Wrong positioning within a household can unfold a series of crises upon it. KHUSHDEEP BANSAl explains the correct vastu zones with their corresponding attributes
You experience real happiness when you are established in your own true self. Mostly, this is the state when you are doing something that you love doing from the core of your heart and you lose sense of time while doing it. This is also the state when you experience true joy. Maharishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras called this state Kaivalya and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi termed it as ‘Flow’.
The source of eternal joy lies within you only, but due to external environmental factors, you are not able to feel the happiness. So, you need to identify those factors creating imbalance and restore the balance in your immediate external environment to explore the joy within.
For example, your hand performs certain tasks like holding objects and feeling the temperature or textures of the objects. If your hand is not able to hold and feel, then you consult a doctor. The doctor does not make your hand hold or feel; he, in fact, restores it to the natural balanced state so that it can perform its natural function of holding and feeling. To do so, he diagnoses the root cause of the problem, viz., why the hand is not functioning naturally. In the same way, your mind has a natural capability of experiencing the eternal joy and happiness. If you are not able to experience it, then you need to check the reasons in the space where you live — your home.
There are two ways in which the conscious mind gets all the experiences, inputs or information. One is, through sensory organs (ear, nose, eyes, skin, and tongue) which are responsible for listening, smelling, seeing, touching, and tasting, respectively. The second way of input is from the sub-conscious state of mind. The sub-conscious mind picks up all the information from your living space. It is also responsible for connecting with the source of eternal joy within you. If your sub-conscious mind is clouded with non-relevant information from your space where you live and work, then it loses its capability to stay connected with the source of joy and happiness within.
The study of the effects of built up spaces (buildings) is called Vastu Shastra. Documented research in Vastu Shastra has shown that your subconscious mind gets directly affected by your space (building). It continuously picks information from the placement of activities and objects in your home. Activities mean entrance door and rooms (for sleeping, bathing, cooking etc.). If the location of the entrance is not rightly placed out of 32 possible locations, you do not feel at peace.
For example, if the entrance is located in the West-Northwest(WNW) vastu zone, you do not get due results of your efforts and this makes you feel unhappy. You develop regrets concerning the outer world and this disconnects you with the society and people. This again adds to your unhappiness. On the other hand, WNW is the vastu zone of depression and low moods; when your bedroom is placed in this zone or even a photograph of yours is placed here, you feel a kind of heaviness in your mind and feel like crying to get relieved of it. It is because your subconscious mind gets an information to cry to get relieved of emotional blockages.
Similarly, if there is a toilet, store or kitchen located in the vastu zone of fun and happiness, the East-Northeast, all your efforts and expenses to experience joy prove futile and you feel lethargic and tired the moment you enter into the house. Almost similar effects are experienced if there are shades of pink, orange or golden in this zone. In fact these reduce your capacity to let go of useless and painful past memories which do not allow you to experience real happiness and joy. This is how your living environment affects your mind and life.
To get established in the state of real joy, you must have a high let-go and good connectivity with your own self as well as with the outer world. When you place a dustbin in the South-Southwest vastu zone in your home, it conveys an instruction to your subconscious mind that disposes of all those thoughts and emotions which are useless in your life. This draws you closer to the people around. Along with this, placing a painting of laughing persons or fresh flowers in the East-Northeast vastu zone will help you explore the joy within and create more happiness in your and others lives.
The writer is Delhi-based Vastu expert