Directions and Orientation

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.

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.

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.

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.

Buy a liquid-filled compass from a stationery shop or online; it makes it easy to set zero degree and read degrees. Also download Google Earth on a laptop or computer and install a compass app on the mobile, which works only on Android phones, not on iPhones. Geo Vastu does not sell a compass of its own.

After sunset. Its power is felt from sandhya kaal onward and increases as the night advances, which is why people do sadhana at night and worship Lakshmi at night for wealth.

By convention the whole world measures tilt from North, saying whether it turns toward East or West, and the compass itself points to North. You could count it from East if you prefer.

Tilt means tedha or tirchha: how far the true North is turned from where it is assumed to be. People who do not know vastu simply say their house is North facing, but a careful degree reading may show that it is turned, say, 5 degrees.

Compare it with the nearest cardinal direction. South is at 180, so 216 minus 180 gives 36 degrees: the South has moved 36 degrees to the left. Do not measure it from West (270), which would give 54 degrees and shift the whole zoning.

Because the degree must never be taken from the centre. A compass placed at the centre only shows roughly whether a room is in the North-East or North-West; the exact tilt comes only when the compass is parallel to a wall. In a regular house, readings taken parallel to the walls are the same everywhere.

Simply line it up. The dial has a North-South line and an East-West line; turn it until one of them lies exactly straight with the mirror line and the axis line. The more precisely it is straight, the more accurate the reading; a crooked setting can read 20 or 30 degrees for the same house.

No. The facing is the side of the main door, opening or road, and using it is only one easy way to read the degree. What matters is to find where North lies; once one direction is known, the rest follow at 90 degree steps.