Vaastu Purush- The Myth

It all started when Lord Brahma created The Universe and was experimenting to make some creatures. He thought that a ”man” would be the best option for this and so he created a man. But this was no ordinary man, he was huge and had enormous powers to grow. Soon after his creation the man started growing.

As time passed, he became extremely huge and with his size, his hunger also increased. He started to eat anything and everything that came his way. In no time he became so big that his shadow had cast a permanent eclipse on earth.

This whole episode was enough for Shiva and Vishnu to be enraged. They immediately rushed to God Brahma and requested him to stop the man from spreading chaos. God Brahma understood that he has made a terrible mistake and he needs to rectify it. But the man was too powerful for God Brahma, hence he requested the Gods of eight directions (Astha Dikapalakas) to come and help him.

Upon hearing his request, Gods came for rescue, they grabbed the man and overpowered him. They pinned the man against ground with his head in North-East and legs in South-West direction. During all this event God Brahma jumped into the center and held the man down.

Going through all this the “Man” started crying and asked God Brahma, “Why are you doing this to me?”, “You have created me and now why this treatment is done to me?”

As soon as the”man” realised that he has been pinned down he started to cry and asked God Brahma “You created me, and now you are doing this treatment to me? What’s my fault?” Hearing his question God Brahma thought for a moment and answered “I know it's not your fault, but you have become a threat to everyone. I don’t want to destroy what I have created and hence you have to remain like this forever.”

“But what’s my benefit in all this?” the man asked. Brahma said “I will make you immortal and all mortal people who build any sort of structure on earth will worship you. You can tease, devour and trouble these people if they don’t worship you and don’t keep you happy. You will be present in all lands and you are from now onwards known as Vaastu Purush”. To this deal,  Vaastu Purush agreed and became an inseparable part of earth forever.

Actually this story tells us about balancing of  chaos emerged due to interaction of geostatic forces and cosmic waves; as the universe is created and maintained by Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv as they are quantum aspects 
(aspects of God)  so  it was ascertained  by them for humans to perform Vaastu worship- telepathic use of energy to balance this menace in sole interest of world.

Seems interesting !-  true - wisdom!

                                  Vaastu Poojan

Vaastu worship ritual must be commenced 5 times for any building at the time of possession the land must be ploughed and some grains be sowed as well as some recommended plants be planted along with Vaastu poojan; again when foundation stone is laid Vaasru Purush is worshipped with 5 bricks, Acacia catechu wood nail, gold or silver snake, gold or silver tortoise and Navratna (nine gems) viz. Ruby, Pearl, Coral, Emerald, Yellow Sapphire, Diamond, Blue Sapphire, Hessonite and Cat's Eye; these items are then buried in foundation. There wood nail represents Meru i.e. axis of Earth, snake the geostatic forces, tortoise the balance of Earth and navratnas Sri Lakshmi the goddess of wealth and prosperity. 

Vaastu must be worshipped  on the occasions of installing first door, laying roof slab and finally while shifting to live in (grih pravesh); In Grih Pravesh one must enter the place after some little girl/ holy cow (Indian bovine) with a holy pitcher- Kalash and doorva (doob) grass while blessings from Vedas as mantras being chanted by priests, auspicious songs being  sung and conch as well as other auspicious music being played then do Vaastu Poojan. Afterwards some traditional sweet dish must be made in new kitchen and offered to main Hindu Gods and Goddesses along with family deity. In all above said Vaastu poojans Holy totems as OM and fiery cross- Swastika must be made on Pooja items and bricks/ doors.

All this is done so that the place will become auspicious.

       

             

                                            Shalya Dosh                                           

                                                                                                            

   Shalya dosh in Vaastu means negativity due to any undesirable thing buried beneath the earth such as bones- dead human remains ( asthi- chiti), bad omen materials (kritya), metal objects (dhatu) and stone (prastar).

This condition is treated by excavating out the undesirable thing in pre-calculated auspicious time after which energized Holi water is sprinkled  and puja- homa is performed. 

                             Loh Vedh Dosh in Vastu

Loh-vedh is another worst negative Vastu effect and now a days is present in most of the constructions as steel bars are used.

In older days no iron or steel was generally used  as iron has a tendency to enhance geo-static stress so causes severe health problems to the residents.

In earlier times iron or steel was only used in castles and a ritual named Ushtramukhi Shanti was commenced to ward-off the evil effect of  Loh-vedh; which today must be done for every construction.

                                Vedh Dosh in Vastu

Vedh -dosh means negative effect arising due to any object  in front of main entrance of any premises  within a range of 90 feets. 

Vedh by a road is called Vithi-vedh, by a tree is called Vriksha- vedh, by a pillar is called Stambha- vedh and by a building is called Aalay- vedh.

Vedh- dosh is one of the strongest negative Vastu condition thus requires immediate remedy as it badly effects overall development and well-being of the  residents.

                                     Vaastu Shastra

Vaastu or Vastu means a place of residing thus Vaastu Shastra means study of making and maintaining a living place's aura positive. It tells us how to balance geo-static forces and effects of cosmic waves which influence humans in order to make one's life positive.

Prominent Rishis (sages) who preached vastu are Lord Brahma (God of Creation), Maaharishi Twashta, Lord Vishwakarma (God of human skills- an incarnation of Lord Brahma), Maharishi Kashyap, Avadhoot Sanat Kumar and Maya Daanav (Architect of asuras- demons- incarnation of Lord Vishwakarma and thus re-incarnate Lord Brahma).

Some important texts include-Agni Purana, Matsya Purana,Narad Purana, Vishnu-Dharmottar Purana, Vishwakarma Prakash, Kashyapiya Vaastu, Sanatkumar Vastu, May- Matam, Vrihat Samhita, Samarangan Vaastu, Maan Saar,  Manushyalaya Chandrika, Vastu Mandana, Vastu Manjari and Vimana Lakshan. There are almost 55 Sanskrit texts found on Vaastu scribed by above said masters as well as others upto medieval times of India two of them more famous ones are Acharya Varaah Mihir (Vrihat Samhita) and Maharaja Bhoj (Samarangan).

 Mythological explanation of Vaastu is related to Vaastu Purush (vastu being- personified vastu).

Vastu Kala- architecture is often described along Vaastu Shastra in above mentioned texts.