The Saint-Scientist Vallalar has a precise answer for what you came here for, which is how to develop empathy in yourself. Here, you will find his practical method for building compassion, starting with the one act you control completely: what you put on your plate. Itβs a question that can feel abstract, almost impossible to answer with a clear next step. Much writing about empathy stays at the level of concept without a precise path. Vallalar provides a path that begins not in the mind, but in the body.
The Life and Teachings of Vallalar
Ramalinga Swamigal, known as Vallalar, was a 19th-century Tamil mystic whose collected writings, the Thiru Arutpa, remain one of the most extraordinary spiritual records ever produced. His life was filled with remarkable featsβthough he dismissed anything supernatural, insisting that everything he did was a science. He established a center for feeding the poor, the Sathya Dharma Salai, which has been operating continuously for over 150 years, serving food to all without discrimination. On January 30, 1874, accounts from those present record that he locked himself in a room in Mettukuppam and was never seen againβhis body never found. This event is documented by government records and by British Collector John Henry Garstin.
Jeeva Karunyam: Compassion as a Practice
For Vallalar, compassion is not primarily a feeling one must try to generate. It is a practice. He called this practice Jeeva Karunyamβa Tamil term that translates to compassion for all living souls.
This is not a passive sympathy. It is the active, deliberate relief of suffering wherever one encounters it. Vallalar taught that trying to feel empathy while your actions cause pain to other beings is a contradiction that blocks spiritual progress. The practice of Jeeva Karunyam begins by examining oneβs own life and removing any participation in the suffering of others.
How to Develop Empathy in Yourself: The Foundational Act
The search for how to develop empathy in yourself begins with the most immediate and controllable act: what you put on your plate. Vallalar was clear that the foundation of Jeeva Karunyam is a plant-based diet.
In his work Nithya Karma Vidhi (Rules for Daily Life), he explained that consuming the flesh of animals directly involves one in their fear and pain. He taught that it is impossible to open the heart to true compassion while simultaneously causing terror and death for oneβs food. This act, he explained, hardens the soul and body, making them unreceptive to grace. From this starting point of diet, the practice of Jeeva Karunyam expands to every interaction with every living beingβhuman and non-human.
The Mechanism for Receiving Divine Grace
Why was this practice so important? Vallalar did not teach compassion as a mere virtue to aspire to. He taught it as the very mechanism by which divine grace-light, Arut Perum JΕti, enters and transforms the soul and body.
He documented a three-stage bodily transformation that results from a life centered on Jeeva Karunyam.
* Suddha Deham (The Pure Body): The physical body is purified of all gross elements through compassionate action and diet, becoming free from disease, aging, and decay.
* Pranava Deham (The Primal Body): The body becomes subtler, appearing to others as a young child, and is no longer dependent on physical food or constrained by physical laws.
* Gnana Deham (The Wisdom Body): The body fully dissolves into the substance of divine grace-light, becoming one with it. Vallalar is the only one known to have documented the attainment of this final stage, which has some parallels to the documented rainbow body phenomenon in Tibetan traditions.
This progression shows that for Vallalar, empathy was not an end in itself. It was the key that unlocked the science of physical transformation into a deathless body of light.
A Daily Practice for Cultivating Compassion
To keep the mind and heart aligned with the principle of Jeeva Karunyam, Vallalar gave a simple but powerful mantra. Reciting it turns the attention toward the qualities of grace and compassion, making them the central focus of oneβs awareness.
AruαΉ Perum JΕti β AruαΉ Perum JΕti β TaαΉi Perum KaruαΉai β AruαΉ Perum JΕti
The Vast Grace-Light. The Vast Grace-Light.
The Incomparable Great Compassion. The Vast Grace-Light.
This is not a request for compassion, but an affirmation of its presence as the fundamental nature of the divine.
Your First Step: A Single Compassionate Meal
You do not need to perfect this overnight. The path begins with a single step.
For your next meal, consciously choose a plant-based option. Before you eat, take one moment to consider this choice not as a dietary preference, but as a direct act of Jeeva Karunyam. You are actively preventing the suffering of another living being. Notice how this simple, deliberate act feels. This is the starting point of the entire science.
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