Questions and Answers
775 questions
What does water level mean in Vastu?
Water level means that a surface lies at one equal level throughout, perfectly flat, as shown by the bubble of a spirit level. The plinth beam, main door threshold, bed, toilet seat, tijori, study table and machines should all be at water level so that the gravitational force acts correctly. A spirit level is easy to buy and is also available on mobile phones; a practical demonstration is given in the next class.
How do we find the angle and composition of the sun rays falling on a house in each season?
This is taught while preparing maps: for summer, the rainy season and winter, the particular angle at which the rays strike and their composition are worked out, so that openings and walls can be planned for the maximum benefit without demolition.
In a new flat handed over by the builder the toilet seat is already fitted but is not level. How can it be corrected?
Get the seat removed and refitted perfectly level, because health matters more than the cost. Many people found with kidney, heart and cancer problems, and especially stomach problems, had toilet seats that were not at water level. The main door too must be in plumb, leaning neither in nor out, and level where it stands.
In some apartments the main door is level but is built askew in the wall section. Is that acceptable?
No, such a door is not considered right, and the occupants usually face sudden obstacles in work or sudden health issues. Get the door made straight; treatments for cases where that cannot be done are taught later.
How much taller, and how close, must a building to the North be before it harms our building?
If your building is 16 feet high, a northern building up to 1 to 2 feet taller is acceptable, but one 4 to 5 feet or more taller, such as 20 feet, causes much harm. Distance removes the effect: a taller building or raised hill standing at least double your building's height away has no effect, so a 70-foot building is not affected by a building of double height 150 feet away.
When several people live in a house, whose horoscope decides the facing and the main door, and how long does a house affect the family?
The griha swami's (house owner's) horoscope is used; the method is taught in the astro Vastu classes. The effect of a house carries on for up to three generations.
Should all the rooms of a house, apart from the bathroom, be at the same level?
Yes, all rooms should be at one level. A slope toward the North-East causes no problem, because the earth itself is tilted about 23.4 degrees toward the North-East and following nature counts as level; a slope in any other direction causes trouble.
Many people build the North-East part of the floor about a foot lower. Is that right?
Yes, lowering the floor level in the North-East causes no problem.
When you speak of the North and South poles, do you mean the directions, and which length should be longer?
Yes, they are the directions. The length of a place in the North-South direction should be longer than its East-West length; such a place is considered the best because it holds the strongest magnetic field.
Some land is negative because ghosts (bhoot-pret) live there. Is there a Vastu remedy for it, or only mantras?
Such land can be corrected through Vastu too: special dhoop and samagri for removing bhoot-pret badha are taught later in the course.
When a toilet and bathroom are built in the visarjan (disposal) zone, their floor is often raised or sunk to keep water from flowing out. What is correct?
Anything placed on the ground should be at water level, and the floor of the whole house should stay the same. Give the toilet and bathroom floor its slope toward the North-East; water draining toward the South-West is very troublesome.
If a much taller building is built only 10 to 12 feet in front of a third-floor flat, how does it affect the flat?
If a proper distance is maintained there is no problem, but a building many times taller standing close in front, within roughly 25 to 50 feet, has a bad effect. This is why the lowest floors of a building are the cheapest and the upper floors the costliest. Remedies for this are taught later.
Does Vastu affect a rented house?
Yes, fully. Vastu acts on whoever lives and walks on the land; Shravan Kumar did not own the river bank, yet it changed his mind. It is a myth that defects fall only on the person in whose name the registry is.
How many main directions are there in Vastu?
Ten, not four: the four main directions, the four corner directions (vidisha), and the upward (urdhva) and downward (adho) directions. Each has its own dikpal, and energy reaches the rest from above and below.
Why do some homes with a toilet or kitchen in the North-East, or shops facing South, still prosper?
Because their land energy is high. Land energy decides about 70 percent of the result, so on strongly energetic land even an opposite orientation does little harm, while on obstructed or cursed land no orientation helps.
Why are griha pravesh and other auspicious ceremonies not performed at night?
Because work begun with the sun's energy goes well, and after sunset creation is considered asleep. So griha arambh, griha pravesh, factory openings and other mangalik events are held in daytime.
Why is a dying person laid with the feet toward the South?
So that life leaves the body quickly without getting stuck, because of the magnetic poles of the earth and the body. For the same reason a living person should never sleep with the feet toward the South; keep the head to the South instead.
Why do the same treatment items give results for some practitioners and not for others?
Often because the items, such as pyramids or silver and gold nandavart, were not placed at water level. Unless an item is set at zero degree the gravitational force does not act on it, and it gives no result however valuable it is.
When should the tithi swar be checked, at sunrise or on waking, and does getting up at night to pass urine count as waking?
Getting up at about 2 or 3 am to pass urine is not counted as waking up. The tithi swar is checked at the moment you actually wake from sleep; it has nothing to do with the time of sunrise.
When zoning a factory, how are the boundary wall gate and the main factory door each checked?
For the boundary wall door, zone the whole plot; for the main door, zone the constructed area. The main door is the one through which you actually enter the house or factory building, not the boundary wall gate through which a vehicle enters, and both should fall on good pads, the main door above all.
What effect did the transformer placed in the North have on the factory that was visited?
Fire had been put into the water zone. The North is the direction of opportunity, so although the plant can run 24 hours a day for 30 days and makes top-quality goods, it was running at only 25 to 30 percent of capacity because orders and opportunities were not coming.
In a house visited earlier an elephant was painted in the Ishaan, yet the elephant is said to be the vehicle of the East. Where does it belong?
The elephant is the vehicle of Indra, lord of the East. Between the East and the North-East lies a 45-degree span with several pads, among them a debt door and a door that makes one rich, and every 11.25 degrees the chemistry and circumstances change, so the exact pad matters.
If the North of a flat or house is polluted, for example by a toilet, should we advise removing it, and is a pooja needed afterwards?
Yes, advise removing it: the North is Kuber's place, and keeping filth at the place of wealth is like putting dirt in the mouth, so wealth cannot grow. After any demolition do a Vastu pooja; even a short one is enough, offering 45 small pieces of gud to the 45 devtas or invoking the nine lords with Bho Indra Vastu Dev Vastu Shanti Kuru Kuru and so on for each direction, with Brahma at the centre.
Our house has a badly polluted North with a bathroom, and the family faces many problems and quarrels. How can it be corrected?
The North must be corrected and the land energy improved. Where the energy is good, any defects present give only about half their bad results. Household quarrels (grih klesh) are natural while such defects remain.
Pictures of the Sun with running horses are popular in homes. In which direction should they be placed?
A picture of the Sun goes only in the East. Make sure it really is the Sun: a Sun-like figure with a moustache is Shani Dev, and in one prominent family his images on both gates facing the house were followed by incurable illness in member after member.