Reminiscing about his ancestral home in south India where he spent
several years of his childhood, Nitin Madhav recalls the
tranquility that filled the house his great-grandfather built. So
it’s not surprising that he furnished his Washington, D.C.,
townhouse with Indian antiques. What he didn’t know until recently,
however, is that his great-grandfather’s home was built according
to the principles of vastu, or vaastu, the ancient Hindu
science of harmonious design. As it happened, the townhouse-which
he bought because it felt ‘right’ and then redecorated in ways that
simply made sense to him-fits well with vastu practice. For
instance, he placed a lily pond northeast of his front door,
exactly the place that would be prescribed by a vastu consultant.
Vastu is a 4,000-year-old spiritual philosophy, which may have been
the precursor to the Chinese tradition of feng shui. It aims
to create positive living and working environments by harmonizing a
building according to spiritual principles and natural laws. The
tradition is based on the idea that when energy flows smoothly
through a space, it feels serene and balanced-becoming a place you
love to be.
Though vastu is far less well known in the United States
than is feng shui, at least four books on the subject have been
published recently, with more in the works. Consultants,
architects, and builders trained in vastu are now spreading
the word about this age-old art.
‘Vastu helps you create environments that are calming and
centered,’ explains Kathleen Cox, author of The Power of Vastu
Living: Welcoming Your Soul into Your Home and Workplace
(Fireside, 2002). ‘Vastu is an extension of yoga,
meditation, ayurveda [Indian medicine], raga [music], and Indian
classical dance-which are all about balance and perfect harmony.’
Relying on the ancient spiritual idea that all things and beings
are interconnected, vastu aligns a dwelling in accordance
with the sun’s energy, Earth’s magnetic fields, and other planets’
movements (some of vastu is based onastrology), so that the
structure becomes a symbolic microcosm of the universe. ‘The
objective of vastu,’ Cox says, ‘is to build man-made
creations that mirror the perfection of the universe.’
But such a lofty goal needn’t discourage people who are simply
seeking an apartment or house that feels more like home.
‘Vastu isn’t an all-or-nothing or even a one-size-fits-all
science,’ says Cox, who has studied the ancient vastu
shastras-texts and manuals-and apprenticed with an Indian vastu
master. ‘The only structure that’s perfect is a Hindu temple, which
is built for the deities according to the principles of vastu. If
you achieve more than 50 percent compliance in your home, you’ll
feel a positive influence in your life.’
Before you try vastu, Cox suggests that you observe how
different spaces affect you. Do you feel different, for instance,
in a subway car than in a similarly small but cozy room? ‘First,
you need to accept that space has power over you and can determine
how you feel,’ she says. That realization can inspire you to
improve your surroundings.
The tranquility VASTU seeks is rooted in an ancient Hindu
tale about the God Brahma creating a giant humanoid who threatened
to devour the world. As recounted in Rohit Arya’s book Vaastu:
The Indian Art of Placement (Destiny, 2000), the lesser gods
complained about this monster to Brahma, who finally assembled the
guardians of the eight directions (south, southeast, etc.) to
tackle the monster. Once the monster was pinned face down on the
earth, Brahma jumped onto his midsection, and the eight gods of the
directions also climbed atop the demon. But the monster complained
that he was hungry and his punishment was unfair, so Brahma named
him Vastu Purusha-‘the cosmic spirit of the land or
site’-and made him immortal as long as he stayed on the ground.
From then on, anyone building a structure had to appease
Vastu Purusha or risk misfortune.
A mandala used by vastu practitioners shows the demon spirit
inside a square with his head to thenortheast and feet to the
southwest. The square is usually divided into nine subsections,
each representing one of the eight gods who sat on Purusha and
Brahma in the center box. When this grid is laid over a floor plan
of a home or office, it lines up the rooms with the compass
directions. The nine sections of the vastu purusha mandala
suggest the ideal activities for rooms in each of the directions.
Each section of the dwelling is governed by a god who represents a
particular quality or element: water to the northeast, fire to the
southeast, and so on. Followers of vastu also chart prana,
the cosmic energy flowing through a place. Juliet Pegrum, a textile
and interior designer and author of The Vastu Vidya Handbook
(Three Rivers Press, 2000), explains, ‘East is the primary
direction, since that’s where the sun rises. North is the direction
from which the magnetic pull of the earth comes. Because of these
governing forces, prana meanders from the northeast toward the
southwest.’ Therefore, windows and open spaces in the northeast
enhance the flow of prana through a space. Heavy furniture there
can block natural harmony.
The living room of Tannia Goswami’s eighth-floor Chicago apartment
features floor-to-ceiling windows that offer splendid panoramas of
Lake Michigan, yet during parties the room would be practically
empty. ‘When people came for dinner, they always congregated in the
kitchen-and believe me, it’s not because I am a good cook!’ says
Goswami. After a vastu consultation with Cox, Goswami
learned that although the rooms were positioned perfectly, the
furniture wasn’t. ‘The living room wasn’t conducive to
interaction,’ Goswami says. With Cox’s guidance, she moved the big
things-her sofa, oversized armchair, and a large painting-into an L
shape along the south and west walls, where they form a barrier to
hold positive energy. ‘Almost everyone who visits comments that my
apartment ‘flows’ better now, even if they have no idea I worked
with a vastu consultant,’ she reports.
Another change in the living room: a tranquility zone in the
northeast-the meditative direction. Goswami moved her stereo system
(electronics are considered ‘fire’ and should not be in the
northeast ‘water’ zone) and made the spot a peaceful place to
recline by arranging a rug, lots of cushions, and some plants.
‘When I’m debating something or feel stressed out, I gravitate to
that spot to contemplate,’ she says.
A tranquility zone can be an entire room or just a small corner. It
may be a shrine containing meaningful items or photos, or a spot
for meditation, yoga, or reflection. The best place for a
tranquility zone is the northeast of a house or a room, since
that’s where prana enters; it’s what Cox calls ‘the gateway of the
gods.’
The location and arrangement of bedrooms are another key lesson of
vastu. Goswami also made improvements in her bedroom, which
doubles as an office for her work as a business consultant. ‘I was
in the midst of changing jobs and trying to figure out what to do
next,’ she recalls. ‘At the time, I was confused and scattered.
Kathy Cox walked in, took out her compass, and asked if I had
trouble focusing. As it turned out, I was sleeping in the wrong
direction. Also, my desk faced the toilet in the attached
bathroom-not a good omen. So I moved the bed to the other side of
the room, and my desk now faces northeast’-the tranquility
zone.
After these changes, Goswami reports, she sleeps better and her
career transition, though risky, turned out to be a positive move.
‘It’s hard to quantify these vastu changes,’ she says. ‘You
can feel the difference on an intuitive level, rather than in any
hard and fast way. I think what happened is that I got more focused
and more comfortable with my life decisions. My path is clearer to
me now. I’m not implying causality, but there certainly was a
correlation between the vastu and my new feeling
ofclarity.’
In fact, people who rearrange their homes often feel a gradual and
subtle contentment within the space, notes vastu consultant
Juliet Pegrum. ‘If you’re dissatisfied with a part of your house,
you’ll probably find there’s something dissatisfying within
yourself,’ she says. ‘Reorganizing and restimulating your own mind
is what usually brings results.’
Rearranging furniture and redoing décor is an important component
of vastu, since few people are able or willing to relocate
entire rooms no matter how poorly suited they may be situated for a
certain use. Rethinking the furniture or changing color and
lighting can help balance a room in terms of energy and flow.
It happens to everybody, says Cox, whose own bedroom posed major
vastu challenges. Because she has a pitta (fire)
constitution (vastu draws upon the related Indian tradition of
ayurvedic medicine, which divides people into three temperaments:
kapha, earth/water; vata, air; and pitta), Cox knew
she should sleep anywhere but in the fiery southeast portion of her
cramped Manhattan apartment. But that’s where the bedroom is. A
situation like this doesn’t mean you have to move; rather, you can
shift the energy in the room. Cox pacified the too-strong fire
element with calming colors and furnishings. She chose watery
greens and blues to symbolically douse the fire energy, and she
incorporated many beloved natural items: dried flowers, plants, and
an Indian jungle painting. She placed her bed in the southwest part
of the room and sleeps with her head to the south. ‘By overloading
the room with things that soothe my pitta nature, I’ve turned this
bedroom into a very calming space,’ she says.
Making changes according to vastu can give a space a sense
of meaning and tranquility that enhances body, mind, and spirit.
Personalizing a living area brings out the essence of those who
live there, enhancing the harmony between the space and the
residents. ‘Yoga, meditation, and vastu share the same
objectives,’ says Cox. ‘They all increase your inner balance and
raise you to a higher spiritual plane. Vastu is simply the
outer envelope.’Freelance writer Laurel
Kallenbach has a zone of tranquility on the northeast part of her
desk. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, where the mountains are to
the southwest-a lovely vastu alignment.
