A while back we shared the concept of Chinese Feng Shui and how to use it to bring forth positive energy, productivity and wellness into your life. Feng Shui is a powerful science and dates back almost 6000 years. Similar to Feng Shui, today we are exploring Vastu Shastra, the ancient Indian science of architecture which has a similar message – invite prosperity by eliminating negative energy around us. Vastu Shastra is believed to have originated in the Vedic times around 5000 years ago.

What is fascinating is how culturally similar these two schools of thought are – Indian Vastu Shastra and Chinese Feng Shui. It shows to go we really are more similar in our beliefs than we are different!

What is Vastu Shastra?

Vastu Shastra is an ancient Indian science of harmony and prosperous living by eliminating negative and enhancing positive energies around us. It is actually a system of architecture and design that describes design, layout, space arrangement and spatial geometry that incorporates Hinduism and Buddhist beliefs. The designs are intended to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilizing geometric patterns, symmetry, and alignments.

The name Vastu Shastra is derived from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. The word vāstu means a dwelling or house and the term shastra loosely translates as doctrine, teaching or study of. It indicates that there are always positive and negative energies around us at all times. The positive energy can have pleasing effects and the negative can have terrible effects on us. Vastu aims to eliminate negative and enhance positive energy present at a place or location so that a person, family or even business inhabiting a building become prosperous and progressive. In simple terms vastu aims to make harmonious buildings in tune with mother-nature, so that the human inhabiting the building, lives well balanced and happy life.

In ancient India, people believed house as a living organism and treated constructing a house as sacred ceremony. As per vastu shastra, different directions belong to different Gods that supervise respective sectors of the house. For example, God supervises Eshan or North-East direction and hence is best suitable for prayer room. Agni (Fire element) supervises South-East direction and hence is best suitable for Kitchen. This means that if various sections and activities related to each section of a house, office, shop etc. stick to principles of vastu shastra then, we start to draw the power of nature effortlessly and achieving goals is easy, spontaneous and effortless.

The science of Vastu adds value to one’s life and brings in peace and prosperity. Behind every Vastu tip is a scientific reason and hence it becomes more plausible to follow. Many rules of vastu shastra are simple common sense as they relate to ventilation, amount and quality of sunlight a building receives and so forth.Here are a few Vastu Shastra tips to incorporate into your life, lifestyle and home to bring forth prosperity and unity with nature and positive energy from the universe.

• Every house should incorporate a prayer room and in Vastu Shastra the North-East is the most auspicious direction. So place the prayer room/medication room in the north-east part of the house. If that is not possible, perform prayers or meditation practices while facing towards the north-east direction.
• The main door of a house is an important element is Vastu. All the doors especially the main door should open inside so that the energy remains inside.
• Orient yourself towards the auspicious directions. Make it a habit to sit facing North or East at all times.
• Avoid having beams run through the house. If you do have a beam running inside the room wall, take care that the bed should not be placed under the beam. This arrangement is bad for health.
• Dining area should have a big mirror on the north or north-east wall which attracts wealth and prosperity.
• Toilet is a highly-debated area of the house as far as Vastu is concerned. The seat of the toilet should face North-South and should be closed when not in use.
• Avoid placing pictures or photos depicting violence in any form in your home or place of business. Violence attracts negativity and you surely do not want that in your growth and family.
• Hang family photos or images of loved ones in the south-west direction. This improves and strengthens bonds of love and relationships.
• Wind-chimes with crystals should be placed on bedroom windows to minimize fights at home and problems between the members of the household.
• Always make sure to keep the center of home a free area for the free flow of energy. This is important for positivity in the house and for health and prosperity.
• Never have beams, pillars, depressions or wells in the centre of the house.
• Kitchen should be placed in the South-East. If that is not possible face East while cooking. Kitchen should not be directly in front of the main door.
• Place the mirrors on the East or North walls.
• Do not construct kitchen and toilet next to each other.
• Broken mirrors, stopped watches should not be kept in the house.
• Do not sit, work or sleep under a beam.
• Internal staircase in a house should not be directly opposite the front door. External staircase should not be directly opposite the main door or crossing the main entrance.
• Keep your house clean and clutter-free. Get rid of old clothes, newspapers and junk from time to time. Sort out and organize things in a way that makes you aware of their importance. Decluttering empowers, cleanses and helps you sort out issues in hand.

To many in India and around the world, homes made according to Vastu are believed to lead to all round prosperity and good health. Keep the following vastu tips for homes in mind for enjoying best physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing for yourself and your family.

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