Also known as5 elementstatvaelementspanchtatva
Vastu is defined in complementary ways: the land of residence, the architectural art of coordinating nature and human, orientation according to the sun, the free movement of air, a structure that controls the mind, the management of universal energy and the balance of the five elements.
In small homes of 700 to 800 sq ft, plots of 70 to 80 gaj and flats under 1000 sq ft, direction and element rules are not applied; instead the sizes of rooms, beds, tables and kitchen platforms are set by aay (mathematical Vastu) to generate the needed element.
Bedroom, kitchen, kitchen platform and furniture in small homes and flats
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
The zone of an element can bear any amount of that element, so increasing fire in the South-East or South-South-East does not bring theft, fire or accidents, just as raising the South-West only strengthens its earth element.
South-East and South-South-East (fire); South-West (earth)
The air element is flag-shaped, green, located in the North-West and ruled by Saturn; in a house it is the main door, windows, balcony, garden, plants and floor-to-slab height. Balanced, it gives speed, courage, patience and risk-taking capacity; imbalanced, it delays every work.
North-West zone; doors, windows, ventilation and heights throughout the house
The earth element is golden yellow, square, located in the South-West and solid, heavy and dense by nature; in a house it is represented by the land energy, the plot shape and the slope. Balanced, it gives the greatest stability and success; disturbed, it brings business uncertainty and unhealthy relationships.
South-West zone; in the house it is the land energy, plot shape and slope
Both geopathic and cosmic energy exist in the form of the five elements. The universe, the body, the nine planets and every material, food, metal and artifact represent one element or another, so a building is balanced by balancing its elements.
The fire element is triangular, orange (red also represents it), located in the South-East, hot, dry and bright, and ruled by the Sun and Mars. Sunlight, gas stoves, transformers, generators and inverters represent it; balanced it gives name, fame and financial gain, imbalanced it takes them away.
South-East zone, from East-South-East to South-South-East
Industry itself is fire and labour also represents fire, so the fire element is the backbone of any industry. A furnace (bhatti) in the wrong place, or with even a slightly changed angle, directly hits profit.
Furnaces and fire sources in the fire zone (South-East) of the factory
Fire and water destroy each other, so fire placed in the North-East water zone, or a boring or water body in the South-East fire zone, causes loss of money, name and fame.
North-East (water zone) and South-East (fire zone)
The five chakras from the throat downwards hold the five elements in the same order as creation: Vishuddhi holds space, Anahata air, Manipur fire, Swadhishthan water and Muladhara earth.
Floor-to-slab height represents the air element: the more space air has, the more freely it moves and the more comfortable the house feels. The ground floor gets the greatest height and each upper floor progressively less.
Every floor of the building
Earth and water are friends, and so are air and fire; fire and water are enemies, and so are air and earth. These relations are the base for every colour, photo and artifact placed in vastu.
Every direction and every artifact represents an element, so an artifact, picture or scenery should sit with its friend element. Placed beside an enemy element it causes unrest at home and losses in business.
Any home, factory, shop or office where artifacts, pictures or sceneries are placed
The South-West holds the earth element, whose nature is solid, heavy and dense, so this zone is kept solid, heavy and compact with the fewest openings. Infrared rays also arrive from the South-West at a particular time of day, another reason to keep it closed.
South-West zone of the plot and building
Palaces and old houses had an open-to-sky courtyard at the centre, which kept the mind clear; when the courtyard disappeared, that clarity went too. If the centre cannot be open to the sky on every floor, a double height at the Brahmasthan still balances the space element.
Brahmasthan (centre) of the house
The space element is circular or shapeless, black, located at the Brahmasthan (centre), and light, vibrating and sound-carrying by nature, linked to hearing. Open-to-sky and vacant spaces represent it; balanced it gives clarity of mind and decisions, imbalanced it brings confusion and obstacles.
Brahmasthan (centre of the house)
A house breathes through its main door just as a person breathes through the nostrils, so the main door has the greatest importance for the air element of the house.
Main door
In Vedic vastu the five elements arose one from another in a fixed order: Space, then Air, Fire, Water and Earth, after which the cycle returns to Space. This order, described in the Shiv Puran, is the base for knowing which element creates or destroys another.
Houses used to have ventilators high on the walls to balance the air element; bringing them down as windows has led to more arguments at home, even from ten-year-old children. Doors, windows and cross-ventilation are a must.
Upper part of the walls for ventilators; doors and windows placed for cross-ventilation
The North to North-East location of the water element means water sources such as borings, wells and tanks are made below ground level there, not as overhead tanks. Roof-top water should also drain towards the water element direction.
North to North-East zone, below ground level
The water element is wavy or moon-shaped, white, located from North to North-East, liquid by nature and ruled by the Moon and Venus. Borings, wells, underground tanks, basins and other water sources represent it; balanced it brings joy, peace, confidence and wealth, imbalanced it brings irritation, disease and loss of money.
North to North-East zone
In Vedic vastu (not feng shui) the air element has a flag-like shape, green colour, North-West location and kansa (bell metal) as its metal; the main door, windows, balcony, garden, plants and floor-to-slab height represent it.
North-West
The first principle of interior vastu: identify the element of the person, of the structure being built and of the activity done there, and make sure these elements are friends.
Any room or structure: bedroom, office, kitchen, factory, study table
Artefacts of enemy elements kept together block success; a lamp lit in a bowl of water joins fire and water and is allowed only on Diwali.
Offices, reception areas and homes
The earth element has a square shape, golden yellow colour, South-West location and brass as its metal; land energy, plot shape, slope, surroundings, POP plaster and the dehleez represent it.
South-West
The fire element has a triangular shape, red and orange colours, South-East location and copper as its metal; sunlight, the gas stove, transformer, generator, kitchen and anything red or triangular represent it.
South-East
Interior vastu is customised vastu: arranging and decorating the inside of a home, office, factory, temple, school or hospital according to the particular owner's horoscope, so that the nine planets, the three forces and the five elements are balanced for that person.
Whole building: home, office, factory, temple, school, college, hospital or industry
The space element sits at the centre, the Brahmasthan; its shape is shapeless or round, its colour black or colourless, and any vacant, open-to-sky area represents it.
Centre of the house (Brahmasthan)
The universe is an ocean of prana shakti (life force), which reaches people in three forms: fire or light from the sun, air (vayu), and bhu shakti (earth energy).
The earth element (prithvi tatva) has the longest share, 20 of every 60 minutes among the five tatvas of a swar. In the same way, the earth element of the land, its land energy, carries 70 percent of the result in vastu.
Take five samples, representing the five elements: one from each of the four corners (vidishas) and one from the Brahmasthan. Take the soil from about 4 inches (4 angul) below the surface.
Always with the pointed end upward, just as a person walks with the head up. A coconut has three eyes, a head and a tail, and it is the only fruit in which all five elements are perfectly present.
It needs proper tatva swar training; the element is known from how many angul the breath reaches. It also shows in the mind: steadiness means the earth element, joy the water element, restlessness the air element, anger the fire element and indifference the space element.
No, this idea is wrong and should be removed from the mind. An element's own zone can bear any amount of that element: kitchens burn daily in the South-East, factories run furnaces there day and night, and a plant in Goa melts quartz in its South-East without such problems; high mountains in the South-West only strengthen the earth element there.
Remedies for such anti-element placements are taught later, in the remedy classes. First learn each element, its zone, its friends and its enemies; the corrections for a water source in the wrong zone come when the course reaches remedial vastu.
Accept only Vedic vastu, and accept a rule only when it is backed by the scriptures (granth); a lot of baseless vastu is going around. The difference shows in the element order: the chakras from throat to base hold space, air, fire, water and earth, and a system that reverses this changes the order of creation itself. India was regarded as the guru of the world for its knowledge, so there is no need to borrow foreign deities such as Fuk Luk Sau or the laughing Buddha for wealth.
No. The element relationships are taught in much more detail in interior vastu, including the cases where two elements come together in one place.
Ivory is a very light yellow. Off-white is often called ivory, but do not choose plain off-white; true ivory is a very light shade of yellow. It represents the earth element, which is why ivory floor tiles generate so much energy in a house.
The fire zone covers East-South-East (purvi agneya), South-East (agneya) and South-South-East (dakshini agneya).
Energy, both geopathic and cosmic, exists in the form of the elements. The universe, the body and everything in it are made of the five elements, and there is nothing in the world that does not represent one element or another.
Because the earth element is the land (geopathic) energy, which plays a 70 percent role in the result of a building. If land energy is zero, even the best orientation and interiors turn a hero into a zero, so the earth element is the strongest element and must be analysed first.