The Saint-Scientist Vallalar has a precise answer for what you came here for, which is how to heal past hurts.
When you are searching for this, it is not a thought experiment. It is a weight you carry every day, a background noise that can feel like it will never stop. Good advice from others often feels hollow because the pain is yours alone, an isolating experience that words cannot seem to touch. Vallalarβs practical teaching begins not with explanation but with one simple act.
To understand why this matters, we first need to look at the man who offered this path.
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. 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 When Everything is Chaos
Emotional pain and grief are among the most disorienting experiences a person can have. In the acute moment, the mind is often in chaos, replaying memories or projecting fears. No amount of good advice makes the weight lighter.
Vallalarβs path does not begin by trying to reason with this chaos. Instead, he offered a tool to anchor the mind: the Maha-mantra.
AruαΉ Perum JΕti β AruαΉ Perum JΕti β
TaαΉi Perum KaruαΉai β AruαΉ Perum JΕti
This translates to: The Vast Grace-Light. The Vast Grace-Light. The Incomparable Great Compassion. The Vast Grace-Light.
He taught that repeating this mantra, silently or aloud, serves as a steadying force. It is not an attempt to erase the pain or deny it. It is a simple, practical act that gives the mind something to hold onto when everything else feels like it is falling apart. It introduces a different vibration, a different focus, creating a small space between you and the overwhelming feeling.
How to Heal Past Hurts by Turning Outward
When we are in pain, the natural tendency is to turn inward, to analyze the hurt and try to understand it. Vallalarβs teaching suggests a different direction. He showed a path through grief that does not require understanding it first. This path has two core components that shift attention from the self to the other.
The first is a clean diet, free from the suffering of other beings. Vallalar taught that consuming animal flesh introduces the vibrations of fear and pain into our own system, making inner peace much harder to achieve. Choosing plant-based foods is an act of non-harm that purifies the body and, in turn, clarifies the mind.
The second component is compassionate service. This is the principle of Jeeva Karunyamβactive compassion for all living beings. Vallalar taught that none of his techniques can take root without it. Even in oneβs own pain, the simple act of easing the suffering of another being has a powerful effect.
Imagine feeling consumed by a memory of loss, then pausing to give water to a thirsty stray dog or food to a hungry person. In that moment of simple, outward care, Vallalar taught that the grip of personal grief loosens, even if just for a minute. That minute is the beginning of a new path.
Why Action Comes Before Understanding
The modern approach to healing often prioritizes intellectual understanding. We are encouraged to talk about our pain, analyze its origins, and construct a narrative around it. While this can be useful, it can also keep us trapped in the very stories that cause us pain.
Vallalar showed that true healing is not a mental process but a change in our state of being. The mind that is experiencing the hurt cannot be the same mind that βsolvesβ it.
By taking direct, physical actionβreciting the mantra, changing your diet, performing an act of serviceβyou begin to change your physical and emotional state directly. You are not trying to think your way into feeling better. You are acting your way into a new reality. The understanding and release often follow the action, not the other way around. This is the core of his practical path: do first, and the healing will follow.
One Small Step Away From Pain Today
You do not need to understand everything to begin. The path starts with a single, small action that turns your attention outward.
Before you do anything else today, take five minutes. Sit quietly and recite the Maha-mantra, βArut Perum Joti, Arut Perum Joti, Tani Perum Karunai, Arut Perum Joti.β As you do, hold in your mind someone else you know who is in pain. Offer the peace of this mantra to them. This small act combines the anchor of the mantra with the outward turn of compassion. It is the first step.
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