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.
The map-compass app shared in class shows a satellite map with two red axis lines. After locating the building and rotating the lines parallel to its walls, the degree shown at the top is the building's degree.
Google Earth on a laptop or PC gives the most accurate degree: open the client's location, confirm the building, draw a straight ruler line along one wall and read its heading. That heading shows how far the building is turned from North.
The centre of a regular plot is where its two diagonals cross. For an irregular plot, use the geometric centre in AutoCAD, CorelDraw or an image editing tool, or the manual method of hanging a paper cut-out of the plan from a pin.
Engineers planning colonies, factories and large sites often draw the plan already turned to true North, so the plot looks tilted on paper while North is exactly at the top. Check it against Google Earth; if it matches with North up, zone it at zero degrees without rotating the chakra.
On a paper map, draw a straight line from the centre toward the side that was measured and write the reading on it. A Shakti chakra with printed degrees is laid so that the measured degree sits on that line, and North then falls into place; with a plain protractor, North is marked by counting the degrees back.
A magnetic compass with a straight side edge, set so that its North-South line, mirror line and axis line coincide, is placed parallel to a straight wall on a level, metal-free surface and read from directly above. The offset of the red needle from the compass North gives the tilt of the building.
Beside any straight wall of the building, never at the centre
When a plan arrives rotated on the paper or PDF, first turn the paper or PDF until one straight side of the plan is truly straight, even if the paper then sits tilted. Take that wall's degree, complete the whole zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back.
In AutoCAD, draw a closed polyline around the plan to get its geometric centre, place the chakra image there, align its North with the plan and rotate it by the measured tilt.
Find the centre, draw a reference line, set off the measured tilt to get exact North, then mark 22.5-degree zones starting 11.25 degrees on either side of North, using the Geo Vastu chakra or an ordinary protractor.
After zoning, mark the 32 outer padas of 11.25 degrees each: Soma (N5) is centred on exact North, extending 5.625 degrees on each side, and the remaining padas follow every 11.25 degrees.
The plot is divided into Brahma, Dev, Manushya and Pishach bhoomi by measuring the line from the centre to every corner and marking 0.333, 0.555 and 0.777 of its length. Joining the matching points gives four bands that follow the real shape of the plot.
Once north is marked, a map of any shape is divided into 16 zones of 22.5 degrees by starting 11.25 degrees on either side of the north line. It takes about two minutes on regular and irregular maps alike.
For 32 zoning each pad is 11.25 degrees, with N5 centred on the exact north (0 degrees). Start 5.62 degrees on either side of north and mark every 11.25 degrees, or mark the black lines of the zoning chakra.
Without software, the centre (nabhi) of an irregular plot or flat is found as the centre of gravity of a cut-out of its shape: hang it from two different points, mark the vertical line each time, and the lines cross at the centre.
On a real plot of any shape, the ati marma are marked by finding where the twelve devtas of the six ati marma lines meet the plot boundary and joining those points. With the zoning chakra this takes one to two minutes and needs no computer.
After bhoomi vibhajan the 45 Vastu devtas are marked by angle: the 32 outer devtas at 11.25 degrees each in the Pishach bhoomi, four main inner devtas at 54 degrees and eight others at 18 degrees in the combined Manushya and Dev band, and Brahma in the centre.
Pishach bhoomi for the 32 outer devtas, the combined Manushya and Dev band for the 12 inner devtas, the centre for Brahma
The tilt of a house is read on Google Earth with the ruler tool and then transferred to the paper map as a north line drawn from the centre. On an irregular plot that line is drawn parallel to the wall whose degree was taken.
The logic used on paper works the same in AutoCAD, Corel or any drawing software: scale the house outline by the bhoomi ratios, divide by angles, and keep a ready template of the chakra and devta lines to overlay on every new map.
What should students get for learning to find directions and degrees?
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.
A regular plot has small strips of land left open at the side and the front. Do we leave them out or zone the complete plot?
Zone the complete plot. Almost the whole plot is in use and even the small strips are being used, so the full plot is taken for zoning and for the degree.
Google Earth with the ruler works only on a laptop or PC. On a phone you can use a photo editing app instead: take the chakra image in PNG form, ask the client for a photo of the map and overlay the chakra on it, which needs some photo editing skill.
How do we know that a tilted-looking map has been drawn to zero degrees North?
Open the location in Google Earth with North set at the top and compare. If the plan looks identical, it is drawn at zero degrees and is zoned without rotating the chakra; about 90 percent of such tilted maps are drawn that way. If in doubt, rotate the map until one straight side is straight and take the tilt from that side.
Is there a rule to draw the Google Earth line from left to right or from right to left?
There is no rule. Drawn the opposite way, the same line reads 180 degrees more, for example 208.9 instead of 28.9; subtracting 180 gives the same answer, so a line can never give a wrong result just because of the direction in which it was drawn.
A client's location shows coordinates. What do I do with them?
Copy them and paste them into the Google Earth search bar, which takes you to the place. Then draw a straight line along a wall of the building to get the degree. A degree taken from the centre is wrong; the centre only tells you which direction a room is in.
How do we handle the rotated page of a tilted plan?
If the plan came tilted and was not drawn to zero degrees, rotate the paper until one straight side of the plan is exactly straight, checking it against a straight line. Do the full zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back as it was.
Which method of finding the degree is the most accurate?
Google Earth gives the best accuracy. Use whichever method you understand well, the mobile app or Google Earth, and practise drawing the yellow ruler line: if it shows 28 degrees, North lies at 0 behind it and the chakra is turned 28 degrees to the left.
Why do dowsing or energy scanning results come out perfect at some places and wrong at others, even when everything is done correctly?
The swar running at that moment decides it. Dowsing must be done in Surya swar, in its earth element; when it is done in the wrong swar the instrument does not move or gives wrong results.
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.
How can we protect ourselves when visiting a site with strong negative energy, whose effect continues even after leaving?
Protection methods are taught in later classes. Even with protection, very strong negative energy will make the body react while you are there, just as wind touches you whatever shield you make, but with a protective shield (suraksha kavach) it cannot do more than that reaction.
Seeing the questions of the many experienced consultants in the group, I feel I know nothing. What should I do?
That is a negative mindset. Big names often do small work; those who learned wrongly have to work harder to remove it, while a beginner needs less effort to learn it right. Keep practising and watch the class videos again and again.