Land Vastu

Vastu for land selection

The place of our residence definitely influences our consciousness, way of thinking, feeling, and actions, thus directly influencing our happiness, wealth, health, prosperity and most importantly the goal of attaining liberation from material consciousness. The Vastu Shastra is an ancient science of building structures like home, office, common public places like temples, halls etc. By implementing Vastu principles of construction we can build a structure for reasonably peaceful life.

Vastu considers many important factors before even beginning to plan construction of a building. Of course it provides lots of detailed instructions on considering many factor for planning a nice, beautiful, and nature friendly structure, which will not only bring reasonably peaceful course of life, but also help to avoid lots of troubles which one may land up in case of neglecting those instructions. Here are some of the important aspects of Vastu designed structure :

1.    The first and foremost important aspect planning is to find a suitable piece of land. Vastu give us lot of details about land selection, such as,
shape of land,
slope of land,
surroundings of land,
slope of land,
quality of land, etc.

2.    After selecting land, the important consideration is construction and materials used in construction. There are mixed feelings about the astrological calculations of time to start the construction. Some who know Vastu principles consider that it is not so important to consider astrological calculations for construction, while others say that it is important just as we consider proper timings for any auspicious event in our life, such as marriage etc.

3.    Where the building site is located, the site’s shape, the proposed building’s shape, the direction the building will face, the location of gates, entry doors, room doors, windows, and the building’s general design. All the directions are considered important for the specific purposes.

Following is the chart which gives us proper guidance in oder to select the slope of the land.

East	A depression promises wealth, riches, and a longer life; an elevation in East foretells loss of children.
North East	A depression in NE promises wealth; an elevation in this direction foretells miseries, losses and poverty.
North	A depression in North promises wealth; an elevation in these direction foretells losses and poverty.
North West	Should be lower than SW and SE but higher than NE. If it is so, then it indicates success and wealth. But if it is higher than NE it indicates illness and rivalry for the residents.
West	should be higher than N and E but lower than S. Such land indicates good name, success in life, and long relationship with children.
South West	An elevated SW enhances prosperity. A depressed SW foretells premature death, chronic illness and bad habits.
South	Should be elevated to ensure prosperity and health. Depressed S causes sickness and poverty.
Sout East	Should be higher than NE and NW but lower than SW to bring wealth. If it is lower than NE and NW it accidents by fire. The residents will develop a criminal mentality.

After proper slope is found, then it is essesntial to perform the following tests on land to know how condusive the land is for individuals and what kind of positive or negetive energies flow there. As per Eastern Theology the society is divided in four social orders namely Teachers (Brahmanas), Administrator (Kshatriyas), Business class (Vaishyas), Labrors (Shudra). These classification are naturally existent in society at all times, at all places. (To know more about these classification download ppt and mp3 I/II from chapter 2 of Bhagavad-Gita, to follow link click here..)

Slope of land and land test as per Brhat Samhita is condusive for different classes of people as listed below:-
If the ground slopes towards the North, it is beneficial for Brahmanas;
towards the East, for Kshatriyas;
towards the South, for Vaishyas;
and towards the West, for Shudras.

However, a Brahmana may have his home on any of these grounds, but the rest only according to their rank, i.e. a Kshatirya on a ground sloping down towards East, South or West; a Vaishya, towards the South or West; and a Shudra, towards the West only. Intersting the Puranas describe that the slope of the land should be only in NE, North or East for all the classes of men.

Following is the list of color, taste & type of grass that covers the top soil of earth that is condusive for different classes of people:

Varna or Class	Color	Taste	Grass type covering ground
Brahmanas	White	Sweet or taste like Ghee	Darbha Grass
Kshatriyas	Red	Astringent or taste like blood	Shara Grass
Vaishyas	Yellow	Sour or taste like food	Durvaa Grass
Shudras	Black	Pungent or taste like liquor	Kaasha Grass

One can perform following test on land to confirm the positive energies flow on the land.

1. Digging a pit of 1 arm (aprox.ft. 1X1X1)1. light one ghee lamp with four flames (wicks) in four directions, if lamp on east side burns longer - good for Brahmanas, North - Kshatriya, West - Vaishyas, South - Shudras. If all four continue for long time - it is good for all four varnas.

2. Fill the pit back with earth - if earth is more - prosperity, less - will result loss, same - average.

3. Another way to see the lands nature,Tilling the land with plow, sowing the diffent kinds of seeds. If seeds sprout in 3, 5, or 7 nights - 3 nights good land, 5 nights average land, 7 nights not conducive and should be rejected.

4. Place flowers of the four colours, white, red, yellow and dark, assigned to the four classes in the pit at night and observe them on the next morning. That class whose flower has not faded in the pit will flourish on that site. Similarly, any site would be auspicious for a person, provided his heart feels very happy there.

After examing the land in this way, one should sprinkle the water mixed with pancha-gavya and other beneficial herbs and then with golden stick one should draw the 81 squares on the land (which signifies the residance of different demigods in those squares. For details of different demigods names refer Matsya purana chapter 253 or click here for diagram) in this way one may draw the Vastu Mandal on land and begin the construction as per the Vastu principles.

Beginning construction :

The owner of land who wishes to construct a house should go at a time prescribed by the astrologer to the worthy site which has be ploughed, where sown seeds have sprouted and where Brahmanas and cows have stayed for a night, worship the deities with varieties of eatables, curds, coloured rice, fragrant flowers and incense, and honour Brahmanas and architects. Then touching his head, breast, thighs or feet, according as he is a Brahmana, Ksatriya, Vaishya or Shudra, the owner should draw a line (with any object held in the hand) on the ground, at the commencement of the construction of a house.

Should the owner draw the line with his thumb, fore-finger, middle finger or with gold, silver, gem, pearl, curds, fruit, flower or coloured rice (barley), the result would be quite good. On the other hand, should he draw the line with a weapon, he would be killed by a weapon; with a metallic (or iron) piece, he would suffer imprisonment; with ashes, there would be danger from fire; with straw, fear of theft; and with a wooden peice, trouble from the king. A line that is crooked, and drqwn with the foot leads to trouble from enemies and misery; so is one that is ugly or not clear; one drawn with a piece of hide, charcoal, bone or tooth would cause disaster to the owner; one drawn in an anti-clock wise direction, hatred; and in a clock-wise direction, prosperity. Harsh words, spitting and sneezing at the commencement are said to be inauspicious.

Effects of neighbouring buildings & trees:

If a minister's house be in the neighbourhood of the house in question, the owner of the latter would sustain loss of wealth; if a rogue's (or gambler's) residence, death of a son; if a temple, mental afflictions; if a crossing of roads, infamy; if a holy tree, danger caused by evil spirits; if a place filled with ant-hills or pot holes, calamities; if a cave, thirst; and if a piece of ground shaped like a tortoise, loss of money.

Peepal, banyan, Indian fig and Asvattha growing in S, W, N and E resp. are of untoward effects; while in N, E, S and W resp. are beneficial.

Thorny trees in vicinity of house cause danger from enemies, milky ones lead to destruction of wealth, fruit bearing one (e.g.Mango) to loss of children. Even their timber should be avoided in the construction of houses. If these trees (thorny etc.) cannot be cut down then auspicious trees such as Punnaga, Ashoka, Arista (Nimba), Bakula (or Kesara), the Jack tree, Sami and Sal should be planted amidst them.

[If there should be any forbidden tree in the vicinity of a house which cannot be removed for some reason or other, an auspicious tree could be planted between the house and the forbidden tree so that the latter becomes farther off. If this is done the untoward effect prescribed for the bad tree could be warded off. This is advised in Matsya Purana as well as in Brhat Samhita]