Interpreting ‘Vaastu’ – the Science of Space Healing

Vaastu is a ‘space healing science’ – it is the ‘science’ to correct or heal the ‘unhealthy’ houses, offices or other living spaces. Living spaces too, like a human being, may not be in ‘good health. A human (or any living creature for that matter) is considered to be unhealthy if he/she is unable to perform his functions properly. On the same lines, a living space can be considered as not in ‘good health’ if it is unable to function properly.

What are the functions of a living space? It’s functions are to protect and shelter the inhabitants. In a holistic sense, the function to protect or shelter includes more than only protection from weather. When we explore the holistic sense for a living space’s functions, we can realise the narrow sense in which we had been looking at our houses and offices.

Many centuries ago, some people in India had realised this. They observed the various ‘symptoms’ of some living space’s ‘ill-health’ and tried to associate them with some elements of the construction of the living spaces. After many lifetimes of refining this emperical research knowledge, they founded a science. This was called ‘Vaastu’ – the science of building living spaces.

Unfortunately, the knowledge of this science was limited to a few number of people back then. There were limited copies of the subject published in those days. All this led to a gradual demise of the science from popular attention. Still it was followed in some places in India especially for construction of Temples. The advent of modern life and the competitive pressures of it has led us again to realise the need of a science such as Vaastu. This led to rediscovery and the gradual return to popular attention of this science.

However, has this science and it’s rules been properly interpreted after rediscovery? (Indian literature has enough grammatical depth to allow multiple intepretations) This could be a matter of debate. Many researchers and consultants have various interpretations for what has been recorded about the science. How should the rules be correctly interpreted? There has been a lot of grammatical debate in this area. Why not test the various interpretations of rules in the science against real examples? If by interpreting the rule in a certain way we are able to connect clearly the cause and effect, this interpretation might as well be the correct one. This helps in scientific rediscovery rather than mere debate on grammatical interpretations. That is why finding a good Vaastu consultant with at least empirical research experience is important.

PS 1: Another point to note is that though Vaastu is a science, it does not explain all the happenings within a living space. This is because Vaastu is a science about the effect of the living space on people. There are many other things that effect an inhabitant like his Karma and Destiny. In other words, Vaastu only helps in protecting the inhabitants from unhappy events entering in but not from what they bring in themselves upon them!

PS 2: Interestingly, in many cases during our research, my mother and I have found that the Vaastu of a house matches the evident attitudes and lifestyle of its inhabitants. This led us to infer a possible relation between Karma and Vaastu. May be if you do good Karma, you end in a good Vaastu house or may be if you are in a good Vaastu house, it facilitates you doing good Karma. Whatever be the case, a good Vaastu house is always desirable. Especially in a competitive world where even a little bit of advantage goes a long way.

Note: This was one of my first writings. I had intended this to be part of a book on Vaastu.

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