Does Vastu affect a rented house?
Yes, fully. Vastu acts on whoever lives and walks on the land; Shravan Kumar did not own the river bank, yet it changed his mind. It is a myth that defects fall only on the person in whose name the registry is.
Related questions
A big peepal tree stands in the North-West of my own house and my health has suffered since I moved in; is it the cause?
Yes, it definitely causes trouble; a peepal tree there harms health. If the house were rented you could simply leave; since it is your own, give it on rent and live elsewhere.
About 11 or 12 of the 45 devtas are asuras. Whose energy should be increased and whose kept low to stay balanced?
This was to be explained in detail later, as there is a big confusion about it. Asura devtas are also needed: the day there are no asuras in your house, your work will not run, so the aim is balance, not removing them.
Did royal palaces have toilets, and where were they placed?
Yes. Toilets were built at the rear of palaces, on the lower side, reached by pathways that did not join the main wall, and they were placed in the West-North-West. Kings never built attached toilets beside every room, even though they had every resource.
Does it matter in which direction silver, iron or other metals are placed underground?
No. Direction rules for metals apply above the ground, where the cosmic energy of the planet's location acts, not underground. If they applied underground, silver would be found only in the North-West, gold only in the East and iron only in the West. Iron rods are laid through the whole slab anyway, so cutting a zone with an iron strip means nothing; learn vastu with logic and science.
For a house on the ground floor, does the energy that circulates in it come in through the ground level?
Energy behaves like materials of different specific gravity: the densest settles at the bottom, as dirt does, and the lighter the energy, the better it is. That is why ground-floor flats sell cheapest and higher flats cost more. People living on the topmost floors face the fewest vastu doshas, because the winds ventilate the space and keep the energy flowing.
How did the Vastu Purush and the 45 Vastu Devtas originate?
In the Matsya Purana account, a drop of sweat fell from Shiva during his battle with the demon Andhaka and a great being (mahabhoot) arose, so hungry that it could devour the three worlds. On Brahma's order the devtas and asuras pinned it face down and 45 devtas sat on its body. Brahma granted that it would be remembered and given food and water whenever anyone occupies land, and that if it was not fed it could open its third eye and create havoc; he accepted it as his manas putra (mind-born son). The 45 places where the devtas sat became the 45 pads, each with its own function, like the separate work of the eyes, ears, nose and hands; medical science too speaks of 45 departments of the body.