'Indian Architecture' - Looking Beyond Magazine- October 28, 2004
Make your life healthier and happier with Vaastu
Vaastu Shastra is about harmonising individual life with cosmic life.
Vaastu Shastra is an ancient architectural science, based on Vedas, which is in tune with the laws of nature and lays down rules to create ideal conditions by harmonising individual life with cosmic life. Simply put, it involves designing and building homes or workplaces, keeping in mind the eight directions and the five elements.
An ideal house based on Vaastu would have the main door in the northeast corner. The master bedroom should be in the southwest corner, while the other bedrooms can be in the central south or central west direction. Children's room should ideally be in the west or north. Also while studying children should face the east.
The kitchen should be in the southeast corner or the northwest corner, but the cooking platform should face east.
Vaastu also has a place for modern equipment.
TVs and computers should be in the southeast corner of the room whereas the telephone should be placed in the southeast or the northwest corner in any room.
CNBC-TV18 spoke with Vaastu Architect Ashish Dewan.
Q: Why is Vaastu important?
A: Vaastu means happiness for everybody all around. What does a man need in life? He needs a dwelling and he needs to live life. And you live life when you have all the five elements in you, that is, when you have prosperity, good health and peace of mind. When you have harmony and balance with nature, then only can you work forth and then only can you survive. That is the definition of good life.
Q: As an individual, can my house be made Vaastu-friendly and can it have an impact on my health?
A: Exactly, why not? When you get up in the morning, what do you want to see? You want to see a sunrise. Everybody wants to see the sun rising. Everybody wants sun light come into their house. Everybody wants to have his or her room airy. So, all this impacts your health very much. Sleeping in a particular direction is also going to affect your health.
Q: You are trained as an architect and specialise in Vaastu. Is there any scientific basis for Vaastu?
A: Definitely. Vaastu is about 4000 to 5000 years old science. It is very scientific and you have directional cardinals, north, south, east and west. This is how we programme. What we learnt in our school was that Earth also has a magnet. And we also have the North and South Pole. We are just revolving around that magnetic force of Earth. You also have elements like sky, earth, wind, fire and air.
Q: What are the other significant things to watch out for?
A: The house always slopes from southwest to northeast. Southwest has to be dense. Southwest is a place where you have the density of the house and northeast is a place where you have the lower ground. So it flows from the northeast to southwest. This is where the energy flows. Water and everything is kept at the northeast. In southwest area, we put bedrooms. Pooja rooms are in the northeast. Toilets are in the northwest. And south is a place where the king lives, where the house owner lives. It is a place where you can capitalize on your money.
Q: Take us through the things, which are a definite 'No' according to the Vaastu?
A: You cannot have a lower plateau in a southwest direction. Similarly you should not have a higher northeast. You cannot have toilets in the southeast direction. Southeast direction is for the Agni Sthaana. So, you generally keep your kitchen there, not the toilet. If you keep your money in the northwest direction, it will flow off because it is a very vibrant zone. The money will just flow-off. The airflow is very strong there, that's why you keep your guest rooms there. You don't want the guest to be hanging in for too long, so you put them up in the northwest direction. That is the Vaayu zone, so you cannot keep your money there.
Q: How is Vaastu is different from Feng Shui and the other concepts which are in vogue today?
A: Feng Shui is a derivative of Vaastu. Feng Shui is basically fong and shui. Fong is wind and shui is water. Basically, they talk about chi. Chi is energy flow. Then you have those wind chimes and laughing Buddhas placed in particular directions.
Q: You have a lot of clients. Are they coming out of genuine belief?
A: It has to be genuine belief only then I tell them to do this and that. A lot of people also come for the sake of curiosity. So I give them tips, then they realise what is happening to them. If they are comfortable with that then they slowly start developing that kind of confidence and then they again come back to me.
Q: Critics would say that they've lived without Vaastu all of their lives and they have not bothered about it and that they are fine. So what would you tell them?
A: There are a lot of things, which we don't understand. We don't understand a lot of things, which are happening in nature. Nature is very complex. Two people are sitting together and a lot of energy exchanges between them. I have a definite aura, and you have a definite aura. When we greet people and if we have different positive aura, only then we talk with each other. So there are a lot of things, which we don't understand. It could be that the house where they (critics) are living is perfect for Vaastu. And if it is not that perfect according to Vaastu, then perhaps there are some other elements, which are compensating for that and making it liveable.
