In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores Vastu and the importance of creating balanced spaces where prana can circulate properly.
I have written a book on Vastu, and there are many other good books on Vastu as well. If you want detailed information about Vastu, you can refer to those resources. But if you are truly interested in Vastu, the most important thing to remember is that Vastu represents the organization of your reality in space.
Jyotisha is particularly concerned with time, while Vastu is concerned with space. They are intimately related because Vastu is influenced by all the factors that influence Jyotisha. All of the gunas, all of the grahas, and everything that affects Jyotisha also influences Vastu.
If we are looking at how to apply Vastu in the most basic and useful way, the details should come later. Three things should come first.
The first and most important thing is that in any room of your home or office, and preferably in the home or office as a whole, the absolute center of the space should not be filled with a large piece of furniture or something else that prevents circulation. Sometimes, because of the way a building is designed, there may be something in the center, such as a fireplace. This can serve as a conduit for the circulation of prana. But ideally, the center of a room should simply be open, because this allows prana to move as it naturally wants to move.
This is what Vastu is about. It is about making sure that the prana in your external space circulates properly, and this is connected with making sure that the prana within you also circulates properly. Just as you want sushumna, the central nadi associated with the spinal column and spinal cord, to be available for the movement of prana, you also want the center of your house, and preferably every room, to have space where that circulation can occur.
The second thing is to remember that your house is like an external skin. Your clothing is like an additional skin, and your house is another layer surrounding you. Your own prana strongly influences the prana of the room. You want your rooms and your house neither to feel cluttered nor completely empty. If everything is cluttered, there is no space for prana to move. If everything is empty, there is nothing for prana to interact with.
Therefore, you want your own prana to circulate within you as well as possible. When that happens, you will naturally become more aware of when the prana in your room or your house is not circulating properly. By improving the circulation of prana within yourself, you will become better able to sense the condition of the spaces around you.
The third thing is that if you think you can simply place an image of Ganapati or another deity in your room and ignore it, assuming that everything will automatically be taken care of through Vastu, you should forget that idea.
If you take responsibility for bringing an image of Ganapati or any deity or powerful being into your home, that being needs to be respected. The respect you offer and the prana you place behind that respect will help create the harmonious relationship that allows that being to work with you.
If you ignore it, or worse, if you do something that disturbs or aggravates it, then especially in the case of Ganapati, you should expect difficulties. Do not allow that to happen.