an acharya will teach his disciples many things in order to correct them, help control their senses and turn them toward the Lord. But the acts of the same acharya toward the Lord is beyond the understanding of the disciples.