A kundli shows rashis only as numbers 1 to 12 in its houses, so learn the rashis in sequence with their lords: Mars rules 1 and 8, Venus 2 and 7, Mercury 3 and 6, Moon 4, Sun 5, Jupiter 9 and 12, Saturn 10 and 11.
Sunlight falls first on the walls and the wall colour reflects energy onto the people, so colours of the element opposite to the owner's rashi or kundli can ruin an otherwise good vastu.
The house facing, main door and common areas are chosen from the grih swami's (owner's) kundli, while each member's bedroom and study are planned from that member's own kundli.
House facing, main door, drawing room, kitchen, bedrooms and study rooms
Before any interior, fix the goal of the space, study the owner's kundali, check the current (energy) flow and base every arrangement, colour and artifact on planet combinations. Harmful yogas of the kundali must never be recreated with artifacts, while good yogas should be built.
The element friendship chart is also the basis of compatibility: two people of the same element or of friendly elements (water with earth, fire with air) keep a heart-to-heart bond. Compare the rashi elements of both before a marriage, partnership or close friendship.
The janma rashi (Moon sign) runs the whole life and is used for stable works such as house construction muhurta and marriage, while the rashi of the name in use can be used for business records. Naming a child by the janma rashi keeps the person's element unchanged.
A bedroom zone is chosen by the occupant's planets: an exalted planet makes its zone favourable and a debilitated one makes it harmful. Key checks are Sun for East, Venus for SE, Mars for South, Rahu-Ketu for SW, Saturn for West, Moon for NW, Mercury for North and Jupiter for NE.
From about 4 to 4:30 pm the Sun reaches SW and the energy begins to cool and stabilise the mind; it strengthens relationships and skills, motivates hard work and gives stability to every work. It suits bedroom, drawing room, tijori and heavy items, subject to Rahu-Ketu checks.
The bedroom must be chosen with the person's horoscope in mind, not by one standard formula. South and WSW are excellent, WSW suits everyone, and every other zone gives results that depend on the planets.
When neither the planets nor the vastu support a person, doing every daily task by swar still brings success: not tithi, nakshatra, vaar or graha, but swar.
Vastu supports those whose karma is good; it is not everything. Its results depend on four controlling factors: dravya (substance), kshetra (place), kaal (time) and bhaav (intention).
The kitchen is the fire element ruled by Mars. It is best in SE, then SSE, then West and NW; SW, NE and North are dangerous, and every other zone gives its own result.
Each direction is the seat of a planet with its own metal; keeping that metal in that direction captures and multiplies the planet's energy there and neutralises negative energy.
Stairs represent Mercury (Budh), the planet that lifts people up and gives success in business; they join underground energy with cosmic energy. Wrongly placed stairs stall business, obstruct children's education and spoil relations with sisters, daughters and paternal aunts.
Planets act most strongly on particular objects: the Moon on white objects and liquids, the Sun and Mars on fire, light and electricity, Mars also on floors and land, Saturn on metal, dug land and machines, Jupiter on temples and the tijori, Venus on luxury objects and Mercury on TV, telephone and electronics.
The office colour is taken from the lord of the 11th house (gains) or the 10th house (work), or from the planet of the business itself, choosing the one the horoscope supports.
Business is ruled by Budh (Mercury), which wood represents, so office tables and furniture should be made of the best solid wood such as teak, without black or grey glass tops.
Office table, wardrobes and furniture; study tables
Study room colours follow the zone, but education belongs to Jupiter, so ivory, golden yellow, green (Mercury) and white suit study, as does the colour of the 5th house lord when it is well placed.
An exalted planet in the lagna chart of the owner opens his fortune through a door in the direction of that planet, while certain debilitated planets and conjunctions rule a direction out completely.
Each mulank (root number of the birth date) belongs to a planet, and the direction of that planet is the favourable door side: 1 East, 2 North-West, 3 North-East, 4 and 7 South-West, 5 North, 6 South-East, 8 West and 9 South.
Vedic vastu matches the facing of the main door to the rashi of the male house owner. Even in a suitable direction, the door must still stand on a good pada.
A vastu dosh does not trouble a family all the time. Its ill effect appears when the related planet runs its dasha, mahadasha, antardasha or pratyantar dasha.
In the South only S4 (Grihakshat) gives happiness, peace, prosperity and business profit. S2, S3, S5, S6, S7 (the debt door) and S8 bring lack of children, servitude, suffering, selfishness, debt and disease.
Main door on the South side, from the South-East corner to the South-West corner
The colour of the 9th lord, the lord of fortune, can be used throughout life whenever luck is needed, even if that lord sits in the 6th, 8th or 12th house.
Before planning an interior from a kundali, know which planets are malefic, when a planet is swagrahi or exalted, which houses are kendra and trik, and which side of the chart is each direction.
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.
This is a subject of astro vastu. Different items represent different planets; if a planet is very negative in your kundli and you keep the item that represents it, the negativity grows further. Which item suits which home, and with what, is covered in interior vastu.
Does a toilet in the North-East always cause cancer, and is every South-facing house bad?
No. If it did, the owners of five and seven star hotels, which commonly have toilets in the North-East, would suffer first, and every South-facing owner would be ruined. Vastu must be read together with the planets of the person, which are exalted and which debilitated, instead of blindly applying one rule to everyone.
How far does the influence of a devta reach beyond its own pad?
As in a kundli, where Jupiter blesses whatever it aspects with full drishti, a devta also aspects the devta opposite it; Surya, for example, balances Varun. If you cannot balance a devta directly, balance the devta whose full drishti falls on it, and its gaze will set it right.
In the case where all four family members had a weak Sun, why would four separate kundlis show the same pattern?
Members of one family almost always have nearly the same planetary placements; there is a symmetry among their charts, and that is why they are born into the same family. In that case the Sun was badly placed in all four charts, so the East-facing house harmed the whole family.
The kundli chart was shown with directions. How are those directions used, and what can a kundli tell about a house?
Go by the houses, not the numbers written in them: the top house is the 1st house (East) and the 4th house is North. If the planets on the North side are strong, the North direction is very good for the person. A kundli can even reveal where a person's house is, where its door is, how many windows it has and where a nearby river, pond or temple lies, so a map of the house can be drawn without seeing it.
If a house has four members, whose kundli should be used for its vastu?
Primarily the grih swami's, the person whose money is going into the house, because the house affects the owner and his next three generations; do not go by the name the property is registered in, such as a daughter. The facing and main door are chosen from the grih swami's chart, for example North if his Mercury is exalted or his North-side planets are strong. Where a child sleeps or studies is decided from the child's own chart: if the child's Mercury is weak, seat him in the South instead of the North, following the 180-degree rule for a weak planet.
If one family member has a planet exalted and another has it debilitated, should that planet's items be kept in the interior?
Decide room by room. In your own bedroom use the materials of your exalted planet and not of your debilitated one; your daughter's bedroom is designed from her kundli. The house facing and common areas such as the drawing room and kitchen are decided from the grih swami's kundli. Many people make the master bedroom in the South-West by default, which is wrong when Rahu is debilitated: such people suffered there and got very good results after moving to another direction.
If a person's date of birth is not known correctly and no kundli can be made, how are their land and house planned?
The planets are still there even if the kundli is lost. A perfect kundli can be made from the thumb through Bhrigu Samhita, and Nadi astrologers also prepare it. A Prashna kundli can be cast, and Samudrik shastra (reading the body) also shows which planets are exalted or debilitated. Get this worked out by an astrologer.
In the example of the Sun in the 8th house, would an East entrance have suited if the Sun had been retrograde?
Possibly, but then its degree and the aspects on it, such as a benefic planet's aspect, would have to be checked. A house is built only once, so such a risk should not be taken. Retrograde (vakri) planets are taught later in the course.