A plot or factory map is divided into pishach, manushya, dev and brahma bhoomi. An important machine started on pishach bhoomi never runs properly, while shifting it slightly onto manushya bhoomi makes it work.
Every plot is divided into pads (sections) according to its use: 81 pads for a residence, 64 pads for a temple or religious place, and a separate layout for a town. Directions are further divided into 16 and 32 parts, down to 11.25 degrees, on which the 45 Vastu devtas are marked.
Every house, however small, carries the Vastu Purush's eyes, nose, ears, hands, feet, heart, navel and other parts, including the marma and ati-marma (vital) points. A column, pit or stud on these points harms the occupants, just as a speck of dust in the eye or an injury to a vital organ harms the body.
Marma and ati-marma points of the Vastu Purush on the plan
During the battle with Andhakasur a drop of sweat fell to the earth and produced a being whose rampage made the earth shake. Brahma had him lie face down and promised that he would be worshipped with offerings and that not an inch of land would be built on without remembering him.
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
Pad vinyas divides a plot into equal squares (padas) occupied by the vastu devtas, and the number of padas depends on what is being built: 49 for reconstruction, 64 for towns and certain temples, 81 for houses and cowsheds, 100 for all temples, and up to 1000 for a fort.
In the 81 pad grid the exact cardinal points fall on the fifth pad of each side: North on Soma (N5), East on Surya (E5), South on Yama (S5) and West on Varun (W5). In the 64 pad temple grid they fall between the fourth and fifth padas, so using it for a house shifts every door position.
The 81 pad grid, used for any house, factory, business or office, has 32 devtas (the 32 digpal) seated around its outer ring in the pishach bhoomi. One round covers 360 degrees, so each outer pad covers 360 divided by 32, that is 11.25 degrees, and half a pad 5.625 degrees.
The colours shown for each zone on the shakti chakra are the colours of its devtas, not of the element, and are not meant for painting; the air element of the North-West has both green and blue as its colours.
Both grids hold the same 45 vastu devtas, but the 81-pada mandala is used for homes and business premises while the 64-pada mandala is used for temples, villages, palaces (raj mandir), towns and city gates.
Homes and businesses (81 pada); temples, villages, palaces, towns and city gates (64 pada)
When only part of a plot is built and land is left open around it, the 45 devtas are allocated on the whole plot from its centre. The open land becomes a large pishach bhoomi where the 32 outer devtas spread out happily, and the inner devtas get cross ventilation from all sides.
During Shiva's battle with Andhakasura a drop of his sweat produced a starving mahabhoot; devas and asuras laid him face down and 45 devtas sat on him, creating 45 places with separate functions on every plot. Brahma made him his manas putra and promised that whoever occupies land would remember and feed him.
The biggest pooja, havan and sthapana of the 45 devtas should be done at garbh vinyas or shilanyas, while the devtas are on open ground and can receive their samagri at their own pads; the building is then raised over them.
A doctor's chamber is the best use of the Parjanya pad, and a conference room, a bedroom for peace and deep sleep, or a bath (yog snan) also suit it. A toilet or a main door here causes delays and female dominance.
Drawing room, office, puja room, conference room, underground water tank, borewell and a bedroom for elders suit the Shikhi pad. A main door, kitchen or toilet here harms the residents.
A home cannot keep all 45 devta pads empty. Wooden furniture placed on any devta's pad, even on its most vital point (ati marma), is not considered a dosh; the vedic rule is to protect the ashtamansh, the sensitive one-eighth part of the pad.
For a new building the boundary gate is placed using the grid of the whole plot, while the main door and the devta pads of the house are marked on the grid of the constructed area, for example at E3 or E4.
Some texts use a word read as maans (meat) in devta offerings, but Vishwakarma Prakash clearly states that maash means black urad dal, made into a pithi (paste), not meat.
Like the full aspect of Jupiter in a kundli, a devta casts its full drishti on the devta opposite it (for example Surya on Varun) and keeps it balanced; if one devta cannot be treated, balance the one whose full drishti falls on it.
E3 suits the main door, a library, a planning or meeting room, an office, a child's study and even a bedroom; a kitchen works only for an early breakfast, and a toilet cuts social and government support.
E4 suits an administration chamber, office, main door, drawing room, study and bedroom and gives both wealth and peace; a toilet here brings defamation, loss of wealth and disease.
E5 is the ideal zone for a bathroom and suits administration, a manager's chamber, a locker, planning, meeting and conference rooms and a good office; a door here brings anger and a toilet brings disgrace.
Vastu devta pooja bears fruit only when done by someone who represents Brahmin qualities by conduct rather than birth: vegetarian, of good character and pure in mind and feeling.
On the exact diagonal where the head of Shikhi devta falls in the NE, no underground water tank or pit should be dug. Vedic vastu marks these Shishu Pishach points, where neither the shilanyas pit nor any water pit is made.
Diagonal points of the plot, especially in the North-East
Interior vastu grids every room from its own centre, in addition to the house grid, and places items by the room's own zones; in a kitchen the deciding point is where the fire burns.
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
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
In which direction should the ghat diya method be done?
Do not think of it as a lamp burning for 24 hours in the Agneya (South-East). Use a small diya and place it in the Ishaan (North-East), because the devtas seated in the Ishaan, such as Shikhi, help a great deal.
What should be done if the shilanyas (foundation stone) has been laid in the wrong direction?
Fix a fresh auspicious muhurta for shilanyas, dissolve (khandit) the earlier one, and perform it again in the new muhurta. It is dissolved the way an installed kalash is removed: by addressing the devtas who supported the earlier shilanyas with a request about it.
A pad is one of the equal sections into which a plot is divided. For 81 pad vastu a house, for example 90 by 90 ft, is divided into 9 by 9 equal sections and each section is one pad; the larger grids, such as the 1000 pad grid, divide the plot into many more equal sections. Some areas such as the Brahmasthan cover several padas together even if the drawing does not show their inner divisions.
In 81 pad vastu, which devtas fall in the North and North-East zones?
Exact North falls on Soma (N5), with Bhallat at N4. The North zone is made of half of Bhallat (5.625 degrees), the full Soma (11.25 degrees) and half of Bhujang (5.625 degrees); North falling between Bhallat and Soma belongs to the 64 pad grid. The North-East zone is half of Diti (5.625 degrees), the full Shikhi (11.25 degrees) and half of Parjanya (5.625 degrees).
I learned elsewhere that in 81 pad vastu the East falls between E4 and E5. Is that right?
No. In 81 pad vastu exact East falls on E5 (Surya); East between E4 and E5 belongs to the 64 pad grid, so correct it. The reference is in Vishwakarma Prakash, with the page number given in the previous class; the Hindi translation from Sanskrit by Krishna Kumar Jugnu of Udaipur and the edition of Maharshi Abhay Katyayan give the same.
The North-West was given green as its colour, but the shakti chakra shows it in blue. Why?
The colour on the chakra is the colour of the devta of that zone, not of the element; the North devtas are shown in red, for example, which is not a colour to paint there. The air element has both green and blue as its colours.
How are the 64 pad grid and the padas of each devta worked out?
Every pad grid divides the plot into equal sections, for example 81 equal sections for the 81 pad grid; the number of padas each devta occupies is then assigned within that grid. Drawing the devtas by hand will be taught practically in the 81 pad class.
Is there any length to width criterion for the centre, for example in a 250 x 50 feet plot?
There is no criterion for finding the centre; the centre is always the centre. The proportion matters for the plot itself: up to 1:1.5 is good (30 x 45 feet is ideal), up to 1:2 (30 x 60) is neither good nor bad, and longer than that is not good, with more loss the longer it gets. In such long plots many devtas fall outside or get cut, and they need treatment.
Is there any AutoCAD software for marking the marma points?
No special software is needed. Draw the chakra and devta lines once in AutoCAD as short reference lines; for every new map just align them and join the lines, which takes about a minute.
If bhoomi vibhajan is not done in a flat, is devta marking still done, given that the 32 devtas lie in the Pishach bhoomi?
Yes. Devta marking is done in a flat exactly as usual, also to judge the main door location. What does not apply is the rule of leaving the Pishach bhoomi empty: inside a flat the corners and side spaces can be used.