Vaastu Shastra becomes the guide for the architects as well as residents to decide as to which activities are allowed in certain area of the Vaastu and which areas need to be completely avoided in order to achieve the maximum outcome from the Vaastu for the residents.
When Lord Manu started new life after Pralaya ie universal destruction, it was a new beginning of human civilisation. Manu came across a woman named Shraddha in Himalayan regions. Their offspring came to be known as Manav ie Man. When this Manav left the caves and started making artificial residences, this was a first step towards Vastu Shastra. Unfortunately, we do not have data since this time of Satyayuga but we have data or ancient Vedic text available from 5000 years ago when the Kaliyuga started.
Architecture is used to design and create comfortable living conditions for the residents. In Sanskrit, Architecture is called as Sthapatya Kala. The original texts on Vaastu Shastra can be found in Sthapatya Veda which is part of Atharva Veda. The word Sthapatya is derived from the root word Sthapana i.e. ‘to establish’. Veda means ‘knowledge’. The technique of architecture is both a science and an art, hence it is also known as Sthapatya-kala as well, the word Kala means an art.
Thus, Sthapatyaveda means establishing a relationship between the resident, residence and the universe. This knowledge has been used to design temples, houses and cities in ancient times as well as in modern times.
Ancient civilizations around the world were influenced by this architecture, remnants of which still exist like Indus Valley civilization.
Shri Vishwakarma is the source of the knowledge contained in the Sthapatya Veda.
There are some famous epics related to Vaastu-Shastra like:
In the epic of Mahabharat, the city of Indraprastha for Rajsuya Yagna of King Yuddustra had houses as high as the peaks of Kailasa Mountains meaning stood tall &
majestic. The houses were free of obstruction, had compound high walls, doors were of uniform heights & inlaid with numerous metal ornaments.
It is said that city of Lord Rama was similar to the plan found in great architectural text Manasara. In Buddhist literature, buildings are found to be based on Vaastu.
In the present era also, Vaastu is one of the reasons for a flourished building. Hotels, Restsauurants, Lodges are allall are based on the five elements Panchmahabhot.
The universe is created by God. He also created the directions to let us know the location of any place or object. From Vaastu perspective, we mainly analyse 8 directions. Number 8 is very significant for us like in Ashtapradhan, Ashtavinayak, Ashtalakshmi and Ashtakona.
Similarly, the name for the direction itself suggests its nature. East is Purva which means First and it’s where sun rises. West is Paschim which means one which comes after and also where sun sets.
The sub direction of North East is Ishaanya means God’s place for water element. Similarly, South East is Aagneya means the place for fire element. North West is Wayavya means the place for air element while South West is Nairutya which means Demon and hence is a region of negative energies.
So the discussion on directions lead us to analysis of five elements called Panch Maha Bhutaa in these directions. By being curious, man has always observed the nature and the events happening in nature.
North is Uttara where there is answer to everything so direction of opportunity and lastly, South is Dakshin which means slowly weakening state and hence belong to Lord Yama.
Through his observation, he came to understand that everything visible and invisible in this world is made up of five fundamental elements - Earth, Fire, Water, Sky and Air. One of the elements or their combinations exists in every particle of the universe in a certain ratio. If that ratio gets disturbed, the particular thing may get destroyed or becomes useless. Human body also has these five elements and as they remain in balanced ratio, we remain healthy and active.
In Vaastu shastra, it is the aim of the Vaastu to utilise maximum resources of nature in order to make the human life happy and prosperous. This is a science, which may make man to construct a kind of atmosphere around himself which may provide happiness and prosperity to him for a longer duration of time. Such creation will be in harmony with the nature as nature also has these same five elements.
After directions and elements, we need to advance in our analysis by observing the nature of energies present in the house/office/plot or within a premises from a residential or commercial point. There are a total 45 kinds of energies present in Vaastu which ancient texts called as devtaas and the formation of these energies is called Vaastu Mandala. Based on observations using the tools like meditation, kinematics and dowsing, we can ascertain on which energy is missing or lower in any of the 8 directions. The energy or devtaa can be absent or has lower power if the zone of the particular direction is cut or extended. It can even be impacted by the presence of anti- element in a particular direction or energy field. For example, in North which is a zone of water element may have red colour which is anti- element. This can cause to lower the energy of vaastu field or devtaa in that particular direction.