In the present times, Vastu Shastra is the most commonly used term, especially when it comes to purchasing or constructing a new home. To have a happy and prosperous household you must lay stress on enhancing the positive energy inside your home. Vastu Shastra increases wealth, well being and prosperity if you live in structures that allow positive cosmic forces.

One of the most important and sacred corner in any home is a zone of tranquility, the prayer or meditation area; usually known as ‘Pooja Ghar’. Although placement of a Puja Ghar itself brings positive energies in a home, but designing this sacred place as per Vastu guidance enhances positivity in the environment all around. According to Vastu Shastra, the North East zone or the Eeshan (Ishan) corner of a house is the best suited area for placing the Puja room.

It is believed that when Vastu Purush was brought down to the earth, his head laid in the north-east direction. So, while worshipping in this direction along with coming closer to the deity, we also pay obeisance to him. The direction also receives the purifying rays of the rising sun, which purifies the environment and brings positivity and prosperity into our homes.

Follow the below mentioned attributes in order to get an ideal Puja room:

• Never locate the Puja room in the south and the south-east, as these directions are ruled by Yama and Agni, respectively.

• Never locate the Puja space in the bedroom, as this place is for rest and pleasure. However if there is no choice, locate it in the north-east corner of the room. Take care that your feet do not point towards this corner while lying on the bed.

• Avoid locating the toilet above, below or opposite to this room to prevent the negative energies of the toilet from spoiling the auspicious atmosphere of the Puja room.

• This room should also not be constructed next to the kitchen or located under a staircase. In case you do make the Puja space in the kitchen, keep the deity in such a way that you face east while praying.

• In very big plots, factories or apartments, the prayer room can be located in the centre or the Brahmasthana, the sector governed by Lord Brahma, the Creator.

• Make the roof of the Puja room dome or pyramid-shaped. This facilitates smooth flow of positive energies from the tip to the dome or pyramid into the puja room. This shape also assists in meditation.

• Use tranquil colours on the walls of the Puja room like white, soft shades of yellow, blue or violet. These colours do not distract while praying.

• Ideally, the doors and windows of this room should open towards the east or north. These should be made of good quality wood and have double shutters.

• Although north-east is generally the direction recommended for locating the idols or pictures of various Gods; yet different deities have different auspicious locations as described:
  • Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Kartikeya, Indra and Surya are placed in the east and facing towards west.
  • Ganesh, Durga, Kuber, Shodas Matrika and Bhairav in the north direction and facing south.
  • Hanuman in the north-east facing south-west, but never in the south-east as it creates fire hazard.

• Never keep idols brought from ancient temples in the puja room. Also avoid Shrichakra and Shaligram idols, unless you have tremendous spiritual control and are capable of performing puja in a traditional manner.

• Never display photographs of the dead family members along with the deities.

• The height of idols should not be more than 18 inches and should always be placed on a high platform or singhasan.

• Keep the holy books or dharmic granths and other items of samagri and dresses of the deities along the west and south wall.

• The lamp or deepak should be placed in the south-east direction, governed by Agni.

• The Puja room should not be used for other purposes, like storing items that do not belong here. It should also not be used for sleeping purposes or to conceal money and other valuables.

• Never keep a dustbin in the Puja room, as the positive energy gets diminished due to the negative energies emitted by it.

• If you ensure the above mentioned points, you would not only add to the serenity of the room, but would also find yourself spiritually uplifted with increased powers of meditation.

• Dr. Prem Kumar Sharma, resident astrologer of Hindustan Times and Vastu consultant, has authored many books including ‘A Comprehensive Book on Vastu’ and ‘Cultivate Your Relationship the Vastu Way’.

~ By Astrologer Dr. Prem Kumar Sharma

~By: Christina Sarich

The Sri Yantra is a series of interlocking triangles with a perfect ratio of 3.14 or the divine number, Pi. It is thought that this ancient symbol was not intellectually constructed, but that it came to a yogi in deep meditation as a representation of the primordial sound, Aum. This symbol, along with sounds like Aum have incredible healing powers if you just know how to use them correctly.The Primordial Sound of Aum for Healing the Body and Mind, Sri Yantra, and Ancient Divine Symbol of Sound.

The Sri Yantra is an age old symbol – which is meant to heal our minds and hearts. If you know anything about energy healing or healing with sound, then you realize the importance of tuning into a particular vibratory rate in order to elevate the mind and body from its lower, less ideal states, such as those of sickness and depression. You need not suffer from these states of mind. They are illusions of the first class, and many of us have had them for so long that we forget that our natural state is one of joy, vibrant health and, bliss, even.

The Sri Yantra is a collection of 16 interlacing triangles around a bindu – which is a point of focus for the mind. Bindu literally means ‘point’ or ‘dot’ in the Sanskrit language. If you are using this as a meditation tool, the center point aims at bringing your awareness to a more and more singular point. If you are using the Sri Yantra as a point of contemplation, then you can imagine that the cascade of triangles within the lotus flower is at once a macrocosm and microcosm of the world you live in, with your perception as it is now. While some see Maya as the destructive display of illusion, or the separation of the Divine Mind from the egoic mind, more accurately, it is simple the creative nature of Creation trying to experience Itself. While Maya may keep the veils of true Divine experience out of our current perspective, it also offers a myriad of ways to get back to the Oneness, our true nature, as evidenced by the interlocking triangles in perfect distance from each subsequent set of triangles based on a Pi ratio. . .the creative play of Maya!

There are other places that this ratio exists. It is in nature, for example, and quite prolifically displayed. It is in nautilus shells, in the formation of leaves and petals of innumerable plants. The divine ratio shows up in ocean wave patterns, and you guessed it, sound. Divine sound oscillates at perfect ratios for our optimum health and recent studies in DNA prove that Divine Sound can even change our DNA!.

This new scientific study takes sound therapy out of the New Age pigeon hole it has been stuck in and brings it into mainstream science. The way scientists were able to change DNA was by using particular frequencies of sound, which are essentially energetic patterns, which then encode the DNA much like a computer programmer dictates how a software will work on your computer by creating a syntax which it recognizes. In fact, the team led by molecular biologist ,Pjotr Garjajev, found that DNA responds to sound in the same way langauge is formed, and even has its own grammar rules! Apparently, our ‘junk’ DNA is actually highly programmable utilizing the right frequencies, such that illness can be healed and even super-human skills like clairvoyance, clairaudience and intense intuition can be programmed right into the molecular structure of human beings.

Linguists even looked at the probability of Garjajev’s research being swayed by his own bias, and they found that there is no statistical way that our DNA is not orderly in its ‘language’ since repeated ‘words’ show up just like in any other language – ones that get used more often, and others which rarely show up to convey an idea. If, in fact, junk DNA holds the keys to opening our true gifts, then it can surely be utilized with sound frequency, to heal us.

When we pair these findings with the work of Dr. Emoto Masaru (of What the Bleep Do We Know, fame) and countless other energy healers that have come forth with their findings in recent years, then we can see why sound, i.e., the primordial sound, Aum, was so important to ancient yogis. If our Wholeness is contained in a singular point, but can expand to include all there is, then the focus on that one point, vibrationally, should heal all that is out of whack, by nature of aligning it with its true nature. Some esoteric teachings go as far as to say that the Sri Yantra is the holder of an ancient holographic wisdom and healing science akin to that of crystalline structures, like quartz. Others say it contains information about the electromagnetic alignment of our poles to the earth’s ley lines. The Sri Yantra is, for certain, a visual representation of primordial knowledge, and sound is its carry signal.