Questions and Answers
30 questions on Plot Shape and Slope
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 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.
In a house with uneven levels, how can we tell whether the South-West is low-lying?
Check with a water level (spirit level) or a contour map, or simply pour a bucket of water on the floor: the direction in which it flows is the direction of the slope.
Is a nahar mukhi (lion-faced) plot auspicious if it extends toward the South so that its South-East grows?
No. A South-East or South-West extension is not auspicious, because a plot needs its North-East extended. Even in an East-facing gaumukhi plot with a narrow front where the South-East is a right angle, the North-East gets cut, so it is not auspicious. A nahar mukhi plot gives results only when its North-East is extended.
What exactly is a cut, and how is a slope made?
A cut is part of a direction missing from the plot's shape, just as a person can be missing an ear; if that part of the North-East is absent, the North-East is cut. Slope is simply the way water runs when it is poured. It forms with the construction, and where it is wrong it is corrected by raising the part that is too low.
What is a plinth beam?
It is the structure built below road level when a house is first dug out: the foundation, also called neev, bunyaad or daasa. The plot's shape is read from it.
Some people slope the roof into the Brahmasthan and take the water down through a central pipe. Does that affect the house?
Yes, it is wrong. Even if the floors slope to the North-East, a roof whose whole slope falls into the Brahmasthan creates the same defect as a slope toward the centre.
Our rented house had the South and West very low and the North and East high; my husband's work stopped and loans piled up. Our present house also slopes to the South with water collecting there. What can be done?
Such slopes explain the trouble. How to correct the slope fully, or partly when a full correction is not possible, is taught in the treatment classes. Slope plays a very big role: maintaining the slope alone removes about 50 percent of zone defects.
On the first floor, a room or toilet is built out over the chhajja. Does it count in the shape?
Each floor is judged from its own base: a ground floor from its foundation, a first floor from the floor it stands on. Construction built out over chhajjas becomes part of that floor, and the centre of every floor changes with its own carpet area. If one family uses all the floors, the ground floor shape is the full shape, and a smaller upper floor, such as 25 x 25 over a 50 x 50 ground floor, does not make the plot cut.
My plot measures 32 by 31, so one side is shorter. Is a corner cut?
If the shortfall is on the South-West side, the South-West is cut. Simply build on an exact 31 x 31 square.
If a square foundation is laid inside a triangular plot and the house is built on it, can it give good results?
Yes, it can. The methods for converting any irregular shape into a regular one are taught in the treatment classes.
What is the effect of a deep pit or a large pond to the South of a temple?
It harms the temple. It is not a direct problem for the person who had the temple built, but the shilpi (temple architect) who builds vastu defects into a temple also has to bear their ill effects.
In Mumbai many buildings have a longer East-West axis. How is that energy balanced?
It can be balanced with methods taught later. A good immediate remedy is to place the deity in the exact West of the home so that it faces East; when the deity looks to the East, the direction corrects itself.
For a plot of, say, 33 x 70 that is not fully built, do we take the whole plot or only the constructed part?
Take the constructed area. For the boundary wall gate the centre of the whole plot is used, and for the main door the centre of the constructed area; this is taught in planning.
If the slope should go to the North-East, should it run from the West toward the North-East?
Yes. Everywhere, the slope should run from the West toward the North-East, the East or the North.
An 80 x 50 shed has its floor sloping North but its roof sloping West. Is that fine?
No, the westward roof slope is wrong. It disturbs the energy current, so some trouble will persist there, and the roof slope has to be corrected.
My bedroom is in the South and its floor also slopes to the South. What should I do?
That is wrong; correct the slope first, because slope matters most. More important than treatments such as changing the sleeping zone is maintaining the slope of the room, which alone removes about 60 percent of the dosh.
How is the shape of a plot or building determined?
From the foundation: the outline of the foundation and plinth beam of the outermost walls, joining all the corners into a square, rectangle or other form. The geopathic current under the ground runs in that shape, so projections above ground do not change it, while an irregular foundation stays irregular even if right angles are built above it.
If the plinth is a perfect right angle but balconies and projections stick out on the upper floors, is the shape irregular?
No, it is regular. Balconies are like the hair on a head; spreading hair does not change the shape of the body. The shape is the one in which the plinth beam and foundation were laid, because the underground current runs in that form.
If a house faces South or West, must its slope also be toward the South-West, as in many houses?
There are two types of slope, which will be covered again. If water flows underground toward the South, it is not a big defect: electricity and water move underground everywhere without regard to direction, so an underground flow against the ideal direction does not create a dosh. People living where underground water flows to the South and West are also found to be happy.
How is zoning done for an irregular plot?
The method is the same. Take the degree of one wall on Google Earth, draw a line through the centre parallel to that wall, set off the tilt (for example 20 degrees towards West, that is 340 degrees) to get exact North, align N5 of the chakra with it and mark the zones. The centre of an irregular plot can be found only with AutoCAD or by cutting the paper plan to shape and finding its balancing centre.
How do we find the centre of a plot that is irregular or stretched on one side, since the demonstration used a regular plot?
Finding the centre was covered in earlier classes. Either use software such as AutoCAD, or use the hanging method: cut out the shape, hang it from one point and mark the vertical line, then hang it from another point and mark again; the crossing is the centre. Joining diagonals gives the centre only for a regular plot.
Is there any length to width criterion for the centre, for example in a 250 x 50 feet plot?
There is no criterion for finding the centre; the centre is always the centre. The proportion matters for the plot itself: up to 1:1.5 is good (30 x 45 feet is ideal), up to 1:2 (30 x 60) is neither good nor bad, and longer than that is not good, with more loss the longer it gets. In such long plots many devtas fall outside or get cut, and they need treatment.
How do we count the length to width ratio of an L-shaped plot, for example 20 x 20 feet at the back and 10 x 30 feet in front?
An L-shaped plot is inauspicious in the first place. There is no special formula for its ratio; estimate it from its arms. The cut portion is a full loss, and how harmful it is depends on which corner is cut, which is best judged with the teacher case by case.