Recording: Vastu diploma class 2 - Origin, Evolution and major directions in vastu
Where fly ash bricks are already laid, as in a director's chamber, sprinkling gomutra and a cow-based purifier over the brickwork before plastering changes its chemistry.
Walls built of fly ash bricks, such as an office or director's chamber
Shilpa Ratna describes the types of land and their correction with minerals. Land holding asura (demonic) minerals, such as coal, lignite, manganese and other black minerals, lacks prosperity; placing gems inside such land (ratna prabha bhoomi) changes its chemistry and composition.
Inside the land of the plot
At the shilanyas or bhoomi poojan of any house or factory the first tilak goes to the mason (shilpi), contractor or Vastu consultant, not the pandit, and they are given the best clothes and a shriphal (coconut). Their goodwill enters the building, while a craftsman's tears of hurt in the mortar act like a buried bone (shalya dosh).
Modern practice measures from North at 0 degrees: East at 90, South at 180, West at 270 and North again at 360. Halving gives the corner directions at 45, 135, 225 and 315 degrees, and halving again gives sub-directions such as North-North-East at 22.5 degrees.
Vastu pooja is the prana pratishtha of a house: just as an idol is not worshipped until its prana pratishtha, a house is established only through Vastu pooja. It is due at fixed stages of construction and again whenever the house is disturbed.
After a birth or death in the family (sutak or patak) the Vastu devtas are affected too, so the whole house is purified: clothes are washed, raw clay vessels are thrown away, a dhoop kund is carried through the house and offerings are made to the Vastu devtas.
Whole house
After demolition or the removal of a defect, a short Vastu pooja is done even when a full one is not possible: offer 45 small pieces of gud to the 45 devtas, or at least invoke the nine lords of the directions and the centre with the words Bho [name] Vastu Dev Vastu Shanti Kuru Kuru.
Each direction of the house, and the centre for Brahma
Before construction of a house or factory begins, the muhurta for the shilanyas or start of work is fixed from the rashi of the owner. If the Moon falls 4th, 8th or 12th from his rashi, money stays short however good the Vastu and the door.
A consultant prepares before visiting a factory or house: obtain the map and current location, find the degrees, draw the zone lines (joining) and divide the pads. Only then visit, feel the energy and interpret.
Whole site
Opposite zones are linked along the diagonal: whenever a house has a defect in the North-East, the South-West, its diagonal opposite, will carry a defect as well.
North-East and South-West zones
To find whether a floor or plot is low toward the South-West or slopes toward the North-East, pour water on it and watch where it flows; a spirit level, or a contour map for land, gives the same answer.
Floors and open land
During the battle with Andhakasur a drop of sweat fell to the earth and produced a being whose rampage made the earth shake. Brahma had him lie face down and promised that he would be worshipped with offerings and that not an inch of land would be built on without remembering him.
Every house, however small, carries the Vastu Purush's eyes, nose, ears, hands, feet, heart, navel and other parts, including the marma and ati-marma (vital) points. A column, pit or stud on these points harms the occupants, just as a speck of dust in the eye or an injury to a vital organ harms the body.
Marma and ati-marma points of the Vastu Purush on the plan
In the Jain account, during the bhog bhoomi of the third era kalpavriksha trees granted every wish, until rising sin made them stop giving. Adi Prabhu then taught the six means of livelihood, asi, masi, krishi, vidya, vanijya and shilpa, and gave the complete knowledge of Vastu to his fourth son Vishwakarma.
Vastu knowledge passed by memory until it was written down in texts such as Samarangana Sutradhara, Mayamatam, the Skanda, Agni, Vayu and Garuda Puranas, Vishwakarma Prakash, Aparajita Prichha, Praman Manjari, Vastu Rajvallabh, Prasad Mandan, Vastu Mandan and Shilpa Ratna, each with its own focus.
Start with Vishwakarma Prakash, the simplest, available in Hindi with the Sanskrit shlokas and their meaning (translated by Krishna Kumar Jugnu of Udaipur). Then read Mayamatam, both parts of Samarangana Sutradhara, Manasara and Raj Vallabh.
Raj Vallabh states that a temple with a large river flowing to its South becomes not merely a tirth but a mahatirth, because for a temple the water element stands for peace. Rules made for homes must not be applied mechanically to temples.
Temples with a river to the South
Vastu results depend equally on four factors: dravya (the money used), kshetra (the land), kaal (the muhurta) and bhav (the feelings of the builders and residents). A perfectly planned house still fails if any one of them is wrong.
The four directions arose from Brahma's four faces and the four corner directions from his four arms, or from his four manas putras. Each is linked to a Veda or Upaveda: East to the Rigveda, South to the Yajurveda, West to the Samaveda and North to the Atharvaveda; South-East to Ayurveda, South-West to Dhanurveda and North-East to Sthapatya Veda, with Gandharva Veda completing the four.
The North is ruled by Kuber, its planet is Mercury (Budh), its gem is emerald (panna), its symbol is the gada (mace) and in the Vastu Purush it is the heart. A good North brings wealth, career, opportunities, jobs, rise and respect.
North zone
The North-East is ruled by Isha, its planet is Jupiter (Guru), the greatest of the planets, its gem is yellow sapphire (pukhraj), its symbol is the kalash and its vehicle the horse; in the Vastu Purush it is the head and brain. It gives true knowledge, prosperity and peace.
North-East (Ishaan) zone
The East is ruled by Indra, its planet is the Sun, its gem is ruby (manik), its symbol is the vajra and its vehicle the Airavat elephant; in the Vastu Purush it is the mouth. A strong East brings production, talent, children's progress, health and immunity.
East zone
However wrongly a staircase is placed, it should not be broken and shifted, and no wall should be broken to make a new door; doing so creates serious trouble.
Walls, doors and staircases of an existing house
A door that strengthens one element can ruin an owner whose running planetary period belongs to the opposite element. A new door that raised the fire element was opened for a sweet maker while his Moon (water) antardasha was running, and water and fire, being anti-elements, brought his business to zero.
Any new or shifted door
A transformer is fire, and the North is the water zone of opportunity, so a transformer there blocks earnings. In one factory a transformer correctly placed in the West-North-West was shifted at a cost of 5 lakh rupees to the exact North at N3-N4, and the plant ran at only 25 to 30 percent of capacity.
Not in the North (N3-N4); the West-North-West position was correct in the case studied
The South, South-West and West build skill and capability. When the land there is low and the construction in these zones is also the lowest, skills and Saturn (Shani) turn against the owner, and the business does not get the wealth and opportunities it should.
South, South-West and West zones
A pit in the Brahmasthan (centre) of a plot always harms it. In the factory studied, a pit had been dug roughly at the Brahmasthan of the whole land.
Brahmasthan (centre) of the plot
Ash of any kind, including thermal power plant fly ash, is treated as shalya (an impure defect, like buried bone). However good the Vastu structure, sun rays falling on fly ash bricks reflect onto the occupants and affect them negatively.
Pictures of the Sun, including the popular Sun with running horses, belong only in the East. A Sun-like figure with a moustache is Shani Dev, and installing his image on gates facing the house brought incurable illness to one family member after another.
East wall or zone
Vastu was traditionally divided into eight branches, among them griha (home), yantra, nagar (town), bhoomi (land), prasad (temple), vimaan (aircraft) and udyan (garden and tree) Vastu. None of them advises demolition.
As many diseases exist in land as in the human body. According to Vishwakarma Prakash, illness in a home first enters the land and only then the people; there are even lands that cause cancer. The Vastu practitioner is a doctor and surgeon of the land.
A practitioner should work with justice and ethics and never like a butcher: when a client is buried in debt, has mortgaged belongings or cannot pay his own bills, no fee should be taken from him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fly ash bricks, the grey, cement-coloured bricks made from ash, which are now widely used, for example throughout a large medical college project of about 1000 flats. They create a large Vastu defect, because Vastu lies in the material as well as in the direction.
No. Keep the samagri simple and do the pooja from the heart; any pooja is an offering of feelings, and what matters is the bhav offered, not whether paan or gud could be offered.
Most people answer that it would fail, but Raj Vallabh says such a temple becomes not just a tirth but a mahatirth, because for a temple water is the element of peace. Nemawar and Siddhavarkoot near Omkareshwar, with rivers to their South, are among the most powerful places.
Because among the four Vedas the North represents the Atharvaveda, linked with artha (wealth), and its lord is Kuber, the controller of wealth, career and opportunity.
Because the North-East belongs to Jupiter (Guru), the greatest planet, and to its lord Isha. A toilet, dirt or height there blocks Guru's grace, and spoiling the North-East spoils even a strong Jupiter in one's horoscope.
Because the feelings (bhav) of the builder enter the building. Honouring the mason, contractor or Vastu consultant with tilak, good clothes and a coconut makes him work with joy, while a hurt craftsman's tears in the mortar bring repeated sorrow to the house.