Where we live can influence our happiness, wealth, health, and prosperity. The Vastu Shastra is the Vedic science of building. When one studies the Vastu Shastra, he learns to create buildings that favorably influence those things that bring us happiness.
The Vastu Shastra considers the astrological placement of the Sun, Earth, and other planets during the actual construction. It also considers where the building site is located, the site’s shape, the proposed building’s shape, the direction the building will face, the location of gates, entry doors, room doors, windows, and the building’s general design. North and east are considered important directions—east because it is the direction from which the sun rises
Assessing the Land
When purchasing a property, it is a good idea to stand on the land and feel its vibration for a few moments. Trust your feelings. If you feel positive about it, consider buying the land. If not, it is probably not good for you. It is best to buy land where happy and successful people have lived. A house sold by a person in distress or who is impoverished, should be purchased only with caution. A dilapidated or haunted house should not be purchased at all.
The land should be cultivatable and should smell good. It is best not to build on nonarable land. Land that contains many rocks, anthills, many worms, bones, broken pottery, sludge, and thorny trees should not be purchased. If the center of the land is humped like the shell of a turtle, it should not be purchased.
The color of the soil should also be considered. White soil is good for brahmans (priests, teachers, scientists, or intellectuals), red for ksatriyas (rulers, soldiers, or administrators), yellow for vaisyas (businessmen, farmers or bankers), and black for sudras (laborers, artisans, craftsmen, or servants).
When you assess the soil, do not just make a surface check, but also dig about 4m (12 ft) down.
If the soil is black up to 1m (3 ft) down and white or red below that, the land can be purchased.
According to Vastu Shastra, black and clayey soil is not good for building. If the soil is crumbly rock, money can easily be gotten. Yellow soil is good for businessmen.
Another test of land quality is to dig a knee-deep hole (2/3m or 2’x2’x2′) and then refill it. If after filling the hole you have some soil left over, the land is good. If there is no soil left after filling the hole, the land is average. If the returned soil does not even fill the hole, this is not a good sign. Such land should not be purchased. This shows the soil’s natural moisture and aeration.Again dig the same sized hole. This time, fill it with water. If it takes more than an hour for the water to be absorbed, this is a good sign. If there are many cracks in the hole after the water has been absorbed, the construction may cost more than you expect. This is a percolation test done even in the U.S. to test for clay deposits. The cracks indicate clay soil, which is not best for water drainage and can cause foundation problems, etc. Also, wastes are not carried away properly, which can bring disease.
Do not purchase land that has been used as a crematorium, cemetery, or a samadhi (tomb for a holy person). The land should not be purchased if in the recent past someone has committed suicide on it, or if there have been several deaths over the period of a couple of months.
It is usually best not to purchase land next to a bridge. If the bridge is on the north or east sides, it definitely should not be purchased. If it is on the south or west sides, that is a safer purchase.
It is also usually best not to purchase land that shares a well with another property. The land can be purchased, however, if the water supply is a common well on the north, east, or northeast side.
A plot of land situated on a hill is also not a good purchase in most cases. It is better to purchase level ground. If the land to be purchased is on the side of a hill, however, and the land slopes down toward the north or east, that is all right. If the land slopes to the west, do not purchase it.
After choosing and purchasing land, plants should be grown on the land. Also, if possible, keep a cow and her calf on the land for a while to make it more auspicious.
The Land
The direction that the front of a property faces is important. The best shapes for plots of land are square or rectangular, facing squarely on the four cardinal directions. A land tilt of 20 degrees, off square by 20 degrees, is acceptable. If the plot is rectangular, it is better that the longer sides run north to south rather than west to east.
If the plot of land does not squarely face the four cardinal directions, and if the road does not run in one of the four cardinal directions, the house should be built facing the four directions The house should be square or rectangular, and the faces of the building should each be toward a cardinal direction, and not built facing the road.
It is not good to purchase a piece of land squeezed between two larger pieces of land as such land will bring its owner poverty.
The northeast side of the land should be the lowest side. If the northeast side is at a higher elevation than other sides of the property, you can dig soil from that one side and use it to build up the other parts. The land should either slope down toward the north or east, but not toward the west or south. Land sloping north brings riches, sloping east brings good fortune, sloping south brings ruin, and sloping west brings financial loss.
It is auspicious if tall buildings or hills do not obstruct the north, northeast, and east sides of the land. Do not purchase land with such obstructions to those sides because the sun’s rays will be blocked.Having those same obstructions blocking the west or south sides, however, bring health and wealth—light coming from the southwest is not beneficial. The sun’s rays traveling westward are considered harmful. Thus such obstructions block out harmful rays.For the same reason, a water source located on the southwest side of a building will cause the owner misery. Similarly, there should be a minimum number of doors and windows set into the southwest side of a building; the majority of windows should be set in the northeast side.
The boundary walls around a property should be higher in the west and south and lower in the north and east.
