Recording: Vastu diploma class 4 - bhoomi vibhajan - degree determination - Zoning
A couple sleeping on a bed placed in the Brahmasthan may face childlessness or repeated miscarriages. Moving the bed out of the Brahmasthan to another place has led to childbirth in several cases.
Brahmasthan of the total area
The centre of a regular plot is where its two diagonals cross. For an irregular plot, use the geometric centre in AutoCAD, CorelDraw or an image editing tool, or the manual method of hanging a paper cut-out of the plan from a pin.
Centre of the plot or constructed area
A magnetic compass with a straight side edge, set so that its North-South line, mirror line and axis line coincide, is placed parallel to a straight wall on a level, metal-free surface and read from directly above. The offset of the red needle from the compass North gives the tilt of the building.
Beside any straight wall of the building, never at the centre
Every reading is compared with the nearest cardinal direction: North 0 or 360, East 90, South 180, West 270. The difference is the tilt, stated as North tilted so many degrees toward East (to the right) or toward West (to the left).
The map-compass app shared in class shows a satellite map with two red axis lines. After locating the building and rotating the lines parallel to its walls, the degree shown at the top is the building's degree.
Google Earth on a laptop or PC gives the most accurate degree: open the client's location, confirm the building, draw a straight ruler line along one wall and read its heading. That heading shows how far the building is turned from North.
In an irregular plot, ignore the slanting side and take the degree of any side that runs straight in the map, parallel to the edge of the paper. The tilt found from that side is then applied to zone the whole plot.
When a plan arrives rotated on the paper or PDF, first turn the paper or PDF until one straight side of the plan is truly straight, even if the paper then sits tilted. Take that wall's degree, complete the whole zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back.
Engineers planning colonies, factories and large sites often draw the plan already turned to true North, so the plot looks tilted on paper while North is exactly at the top. Check it against Google Earth; if it matches with North up, zone it at zero degrees without rotating the chakra.
When nothing is built on or around a plot yet, ask the engineer to draw the surrounding roads on the plan, straighten the road in the map and take the road's degree. Alternatively, take the degree of a parallel neighbouring building, ask the engineer which line the house will follow, or visit the site.
On a paper map, draw a straight line from the centre toward the side that was measured and write the reading on it. A Shakti chakra with printed degrees is laid so that the measured degree sits on that line, and North then falls into place; with a plain protractor, North is marked by counting the degrees back.
In AutoCAD, draw a closed polyline around the plan to get its geometric centre, place the chakra image there, align its North with the plan and rotate it by the measured tilt.
Each of the 32 devtas of the outer band has its own tree. Planting that tree at the devta's place, on the pishach bhoomi or along the boundary wall, makes the lokpal stable; it connects with cosmic energy and feeds energy to the pishach, manushya, dev and brahm bhoomi.
Pishach bhoomi and boundary wall, at each devta's place
Any land, plot, flat or large project, whatever its carpet area, is divided into four concentric parts: the outer pishach bhoomi (pishach veethi), then the manushya bhoomi, then the dev bhoomi, and the brahm bhoomi at the centre. Each part has its own nature and decides what may be built or kept there.
Whole plot, from the boundary inward to the centre
The outermost band of a plot, the pishach bhoomi, is the seat of the 32 lokpals and bears the noise of the road. It is where the boundary wall and its gate, servant quarters, guards and pets belong, where flags are hoisted and where shilanyas (foundation stone laying) is done.
Outermost band (pishach veethi) of the plot, along the boundary
Nothing valuable or sacred should sit on the pishach bhoomi: never a tijori, court case or other important papers, a child's study table, a bed set directly against the wall, or a deity and home temple. Leaving even a 2 to 3 inch gap from the wall keeps an item off the pishach band.
The band along the walls of every zone, including the North-East
On plots of up to about 1000 sq ft (60 to 90 gaj), simply building the wall on the outer band ends the pishach dosh, because the pishach devtas are content with a little space. On plots of up to about 1500 sq ft, leaving the pishach portion open or walling it also satisfies them.
Outer band of small plots
The manushya bhoomi, the second band inward, takes the main door, windows, kitchen, bedrooms, dining room, puja room and stairs. No shilanyas, boring or pit should be made in it, and above all not at the corners of its transition with the pishach bhoomi, where the shishu pishach and pishacha points lie.
Manushya bhoomi, and the corners where it meets the pishach bhoomi
The dev bhoomi, the third band inward, can take everything the household needs, from the main door, windows and kitchen to bedrooms, dining, puja room and stairs. It is the best place for the puja room, the safe, a study room, a meditation room and all important documents, because this land is covered with divine qualities and makes work succeed.
Dev bhoomi
The brahm bhoomi at the centre suits a courtyard (aangan), tulsi worship, an area open to the sky, a living area and a place for yoga or meditation.
Brahm bhoomi (centre of the plot)
Stairs, the main door, a locker, a pit, boring or dug well, a basement confined to the centre, a store room, a garage or a kitchen must not be built in the Brahmasthan. Each causes serious harm, from illness in the family to quarrels and ruin.
Brahmasthan (the nine central squares) and the brahm bindu (exact centre)
If a regular plot is almost fully used, with only small strips left, zone the complete plot. If a small building stands on a large plot with parking, a garden and open land, zone the constructed area for the house, and also zone the complete area to place the boundary gate, boring, dug well, servant room, security cabin, temple, garden and swimming pool.
Whole plot and constructed area
Into four: the outer pishach bhoomi (pishach veethi), then the manushya bhoomi, the dev bhoomi and, at the centre, the brahm bhoomi. This is not the division into padas; it is the first division of any land, plot or flat.
Zone the complete plot. Almost the whole plot is in use and even the small strips are being used, so the full plot is taken for zoning and for the degree.
By convention the whole world measures tilt from North, saying whether it turns toward East or West, and the compass itself points to North. You could count it from East if you prefer.
Tilt means tedha or tirchha: how far the true North is turned from where it is assumed to be. People who do not know vastu simply say their house is North facing, but a careful degree reading may show that it is turned, say, 5 degrees.
Compare it with the nearest cardinal direction. South is at 180, so 216 minus 180 gives 36 degrees: the South has moved 36 degrees to the left. Do not measure it from West (270), which would give 54 degrees and shift the whole zoning.
Because the degree must never be taken from the centre. A compass placed at the centre only shows roughly whether a room is in the North-East or North-West; the exact tilt comes only when the compass is parallel to a wall. In a regular house, readings taken parallel to the walls are the same everywhere.
Simply line it up. The dial has a North-South line and an East-West line; turn it until one of them lies exactly straight with the mirror line and the axis line. The more precisely it is straight, the more accurate the reading; a crooked setting can read 20 or 30 degrees for the same house.
No. The facing is the side of the main door, opening or road, and using it is only one easy way to read the degree. What matters is to find where North lies; once one direction is known, the rest follow at 90 degree steps.
To the left. The drawn line reads 2.4 and North is at 0, so North lies 2.4 degrees back toward the left.
Google Earth with the ruler works only on a laptop or PC. On a phone you can use a photo editing app instead: take the chakra image in PNG form, ask the client for a photo of the map and overlay the chakra on it, which needs some photo editing skill.
Draw a straight line upward from the centre. With a Shakti chakra, which has degrees printed on it, place it so that 2 falls on that line; North then lies two marks behind automatically. With a plain protractor, place it at the centre, count 2 degrees back and mark that line as North.
Not necessarily. A magnetic compass shows North directly, so its reading can be stated straight away, for example North 30 degrees toward East. Google Earth and the mobile app only show the heading of the line you draw, and North has to be worked out from it; a heading of 2.39 means North lies 2.39 degrees to the left.
Open the location in Google Earth with North set at the top and compare. If the plan looks identical, it is drawn at zero degrees and is zoned without rotating the chakra; about 90 percent of such tilted maps are drawn that way. If in doubt, rotate the map until one straight side is straight and take the tilt from that side.
There is no rule. Drawn the opposite way, the same line reads 180 degrees more, for example 208.9 instead of 28.9; subtracting 180 gives the same answer, so a line can never give a wrong result just because of the direction in which it was drawn.
Copy them and paste them into the Google Earth search bar, which takes you to the place. Then draw a straight line along a wall of the building to get the degree. A degree taken from the centre is wrong; the centre only tells you which direction a room is in.
No. If it has a straight edge on its side, keep that edge parallel to a wall. A liquid compass that is set exactly gives the correct reading, and it may also show the water level.
Ask the engineer who draws the basic plan to show the surrounding roads, straighten the road in your map and take the road's degree. You can also use any parallel neighbouring building, since parallel buildings always read the same, ask the engineer which line the house will follow, or visit the spot.
If the plan came tilted and was not drawn to zero degrees, rotate the paper until one straight side of the plan is exactly straight, checking it against a straight line. Do the full zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back as it was.
Each small line is 2 degrees. If the needle falls three lines after North, the tilt is 6 degrees; five lines after North means 10 degrees.
Google Earth gives the best accuracy. Use whichever method you understand well, the mobile app or Google Earth, and practise drawing the yellow ruler line: if it shows 28 degrees, North lies at 0 behind it and the chakra is turned 28 degrees to the left.