In this episode of “5 Minutes”, Dr. Robert Svoboda explores the Dikpalas, the traditional protectors of the directions and their significance in spiritual practices.

The word itself gives us the meaning. Dik, dishā, or dig means space and, in particular, direction. Pāla means protector. So Dikpala means the protectors of the directions.

This is not only an Indian concept. Around the world, different cultures have recognized the importance of directions. The Chinese have their four symbols of the directions and their four kings of the directions. The Lakota respect each direction, assigning different colors and meanings to each one. Directions are extremely important, and it makes sense that they would have significance.

How do we get direction in the first place? We get it from the sun. The sun appears to rise and set, so east becomes symbolically the direction of beginning, while west becomes the direction of ending.

According to your environment, directions may have other meanings. For example, in Feng Shui in China, north is considered the direction of death because China is relatively northern in latitude, and when the cold north wind comes down during winter, it represents a termination. It is the death of the year.

In South Indian Vastu traditions, the direction of death is the south because if you build many south-facing windows in your house, you will literally be roasted inside your home during the summer. So direction is partly about the directions as they are, but there are also influences such as the magnetic field of the Earth. Much of the traditional understanding of directions has come from ancient cultures of the Northern Hemisphere.

Because of these directions, people have wanted the directions to cooperate with them. As a result, different sets of protectors have been established in different traditions to encourage space to be maintained in a harmonious way.

If you are performing a ritual, ceremony, or any auspicious event, you want the space to be purified and sanctified, without negative influences coming into that space. Working with the Dikpalas, the directional protectors, is one way of doing this.

In India, there is a traditional list of Dikpalas, including deities such as Indra and Varuna. Although fewer people may worship these deities today, there are other ways of approaching the directional protectors. For example, if you are a devotee of Bhairava, the eight Bhairavas can represent Dikpalas in one context. Similarly, the eight Matrikas and the sixty-four Yoginis, which are manifested as an 8×8 arrangement from the eight Matrikas, can also be connected with this idea.

Vastu includes floor plans that reflect these 8×8 and 9×9 arrangements. Sometimes the directions are counted as nine, including the center. Sometimes they are counted as ten, including the eight directions, above, and below.

The easiest way to work with the directions is to use the directions as they appear in Jyotisha. The Sun is east, Venus is southeast, Mars is south, and the southwest belongs to the two nodes, Rahu and Ketu. West is Saturn, northwest is the Moon, north is Mercury, and northeast is Jupiter.

If you do things for all nine planets to encourage them to be positively disposed toward you, and apply that understanding specifically to the directions, then you will have done what you can to encourage the directions to cooperate with you. This is one way of working with the Dikpalas and the energies associated with space.