Vāstu: Breathing Life into Space

284 Pages·2013·4.49 MB·English

by  Robert E. Svoboda

VĀSTU
BREATHING LIFE
INTO
SPACE
BOOKS BY DR. ROBERT E. SVOBODA
The Hidden Secret of Ayurveda,
1st Edition Bombay 1980, 2nd Edition The Ayurvedic Press, Albuquerque, 1994
Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution,
1st Edition Geocom, Albuquerque, 1988, 2nd Edition Sadhana Publications, 1999
Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity,
1st Edition Penguin Books, London, 1992; reprinted by The Ayurvedic Press, Albuquerque, 2004.
Tao and Dharma,
(with coauthor Arnie Lade) Lotus Press, 1995
Ayurveda for Women,
David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbot, 1999
Aghora: At the Left Hand of God,
Brotherhood of Life, Albuquerque, 1986
Aghora II: Kundalini,
Brotherhood of Life, Albuquerque, 1994
Aghora III: The Law of Karma,
Brotherhood of Life, Albuquerque, and Sadhana Publications (a co-production), December 1997
Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India,
(with coauthor Hart de Fouw) Penguin Books, London, 1996
The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth,
Sadhana Publications, 1997
Light on Relationships: The Synastry of Indian Astrology,
(with coauthor Hart de Fouw) Samuel Weiser Inc., 2000
The Ayurvedic Home Study Course,
The Ayurvedic Institute, Albuquerque, 1985
Advisor Nāmarūpa, Categories of Indian Thought
Dr. Robert E. Svoboda
NĀMARŪPA,
Publishers
Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Robert E. Svoboda All rights reserved.
NĀMARŪPA, Publishers
430 Broome Street
Suite #2
New York City NY 10011
Designed by
NĀMARŪPA, Publishers P.O. Box 271
Dublin
NH 03444
ISBN 978-0-9889169-0-6
Editor: Jeremy Lehrer Sanskrit editor: Zoë Slatoff Proofreader: Meenakshi Moses Design, illustrations, and
production: Robert Moses Element sketches on the cover and p. 66 by Satya Moses Photograph research:
Elizabeth Blomster Encouragement and support: Eddie Stern All quotations from the Bṛhat Saṁhitā are
from the following edition: Varahamihira's Bṛhat Saṁhitā, tr Prof. M. Ramachandra Bhat, Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, 1981
This book is dedicated to my parents,
Laura & Edwin Svoboda,
and to Vimalananda,
my friend, philosopher and guide.
Thanks to Ellen Leary and Maria Rodale,
without whom this volume would never have been completed.
Thanks to those who read and commented:
Samantha Colt, Rosanne Malinowski,
Dr. Fred Smith, Dr. Claudia Welch.
Thanks also to Dr. A. Achyuthan and
Vāstuvidyāpratiṣṭānam,
the Kaimal Family,
the Kanippayur Namboodiri Family,
the Raby Family.
Last, and in no way least,
thanks to the participating spaces:
AYVALI TURKEY, BENARAS INDIA, BOMBAY INDIA,
BRATTLEBORO VERMONT,
COIMBATORE INDIA AND ITS ENVIRONS,
FLORESVILLE TEXAS, HALLANDALE FLORIDA,
HOLUALOA HAWAII, PAROWAN UTAH,
KANIPPAYUR MANA, KUNNAMKULAM INDIA,
SANTA MARIA DI LIGNANO & ASSISI ITALY,
KOOTTALA P.O., PATTIKAD, THRISSUR, KERALA INDIA,
TORONTO CANADA, THE UNITED KINGDOM, TORTOLA BVI.
P
REAMBLE
M
Y INTENTION IN WRITING this tome has been to offer readers a more measured,
more highly textured exposition of Vāstu than can be found in most other
currently available books on the subject, without turning it into an academic,
historical study. As it is, only a handful of sources, such as Bṛhat Saṁhitā, from
which I quote extensively here, are actually ancient; and even had I wished to
provide an account of Vāstu as it has been "traditionally" presented, there are no
truly traditional presentations, for Sthāpatya Veda, from which Vāstu evolved,
always existed more as a theoretical construct than a well-laid-out body of
architectural knowledge.
Theory can be valuable so long as it is applied intelligently to the specific
time and space in which it is employed; the principles of Vāstu emerged, as did
the principles of Āyurveda, Jyotiṣa, and other Indian vidyās, slowly over
generations as practitioners collected and codified real-world data in their own
spaces and times. One can no more master Vāstu by mastering its conjectures
than one can get the hang of medicine, music, and other hands-on lores by
merely hanging on to their hypotheses. There is no substitute for
experimentation, and it is those who accumulate at least some personal
experience who will successfully employ the distillation of the accumulated
experiences of others.
In this monograph I therefore focus on the concepts and practicalities that
individuals who know little or nothing of the system of Vāstu can use to begin to
gain the personal experience that they will require to make systematic use of
Vāstu's theories. What I present here is not a detailed exposition of the Vāstu
Vidyā (however we may conceive of it), but rather a series of musings on Vāstu,
through which I seek to sensitize the reader to the nuances of spatial awareness. I
have deliberately integrated concepts from Āyurveda, Jyotiṣa, meditation,
breathing practices, yoga, and the like into this work to create exercises for
readers that may both illustrate Vāstu's principles for them and also assist them
to align themselves with prāṇa which, as the base of all life and thus all
knowledge, is the foundation of those fundamental principles that all Indian
vidyās like Vāstu share.
My ruminations have led me to add to and subtract from what has appeared
before. I have occasionally extended identifications unconventionally, as when I
equate the directions with the guṇas; and there is of course much that I have left
out, including the Vedic notions of the east-west grid versus the north-south grid,
which evolved by some obscure process into the Vāstu Puruṣa Maṇḍala. My
reluctance to potentially confuse readers with yet another set of direction-deity
designations also led me to omit describing how in a Vedic sacrifice offerings to
the Vedic gods are made in the east, on the Āhavanīya fire; to the domestic
deities in the west, on the Gārhapatya fire; and to the ancestors in the south, on
the Dakṣiṇāgni fire (north was the only direction not to enjoy a major Vedic
fireplace; it was where offerings were made to demons and spirits). And, I
neglected to explicitly explore how Vāstu can be applied to all three realms of
human awareness: the ādhibhautika (mundane), ādhyātmika (spiritual), and
ādhidaivika (astral).
My aim in being neither too detailed nor too simplistic was to be accessible,
to offer readers a taste of what Vāstu has been and is, and what it can offer; to
provide them with practical tools for harmonizing the spaces of their lives; and
to offer a pathway forward for those few who, after establishing in themselves a
genuine sense of spatial alignment and directionality, become so keen that they
may choose to try to become vessels for the Vāstu Vidyā. May the Vāstu Vidyā
be pleased with what has been wrought!

CONTENTS
1 ENCOURAGING SPACE TO COOPERATE
2 THE VĀSTU VIDYĀ
3 ELEMENTAL SPACE
4 EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION
5 SHAPES AND ARRANGEMENT
6 DIRECTIONS
7 PLANETS AND CONFLUENCES
8 ORGANIZING SPACES
9 VĀSTU IN THE GARDEN
10 BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP
11 ORDERING YOUR SPACE