Vastu Purusha Mandala And Positive Energies

By Diwakar Vashist

Vastu Purusha is the body on which every aspect of human activity is carried out. Whether we build a house, a factory, school, well, compound-wall, tank or playground, we are placing it upon the sacred body of the cosmic being who has come to reside with us. Every part of his body is sacred, with energies and characteristics that add to and enhance our life on earth. Therefore, it is to him we bow in gratitude when we start upon any endeavour, and to him we offer our thanks through flowers and incense, minerals and metals, herbs and colours, amidst music and chanting.

The story of the Vastu Purusha goes thus: In the ages gone by, there lived a demon called Vastu who was fierce and powerful and in the habit of terrorizing the world. As the situation became unbearable the gods came together to fight him. Yet, his powers were such that his essence continued to permeate the land causing untold misery to the humans and gods alike. In response, the gods went to Lord Brahma for help.

Affected by the grief of the gods, Lord Brahma fought and pinned the demon firmly to the ground, and as a further precaution ordered a certain number of gods to sit on him and stop his activities. The popular belief is that the Vastu Purusha lies face-down on the ground, though a few texts claim he lies face up.

Though it is a myth it can be interpreted to mean that the energy comes from cosmic space and manifests itself as the contained energy within material phenomena. The cosmic energy manifests itself as a phenomenon after moving through a series of transformation-ether, fire, water and earth. Hence the built space is created according to the impulses of the earth, in consonance with the waking and slumber of the earthly energy.

Vastu or bhoomi is vibrating and alive. This is the space of the earth or land. This energy resides in the earth and is called by various names such as Vastu Nathan, bhoomi Purusha and Vastu Purusha. This is the energy of the material sunbstance.

Similarly the energy of Akasham or cosmic space is known as Vishwa Purusha, Vishwa atman, Paramatman.

The Vastu Purusha is considered to be awake when he is oriented towards the cardinal points, and is said to be asleep when oriented towards the non-cardinal points like the NE, SW, SE, NW.

During the period of Dhanur (December-January), Mina (March-April), Mithuna (June-July), Kanya (September-October), it is considered inauspicious to begin building activities.

During the period of Mesha (April-May), Vrishabha (May-June), Kataka (July-August), Simha (August-September), Tula (October-November), Vrischika (November-December), Makara (January-February), Kumbha (February-March), it is auspicious to build.

It can be said that we too are earth or Bhoomi and the energy within us is Vastu Purusha. When the earth is dormant, the Vastu Purusha is considered to be asleep. At this time it is not beneficial to begin house-building activities. The Shastras state that this 'wrong' time could lead to negative effects on the residents. The face of the Vastu Purusha is oriented towards the position of the sun, says the text.

One school of thought says that the central axis or Madhya sutram that runs through the Vastu Purusha and the one which runs through the house should be one and the same.

In another school of thought, the Vastu Purusha set out on the plot and the building are superimposed in such a way that the central axes of both do not coincide. Pada Vinyasa is the method by which a site of land is divided into a uniform grid. Each part of the grid is ascribed to a god, corresponding to the gods who were to have held the Vastu Purusha down (stated earlier in the myth). Each of these modules is given an offering at the time of building, during the ceremony of Bhoomi Puja.

Every traditional culture has related to the physical environment in terms of states of consciousness of the cosmic spirit, and has built legends and myths around the gods and goddesses. There are half-human nymphs and devas, part animal or bird deities that are winged marvels or extraordinary composite creatures.

Author Diwakar vashist is a senior consultant of Institute of vedic science, New Delhi, India. He is Head of faculty who conducts online live classes for vedic astrology, vedic vastu, Numerology, palmistry etc. He is working on the ancient vedic sciences Since last 20 years i.e. vedic astrology, vedic vastu, hatha yoga, meditation etc. for more related informations visit http://www.shreevedic.com.

Structure Of A Hindu Temple

The structure of a Hindu temple is the same all over India but there may be certain additions to its basic form depending on the regional influence or the wealth of the temple and sometimes the political influence. For example the double images in the 'garbha griha' and the high protective wall in some South Indian temples were meant to protect against the Muslim invaders.

Hindu worship is not congregational in the Christian sense, and is mainly personal except on certain occasions. The structure of the temple is therefore based on the principle of having a small garbha griha where the image of the deity is installed. There is a passage for circumambulation of the garbha griha. This is the heart of the temple and the dome or spire is normally above the garbha griha, except in South Indian temples where the spire is generally at the entrance circumambulation after prayers is very necessary and the passage around the idol is a essential part of the structure of the temple.

There is a small passage called the antrala (vestibule), which connects the garbha griha to the mandapa or the pillared hall where the devotees gather for worship. The pillars normally have carvings of minor gods and goddesses, incidents from the life of the main deity and sometimes scenes from the various epics.

In some temples these carvings cover the exterior walls of the temples. The entrance porch is called the Ardha Mandapa. In some of the larger temples there are sometimes extra halls called the Maha Mandapa and Kalyana Mandapa used for holding large prayer meetings.HANDICRAFTS

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