Every trade belongs to a planet; using that planet's colour, shape, artefacts, paintings, metals, mirrors and glass at the business multiplies its energy, while a clashing colour can shut it down.
Sunlight falls first on the walls and the wall colour reflects energy onto the people, so colours of the element opposite to the owner's rashi or kundli can ruin an otherwise good vastu.
The water element is shown by a silver or white half moon, its colour is white, its zone runs from North to North-East and its metal is silver; water bodies and mirrors represent it.
North to North-East; avoid the opposite South-East
North is Kuber's treasury: Kuber promises to keep the store full but asks for hard work, giving opportunities for work and business, so it is the zone of opportunity and money. Keep the North light, low and open, with water and greenery.
The earth is tilted about 23 degrees toward the NE, so this corner receives the most energy; it is the zone of clarity. Keep it low and open, use it for water, study and worship, and keep here everything you want to charge or speed up.
SE is pure Agneya: from 9 am to 12 noon the young Sun's fire is strong enough to cook food, so this is the ideal kitchen zone and the zone of cash flow. Water, mirrors and money storage go wrong here.
West is pure and sacred: goddesses live here, it is Shani's place, and Varun devta, the wealthiest devta, resides here with Pushpadant, so it is the zone of gain and profit. It suits bedrooms, tijori, temple and overhead tank, but must never be dug, dirtied or kept low.
Never hang photos or paintings in which hands, feet or heads are cut off. Hang family photos with smiling faces on the South wall, with the faces looking towards the North.
South wall; all photo frames with faces towards North
The kitchen is the fire element ruled by Mars. It is best in SE, then SSE, then West and NW; SW, NE and North are dangerous, and every other zone gives its own result.
Stairs are excellent in SSW (the heavier the better) and good to very good in South, SW, WSW, West, WNW and NW; they must never be in the NE zone, the Brahmasthan, the North or right in front of the main door.
The office colour is taken from the lord of the 11th house (gains) or the 10th house (work), or from the planet of the business itself, choosing the one the horoscope supports.
The deity faces East first and North second, never South; the worshipper faces North for wealth, East for spiritual progress and South or West for tantra, and before a consecrated idol all directions become zero.
Each zone favours a particular kind of office: East for administration, North for finance, West for engineering and profit, WSW for every office, SW for employment and stability and ENE for media.
Excellent: East, West, WSW, SW, North. Moderate: SSE, NNW, NW (transport). Avoid: SE, SSW (unless energised with quartz), WNW.
Files of bills awaiting payment face North, important files go to the West, WSW, North or NE, the cheque book to the NNE and the locker to the West or South-West.
Zone-by-zone results of a toilet: SSW and WNW are workable, NW and ESE only in an emergency, and every other zone damages what that zone governs.
Workable: South-South-West (modern Vastu) and West-North-West. Emergency only: North-West (with a strong Moon) and East-South-East (septic tank). Avoid all other zones.
Each zone suits a particular worship: North for Saraswati and Ganesh, NNE for pranic sadhana, NE and East for meditation, South for Hanuman and Devi, West best of all, while SE, SSE and SSW suit no puja.
Best: West. By deity: North, NNE, NE, East, South, SW (ancestors), WSW, WNW, NW, NNW. No puja: SE, SSE, SSW.
Large business doors and shop shutters often span two to four padas. When the favourable pada, for example S4, is fully included and open, the door gives the results of that pada.
The shape of a door affects the household: triangular, cart-shaped (shakat), winnow-shaped (supa), bow-shaped, sun-shaped and round doors all bring problems. A door should always be rectangular with a full frame.
Even an N4 door fails if it leans, has holes, stands at a dead end, is reached from the back of the house, or is obstructed by a pit, tree, pillar or T in front. Such defects (dwar dosh and dwar vedh) cancel the good of the pada.
In the East, E3 is the best door with abundant wealth and E4 brings government support and respect, while E5 suits administrators only. E1, E6, E7 and E8 should not hold the main door.
Main door on the East side, from the North-East corner to the South-East corner
In the North, N3 brings sons and wealth, N4 (Bhallat) is the best of all 32 doors with windfall wealth, and N5 gives wealth with dharma and fame. N1, N2, N6, N7 and N8 bring suffering, enemies, family stress, faults in women and poverty.
Main door on the North side, from the North-West corner to the North-East corner
In the South only S4 (Grihakshat) gives happiness, peace, prosperity and business profit. S2, S3, S5, S6, S7 (the debt door) and S8 bring lack of children, servitude, suffering, selfishness, debt and disease.
Main door on the South side, from the South-East corner to the South-West corner
E3, N4 and W4 are the three vipul sampada (abundant-wealth) doors. Virtual doors marked on these padas are heavily promoted, but they give only a tiny fraction of the result of an actually opened door.
Torans are chosen by the purpose and work of the place: flower torans for a king-like life and respect, stone torans for palaces, forts and soldiers, a special toran for treasuries and finance work, and gem (ratna) torans for the home temple.
Main doors, city gates, treasury doors and the home temple
In the West, W4 (Pushpadant) showers wealth and W5 (Varun) also gives wealth, while W1, W2, W3, W6, W7 and W8 bring short life, overspending, loss of money, government trouble, disease and a destructive mind.
Main door on the West side, from the South-West corner to the North-West corner
A clock represents Mercury, so it is hung on the North wall; on other walls it delays work. Every home needs working clocks, never stopped ones, and a small running clock in the safe increases the effect of Mercury.
The North belongs to Mercury. Its interior uses green with blue, ivory and white, Kota stone, green marble or limestone, emerald-family minerals, flowers and fragrance, Kuber and water pictures, a bandanwar, clay artifacts and a small library.
The North-West is the seat of the Moon and of Vayu (air). Its interior uses white and ivory, pearls, white stone and a little white marble, pictures of water creatures and the full Moon, and moon-loving plants.
If the North of a flat or house is polluted, for example by a toilet, should we advise removing it, and is a pooja needed afterwards?
Yes, advise removing it: the North is Kuber's place, and keeping filth at the place of wealth is like putting dirt in the mouth, so wealth cannot grow. After any demolition do a Vastu pooja; even a short one is enough, offering 45 small pieces of gud to the 45 devtas or invoking the nine lords with Bho Indra Vastu Dev Vastu Shanti Kuru Kuru and so on for each direction, with Brahma at the centre.
Why is the North called the direction of wealth and of Kuber?
Because among the four Vedas the North represents the Atharvaveda, linked with artha (wealth), and its lord is Kuber, the controller of wealth, career and opportunity.
At what time does the West direction show its greatest energy?
After sunset. Its power is felt from sandhya kaal onward and increases as the night advances, which is why people do sadhana at night and worship Lakshmi at night for wealth.
Bank lockers are kept in basements. Is that wrong?
Not all banks keep lockers in the basement. A study found that banks with lockers in the basement had the most NPA accounts, and such banks were also looted by big frauds. A locker should never be kept in a basement.
Why do some homes and businesses decline right after an expensive interior?
Because the interior changes colours, furniture directions, tiles and artefacts without regard to the owner's element and planets. Often the colours belong to the element opposite to the owner's, artefacts are combined wrongly, or harmful adhesives, lights and lead-based paints are used. One client who spent 60 to 80 lakh on an interior saw his loans turn NPA and his wife leave; his whole house had been painted in the colours of his opposite element.
Does the tijori zone also apply inside a room, and which way should the tijori face?
Keep the tijori in the zone given for it and make it face North. A room in the SW, say 12 by 15 feet, is entirely SW, not only its corner; it has four walls, so keep the tijori against the South wall and it will face North.
The West and North can work, but the best is the South-West, the zone of Rahu: trading is Rahu's work, Rahu is glamour and makes one rich, and people with an exalted Rahu find that whatever share they buy rises. In one case the teacher checked the swar before a student bought a share, and it rose sharply within 15 days.
Why is the E3 door considered the best of all East doors?
Before sunrise the Sun produces rays at E3 that carry minerals, vitamins and a gold composition. A well-decorated two-shutter door open at E3 therefore brings abundant wealth, and there is no shortage of money. E3 is one of the three vipul sampada dwar (abundant-wealth doors), along with N4 and W4.
What is chhappar phaad wealth, and which door brings it?
Chhappar phaad ke means wealth that arrives while you sit quietly, for example someone leaving you a fortune worth thousands of crores in a will. The N4 door of Bhallat devta, the best of all 32 door padas, is called the vipul sampada dwar and brings money in overflowing measure. In one well-known case a childless industrialist family left its entire estate by will to the chartered accountant who had served them, and the beneficiary's house had a complete N4 door decorated exactly as an N4 door should be; former employees became the owners of a huge group.