The principles of Vaastu Shastra need to be applied in the context of place, time and the individual and if seen with minute attention all these vaastu principles as enshrined in classic vaastu shastras do definitely signify and define so.

 

By the conceptual definitions of the word “Vaastu”, it mainly means and conveys two definitions, and these are:-

 

1.   It mainly means the place where the people dwell.

2.   Experts call all the places where mortals and immortals dwell as dwelling sites or vaastu.

Both these interpretations once seen as per microscopic dissections convey that the concept of place, time and the person is very much vivid in the word “vaastu”.

 

Then vaastu is derived from the word “vaas”, which means to reside and this word has further reference to “Aawaas”, “Niwaas”, etc. So it thus deals with the house and habitation. Any habitation is related to the concept of Time, Place and eventually to the Person.

 

Selection of sites, architecture, civil engineering, landscaping and astrology are the inevitable components of vaastu. All these have a bearance with the concept of  time, place and the person.

 

The  Shastra of the study of the vaastu (articles) is also called Vaastu Shahstra.

 

In a broader sense the word vaastu, it shows and underlines the following vital factors in relations to the activities of the building structures as:-

 

1.     Study and the arrangements of land and buildings.

2.     Interior decoration.

3.     The right way of living according to the established classical scientific rules and norms.

All the above mentioned three factors have to be seen in relationship to the concept of time, place and the person, as without which no vaastu principle can be applied unilaterally to all the activities of land and buildings. 

 

In addition to the above, the concept of vaastu has to be seen and practiced in the light of the meanings of time, action and space.  The energy behind any event and happenings is always a combined action of these three forces. 

 

Here the element of time is the destiny of an individual which one brings along with one’s birth, and is the position of one’s planets in one’s horoscope.  This element contributes by about 40% towards the share of destiny which one is destined to have. 

 

The element of action is what one does?  How he does?  Where he does? and Why he does ?  This is an off shoot of the karma theory.  A perfect action makes one quite lucky.  An imperfect action makes one un-lucky.  This element of action is equally called as “Kriyamana Karma” in terms of Vedic Philosophy.  Or, it is what a person makes through his actions.  This is what one can achieve or influence through his free will.  Here if a person works quite well in a good vaastu friendly environment, his results can be very good and this can improve upon his destiny through his free will.  Such a shaped destiny and chosen environment can bring very good opportunities for a person to enjoy and cherish. This is again up to the person to recognize such a concept and then utilize it through hard work, education, intuition and virtues.  So our actions (Kriyamana Karmas) are controllable and govern our destiny up to an extent of 25%.

 

The element of space is related to the earth and the earth element is represented by Vaastu Shastra which comes from the environment.  Environment always remains changing with the circumstances and the persons, as also the time which means, Desh – Kaal – Paatar.  (Place, time and the person).

 

It is this element which is the art and science of having or harnessing the maximum benefits from the benefic forces of nature and negating the malefic influences. It controls our lives to an extent of nearly 35%. 

 

Different locations and environments have their own energy fields.  Actions done in certain directions can be successful while as in other direction, it may not be so, even though the all other conditions may remain the same. 

 

Thus the bare conclusion is that by practicing Vaastu Shahstra, one can induce positive aspects in one’s conferred destiny of nature and reduce the negative part of one’s destiny.  By following the Vaastu Principles as per Desh-Kaal-Paatar, one can increase one’s efficiency considerably and thus live a better life. For creating this environment, one simply needs a place which is in perfect harmony with nature.  This place is his residing abode or dwelling.  By practicing it, one will be placed in a better way of life quite well. 

 

The various Vaastu Principles as per Vaastu Shahstra’s get applied to this element of earth again as per Desh-Kaal-Paatar. 

 

It has three aspects on an individual and these are:-

 

1.         Physical

2.         Psychological

3.         Spiritual

 

To describe these aspects, the physical aspect means the simple civil engineering or Architectural aspect which will see as to how the modern building should be propionate to the day to day physical and protective comforts needed for a good living, having good appearances and conveniences. This includes all the requirements which are needed by human beings to protect themselves from the various aggressive forces of nature like the excess heat of Sun, rains, wind, snowfall, storms, protection from burglary and thieves, and the like.  Such forces require proper designing of the building structures so that the negative and the aggressive effects of these forces are avoided and a human being gets a proper residential shelter to protect him self well.

 

The psychological aspect has its source to the initial conditions of birth of a human being as he remains in the mother’s womb for nine month to grow, before he actually gets born.  This nine months period is the best period for a human being, when as a child in the mother’s womb, he feels as if he is floating in an ocean, without any tension of food, air, air-pollution, hot and cold season and no un-pleasing sounds around him to disturb him.  The comforts (Sukh) enjoyed before the birth gets imprinted on his sub-conscious mind and after his birth he tries to achieve all that state of ultimate comforts, through a well designed residential abode, which will need temperature maintenance, Air-conditioning, peaceful surroundings and comfortable approaches and easy access to the nutritional and delicious food.  All these needs are achieved through the application of Vaastu Shahstra when the Brahama Sathana (The central most portion of a building structure) acts like the umbilical cord and supplies all these energetic forces like the necessary food, heat, light and air to the whole dwelling unit and then connects it to the infinite space, filling it with the cosmic element known as ether.  This umbilical cord which is represented by Brahama Sathana in a dwelling unit is of the same concept and reality, which this umbilical cord does while, feeding the child in the mother’s womb before his birth. 

 

As per the spiritual aspect, the Supreme God is Amshi, and our soul is his Amsha, the departed part of the supreme soul.  Amsha cannot meet the Amshi because of the bondages of Karma easily, un-less it does not get purified to the extent of becoming the Amshi in itself.  This Amsha enters the human body on the earth to ensure the mitigation of all the bad karmas and thus get totally purified to go to the lap of the Supreme God.  A soul cannot purify itself unless it does not have a body (Shareera).  This body acts as a Catalyst for the soul and becomes the Vaastu to protect it and help it for achieving purification.  Thus the prime duty of a human is to protect this body which is actually the abode of the immortal soul, the departed part of the Supreme Soul, the God.  To protect this body from the on-slaughts of nature, an artificial structure in the shape of a residential dwelling abode is made for human creatures and it is called Vaastu. 

 

In all these aspects a distinct relationship gets established with the concept of place, time and the person concerned (Desh-Kaal-Paatar), without which it is not possible to have all these aspects fructified or achieved. 

 

Then this Vaastu is the arrangement of space on earth and it is vibrating and alive.  This vibrant energy resides on the earth and is called the Bhoomi-Purush, Vaastu Nathan, or Vaastu Purush.  When the Vaastu Purush is oriented towards the cardinal directions i.e. North, East, South and West, his is considered to be awake and when oriented towards the angular directions like North-East, South-East, South-West and North-West, he is considered to be asleep. (Chart-‘A’).  He is supposed to have three positions:-

 

1.         Sthira Vaastu

 

2.         Char Vaastu

 

3.         Nitya Vaastu

 

Sthira Vaastu is the permanent position of any construction for all the seasons through out the year.  The head of the Vaastu Purush is in North-East, his right arm is in South-East, his feet are in South-West and his left arm is in North-West. 

 

Sthira Vaastu is concerned with the constructions of a house, temple, Village etc. 

 

Char Vaastu has relationship to the various seasonal changes and as per this the Vaastu Purush is closely linked to the various seasonal changes.  These seasonal changes have a great effect on the human body as different seasons have different levels and directions of pranic forces.  Char Vaastu is useful for the construction of temporary structures like Banquet Halls, moving Circus shows, temporary residence of Army, Ramlila stages etc.  Here the construction is done for a maximum period of just three months.

 

Nitya Vaastu refers to the daily movement of the Vaastu Purush.  The gaze of the Vaastu Purush  changes every three hours in a day.  He completes one full rotation of 360o in a day remaining for three hours each in all the eight directions.  Human mind and body also undergoes changes on a daily cycle basis and is thus connected to the daily movements of the Vaastu Purush.  All the three types the Vaastu as mentioned above thus perform and act as per the concept of Desh-Kaal-Paatar. 

 

To define Vaastu further, it is based on the concept of directions and it has ten directions.  These directions have directional lords and the planetary lords and these are mentioned as under:-

 

1.         Poorva (East) directional Lord-Indra, planetary Lord-Sun.

 

2.         Aagneya (South-East) directional Lord-Agni, planetary Lord-Venus.

 

3.         Dakshin (South) directional Lord-Yama, planetary Lord-Mars.

 

4.         Nairritya (South-West) directional Lord-Pitra, planetary Lord-Rahu.

 

5.         Pashim (West) directional Lord-Varuna, planetary Lord-Saturn.

 

6.         Vayavya (North-West) directional Lord-Vayu, planetary Lord-Moon.

 

7.         Uttar (North) directional Lord-Kuber, Planetary Lord-Mercury.

 

8.         Ishaan (North-East) directional Lord-Ish, planetary Lord-Jupiter.

 

9.         Aakash (Space up-wards) directional Lord-Brahama, planetary Lord-Jupiter.

 

10.       Paatal (Below-Earth) directional Lord-Vasuki, planetary Lord-Saturn.

 

Out of these directional divisions comes out the Nav-Pad Vaastu which suggests certain suitable activities in the nine directions differently. 

The Concept of the Vaastu Shastra is further based on the Tools of Vaastu which are known as Panch-Maha-Bhootas, the five great elements of the nature which are:-

 

1.         Prathavi (Earth)

 

2.         Vayu (Air)

 

3.         Agni (Fire)

 

4.         Jal (Water)

 

5.         Aakash (Atmosphere)

 

These Panch Mahabootas have a further Vital connection with the various directions of the nav-pad-Vaastu and the whole epitome and the reality of the Vaastu Shastra thus gets birth for its application to the ground reality by the combination of these fundamental factors and thus various constructions and space distributions along with various types of internal decorations and interiors are done accordingly to suit the construction standards as per Vaastu rules.


By:- Er.P.L. Khushu

Jyotish Achrya- Vastu-Vshwkarma 

 

Note:- The author is an expert on Vastu Shastra as also an Astrologer (Jyotish Acharya), and available on Phone Nos. 011-26972031, Or Mobile No. 09810585536, or Email- pl_khushu@rediffmail.com