The earth cooled from a ball of fire and tilted about 23.4 degrees toward the North-East, so a floor that is level or falls gently toward the North-East is in harmony with nature. An uneven floor, or one sloping any other way, is one of the biggest defects whatever the zone.
The North-East is ruled by Isha, its planet is Jupiter (Guru), the greatest of the planets, its gem is yellow sapphire (pukhraj), its symbol is the kalash and its vehicle the horse; in the Vastu Purush it is the head and brain. It gives true knowledge, prosperity and peace.
When a plot has its boundary wall on all sides and the North-East is left open as a porch or parking, the plot is not cut. The North-East is meant to stay open to the sky, with less construction.
A corner extended from both its sides gives strong results: an extended North-East makes residents healthy, wealthy and religious, while extended South-East, South-West and North-West corners bring disputes, illness, business collapse, mental illness and forced migration.
A plot with its North-East cut is the worst of all, and a cut South-East is also very bad. A cut North-West brings mental anguish, disputes, loss of mental balance and constant quarrels.
A gaumukhi (cow-faced) plot is narrow at the road and wide at the back, and a shermukhi (lion-faced, nahar mukhi) plot is wide at the road. Either is good only when its North-East is not cut, and a shermukhi plot gives results only when its North-East is extended.
A slope toward the North-East is best for homes, temples and schools, while business premises do best with a slope toward the North or North-North-East, then the North-East. Slopes toward the South, South-East, South-West, West and North-West each bring specific harm.
The earth is tilted 23.4 degrees toward the North-East. When a plot, plan and floor are sloped the same way, with the North-East kept lowest, the land falls in line with nature and absorbs the full energy, which collects most in the North-East.
In vastu, dasha, meaning the land energy, matters more than disha, the direction of a defect. A home whose directional defects cannot be fixed can still get 50 to 60 percent relief by correcting its land energy.
Fire and water destroy each other, so fire placed in the North-East water zone, or a boring or water body in the South-East fire zone, causes loss of money, name and fame.
The same vastu does not suit everyone: not every South-facing house fails and not every North-East toilet gives cancer. Interior choices of wood, metal, colour, material and artifacts are customised from a study of the planets of the person.
The North to North-East location of the water element means water sources such as borings, wells and tanks are made below ground level there, not as overhead tanks. Roof-top water should also drain towards the water element direction.
The water element is wavy or moon-shaped, white, located from North to North-East, liquid by nature and ruled by the Moon and Venus. Borings, wells, underground tanks, basins and other water sources represent it; balanced it brings joy, peace, confidence and wealth, imbalanced it brings irritation, disease and loss of money.
The three zones from North-East to East receive pure energy that must collect and stay, so they are kept low, open to the sky and free of dirt, toilets, high walls and heavy objects, with a part left unpaved (kachcha) for a garden or lawn.
About two hours before sunrise the sun sends ultraviolet rays into the North-East, which bring the greatest alertness to the neurons and glial cells of the brain. This pure energy suits the pure soul, so the North-East is the zone of clarity of mind and the place for worship.
Build a basement only in the North, NNE, NE, East and ENE, or as a full basement that lets sun rays in; never in the South, South-West or the Brahmasthan.
The best place for a swimming pool is NNE and the North-East through ENE up to the East, leaving out the exact North-East diagonal (Shikhi devta); a sunken pool in the North-West is not good.
Everything taught for map marking applies to a flat except bhoomi vibhajan, because the open margins left around the building already form its Pishach bhoomi. Zoning, directions, devta marking and the ati marma are still done inside the flat.
A doctor's chamber is the best use of the Parjanya pad, and a conference room, a bedroom for peace and deep sleep, or a bath (yog snan) also suit it. A toilet or a main door here causes delays and female dominance.
Drawing room, office, puja room, conference room, underground water tank, borewell and a bedroom for elders suit the Shikhi pad. A main door, kitchen or toilet here harms the residents.
The corners of a plot are its biggest sources of energy, and energy flows diagonally from corner to corner through the brahmasthan like a highway. Piling or filling a huge mass over a whole corner zone creates a serious defect.
The puja room is made in the Ishaan (North-East) because it is Jupiter's location; its energy calms the mind, builds concentration and turns it to devotion.
The water element is shown by a silver or white half moon, its colour is white, its zone runs from North to North-East and its metal is silver; water bodies and mirrors represent it.
In Vedic vastu the water element runs from NNE through NE to East, fire from East to about South, earth from South to before West, and air from West to before North. The space element sits in the Brahmasthan.
The earth is tilted about 23 degrees toward the NE, so this corner receives the most energy; it is the zone of clarity. Keep it low and open, use it for water, study and worship, and keep here everything you want to charge or speed up.
A bedroom zone is chosen by the occupant's planets: an exalted planet makes its zone favourable and a debilitated one makes it harmful. Key checks are Sun for East, Venus for SE, Mars for South, Rahu-Ketu for SW, Saturn for West, Moon for NW, Mercury for North and Jupiter for NE.
On the exact diagonal where the head of Shikhi devta falls in the NE, no underground water tank or pit should be dug. Vedic vastu marks these Shishu Pishach points, where neither the shilanyas pit nor any water pit is made.
Vedic vastu never put toilets inside the house; today they go where positive energy ends. SSW is the main toilet zone, WNW and a well-ventilated NW are acceptable, ESE only in an emergency with a south-facing seat, and a toilet in any energy zone such as the NE brings serious harm.
East is the ideal drawing room zone, North suits business talks and the NE gives peace, while the SE, SSW and WNW are poor; a room energised with crystallised quartz can work almost anywhere.
The human body, imagined facing East, is built like the Vastu Purush Mandal, and the position of each body function shows where the matching part of a house belongs.
Should all the rooms of a house, apart from the bathroom, be at the same level?
Yes, all rooms should be at one level. A slope toward the North-East causes no problem, because the earth itself is tilted about 23.4 degrees toward the North-East and following nature counts as level; a slope in any other direction causes trouble.
When a toilet and bathroom are built in the visarjan (disposal) zone, their floor is often raised or sunk to keep water from flowing out. What is correct?
Anything placed on the ground should be at water level, and the floor of the whole house should stay the same. Give the toilet and bathroom floor its slope toward the North-East; water draining toward the South-West is very troublesome.
Why do some homes with a toilet or kitchen in the North-East, or shops facing South, still prosper?
Because their land energy is high. Land energy decides about 70 percent of the result, so on strongly energetic land even an opposite orientation does little harm, while on obstructed or cursed land no orientation helps.
In a house visited earlier an elephant was painted in the Ishaan, yet the elephant is said to be the vehicle of the East. Where does it belong?
The elephant is the vehicle of Indra, lord of the East. Between the East and the North-East lies a 45-degree span with several pads, among them a debt door and a door that makes one rich, and every 11.25 degrees the chemistry and circumstances change, so the exact pad matters.
Why should a toilet, dirt or extra height never be placed in the North-East?
Because the North-East belongs to Jupiter (Guru), the greatest planet, and to its lord Isha. A toilet, dirt or height there blocks Guru's grace, and spoiling the North-East spoils even a strong Jupiter in one's horoscope.
Is a nahar mukhi (lion-faced) plot auspicious if it extends toward the South so that its South-East grows?
No. A South-East or South-West extension is not auspicious, because a plot needs its North-East extended. Even in an East-facing gaumukhi plot with a narrow front where the South-East is a right angle, the North-East gets cut, so it is not auspicious. A nahar mukhi plot gives results only when its North-East is extended.
Some people deliberately build the house with the North-East extended. Does that increase the energy?
Yes. Extending the North-East of the land from the foundation enlarges the place of its devta, who is pleased just as a person is with a bigger room, and it does not bring a South-East negative. But what truly counts as an extended North-East is taught later, because many people extend it the wrong way, for example from the East toward the North-East, and harm themselves.
Our parking area is in the North-East of the plot. Does that make the North-East cut?
Not at all. A plot with its boundary on all sides and the North-East left open as parking or a porch is not cut; the North-East is meant to stay open to the sky with less construction. A consultant who calls it cut lacks even nursery-level vastu knowledge. In one Indore case, a family who believed this left a prosperous house that only had a porch in the North-East and then suffered in two costlier houses.
If a home has defects in the North-East, Brahmasthan and South-East that cannot be corrected and the family cannot move out, can correcting the land energy help?
Yes. Land energy carries 70 percent of the role, so changing and correcting it can give about 50 to 60 percent relief. Many large hotels have toilets in the Ishaan and still prosper because 6 to 10 feet of soil was dug out and thrown away, removing the land's negativity. In vastu, dasha (land energy) matters more than disha (direction).