Why and how to follow Vastu - I

Our sages and saints in India always wanted to ensure happiness and prosperity not only to mankind , but to everything living being in this world. Nowadays we hear a lot about the importance of ecology , pollution – free environment , nature and all in big seminars and conferences. Our ancestors knew the secret of how to live in perfect harmony with nature and enjoy all that it bestows in plenty for the upliftment of mankind. According to Mayamatam , vaastu is used to designate dwelling or buildings and both the terms appear in the list of synonyms .

Vaastu as a legend in Matsya purana , was born out of the sweat of Lord shiva , while fighting and killing a giant called "Andhkasur" . A spirit originated out of the perspiration of Lord Shiva and consumed all the blood from the body of the devil. His hunger was still not satisfied. He then undertook penance. Lord Shiva was impressed and highly satisfied by his penance and offered him a boon.: " Who ever constructs building on Earth shall offer pooja (worship) to him and make offerings if they want to enjoy health , wealth , wisdom and prosperity in their new building. However only those people who do not offer you prayers shall be at your mercy and you may trouble them in anyway. There is a possibility that these stories were added in the olden scripts only to scare people and make them conscious about the subject. The science of vaastushastra is however no mythological story and has stood the test of time for thousands of years. Vaastu Shilpa is divided into two parts :

(1) Deva Shilpa : It deals with all aspects of temple and religious activities including idol , yagna etc.
(2) Manav Shilpa : It deals with houses , residential buildings , schools , commercial buildings etc.

The transmission of the knowledge had to take a corresponding form and integrate all the sciences as one seamless discipline. It is for this reason that the Sthapati or vastushilpi , the priest architect had to undergo a process of integrated learning. To this day , the Sthapatis take recourse to the collective knowledge of related discipline as to give shape to their creations. To understand vaastu , one should understand the VASTU PURUSHA MANDALA . Purusha and Mandala are associated with vaastu ( site) . Vastu encompasses the house with the site and its environment. According to the Vedic thought , Purusha is not only the cause and life behind all prakriti , but also behind all creations of Man. Purusha is consciousness , the life source. It is also called atman. The Vastupurusha Mandala is a grid of square , regarded as a perfect figure , is conceived to be a fundamental form in architecture and all other shapes are derived from it. The Vastupurusha Mandala offered the formula to determine the functions of the building in relation to its orientation. The Vasturatnakara assigns specific functions to each direction. The south-east for example , is dedicated to fire and north-east to the element Water. Invariably , the correspondence with the elements would determine the position of the rooms in the house. The space assigned to the region of fire , for instance , would be used for building a kitchen or reserved as a source for heat and warmth. The Mandala also served as a guide to locate the buildings on site and determining the position of the shrines in a temple complex.

CONTD.. NEXT WEEK...