Ancient practices like Vastu and Feng Shui draw both curiosity and conjecture. While choosing a home, alongside architects and interior designers, consultants who are purportedly experts in such practices are highly sought after. Many wonder if these practices are rooted in science, or simply fueled by fear and superstition. Sadhguru shares his wisdom – shedding light on the truth of their origin as well as the reason behind their appeal.
Sadhguru: “What you’re referring to as Vastu is purely an ancient architectural guidance. Suppose, let’s say a thousand years ago you wanted to build a house, building a wall was never a problem. Architecturally, the roof is the challenge. Now, because we have steel, cement, concrete, and other rigid substances, we have so much freedom that we can put the roof any way we want. For structure and for architecture, there are thumb rules. So what you call as Vastu is just a thumb rule. And this thumb rule changes from place to place. In hilly areas there’s a different Vastu, in low-lying areas a different one, and in coastal areas another one. According to that particular weather and atmosphere, they created a certain type of architectural guidance.”
Sadhguru: “In the last few years, somebody decided to make a big business out of it. In the last 10 years, it has taken on ridiculous proportions. It is fixing your health, fixing your business, taking you to the moon! It is doing everything. All kinds of ridiculous things are happening. People started demolishing their homes, building bathrooms where kitchens were, sleeping in their kitchens. Fundamentally, fear is ruling people. That’s why all these things have become so dominant.”
Sadhguru: “See, the problem is what you can do, you do not do; what is not in your hands, you try to fix. That’s the whole problem with life. Why can’t you live in any damn house and make your life good? If you take responsibility for yourself to create your life the way you want it, you can live in any place and still make it good.”
Sadhguru: “I have met so many people who have gone through all kinds of ridiculous things. Please live with some dignity. How long you live, what you do; that’s not important. You live well as long as you live; that’s important, isn’t it? Living in fear – what’s the point? Instead of handling our lives properly, we are hoping the shape of a window is going to fix our life. I went to one house. This lady I know very well. It’s a big house with a garden. One afternoon I went for lunch and found in the garden there was a huge casuarina pole standing, concreted and fixed. I asked the lady, “What happened? Why is this column standing here?”
Sadhguru: “She hesitated. What happened was one of her friends recommended a Vastu guy. The Vastu man came to her house, walked up and down, and said, “See, the northwestern corner should be lower than the southwestern corner. Yours is reversed. If I look at this, by all calculations, you have two children – one of them will die.” She said, “Nonsense, I don’t like all this. You go.” He said, “It’s up to you,” and he gave his card and left. He knows how it’ll work. She dismissed it, but three days later, she looked at her children – if they sneezed, she thought one of them was going to die. She just went crazy in two weeks’ time. Then she called the Vastu man. “Okay, what should I do?” He said, “I can fix it. Let me see.” He came with a huge long pole, planted it in the southwestern corner, and showed her how that corner had become taller than the northwestern corner. And the children are very well now (chuckles).”
Sadhguru: “Once you’re in fear, everything is real. Everything gets magnified. Please, there is a certain sense to build a house, of course, certain amounts of opening and convenience have to be there. This is something any intelligent human being can create. It doesn’t need any scriptural guidance to build a house.”
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