The Saint-Scientist Vallalar has a precise answer for what you came here for, which is how to get over deep emotional pain.
If you are looking for this, something real is happening. Emotional pain and grief are among the most isolating experiences a person can have, and no amount of good advice makes them lighter in the acute moment. It can feel like the world is moving on while you are stuck in a moment that will not end. Vallalarβs teaching begins not with explanation but with action, because he knew that a mind in chaos cannot be reasoned with.
Much of the writing on emotional healing stays at the level of theory. Vallalar offered a set of direct, physical practices that work on the mind and body together, providing a way through the pain that does not require you to understand it first. To understand why this approach matters, we need to look at the man who lived it.
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 demonstrated a path of compassion so complete that it could, he taught, transform the physical body itself into a body of light.
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.
An Anchor for the Mind: The Maha-mantra
When the mind is overwhelmed by pain, it cannot think its way to peace. It needs an anchor. Vallalar gave one central practice for this state: the recitation of the Mahamantra. This is not a prayer asking for help, but a tool for stabilizing your awareness.
The mantra is:
AruαΉ Perum JΕti β AruαΉ Perum JΕti β TaαΉi Perum KaruαΉai β AruαΉ Perum JΕti
Its translation is:
The Vast Grace-Light. The Vast Grace-Light. The Incomparable Great Compassion. The Vast Grace-Light.
Reciting these words, even silently, gives the mind something to hold onto when everything else feels like it is falling apart. The sound itself, Vallalar taught, has a quality that helps to quiet the storm of painful thoughts and feelings. It is the first step, a simple act you can do when you feel you can do nothing else.
Why a Clean Diet Helps Heal a Wounded Heart
Vallalarβs path is intensely practical, connecting every outer action to an inner result. He taught that the food we eat directly affects our emotional and mental state. To find peace, he advised removing from our diet anything that is a product of suffering.
This means adopting a clean, plant-based diet. Vallalarβs reasoning was direct: when an animal is killed, its body is filled with the chemistry of fear and pain. Consuming that flesh introduces those same qualities into our own system, making it harder to find calm and clarity.
By choosing foods that are free from violenceβlike grains, lentils, vegetables, and fruitsβwe stop adding agitation to our body. This practice is part of what Vallalar called Jeeva Karunyam, or active compassion toward all living beings. It is not just an ethical choice, but a scientific one for creating a state of inner peace.
The Practical Path for How to Get Over Deep Emotional Pain
Vallalarβs solution for deep emotional pain is a three-part practice that turns attention outward. It combines the mantra, a compassionate diet, and one more crucial element: compassionate service.
Deep pain naturally makes us turn inward. We become lost in our own suffering, creating a closed loop that can be hard to escape. Vallalar taught that the most effective way to break this cycle is to find another living being and help them, even when you feel you have nothing to give.
This is not about trying to feel good about yourself. It is about the simple mechanics of attention. By focusing on the needs of another, you are forced to shift your awareness away from your own pain, even for a moment. This small shift creates an opening for grace to enter.
This could be as simple as pausing to fill a bowl of water for a thirsty animal on a hot day. In that moment of focusing on anotherβs need, the crushing weight of oneβs own pain can lift, even if just for a minute. That minute is a start.
Vallalar taught that these three actsβreciting the mantra, eating with compassion, and serving anotherβwork together to dissolve the hardness of grief. They are a direct, physical way to move through pain when thinking about it only makes it worse.
One Small, Outward Act Today
Do not wait until you feel better or feel compassionate. The action comes first, and the feeling follows.
Before you do anything else today, find one living being that needs something. It could be a person, an animal, or even a plant. Give what is needed. Offer a glass of water to a delivery person, put out seeds for birds, or speak a genuinely kind word to a stranger at the store.
Perform this small, outward act without any expectation for yourself. Simply do it for the sake of the other being. This is the beginning of Vallalarβs path through pain.
You came here for how to get over deep emotional pain and found something worth reading. Want much more?
The Sanmarkkam Journey delivers free teachings, health guidance, and translations of Vallalarβs works, directly to your inbox. We take you by hand, at your own pace.
No pressure, no selling. Just value. Unsubscribe with one click. Join the Sanmarkkam Journey
Want Vallalar's wisdom
delivered free to your inbox?
All directly to your favourite email inbox.
We take you by hand, at your own pace. Step-by-Step.
- Free E-book: Jeevakarunyam Ozhukkam β Vallalar's Guide to Compassionate Living IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD
- Free E-books, translations & commentaries
- Free health tips from Vallalar's manuscripts
- Free community
- Free Emporium items
- & Much More π
π―οΈ Welcome to the Journey
Look for an email from international@sanmarkkamlife.org. Check your inbox, spam folder and Promotions tab. Your first teaching and your free e-book are on their way.
π We hate Spam. No Pressure. 0 Selling or Pitching.
1 Click Unsubscribe any time.
Privacy Policy Β· Sanmarkkam Life APS Β· GDPR compliant