Vasthu

Vasthu for Home

Vasthu are aesthetic principles laid down in the Sastharas , but based on scientific and Environmental principles.

Vasthu Sasthra or Indian version of Feng-Shui  can lead to harmony in Home and Ease of living. Please not that not all these can be scored off in any house and no direction per se is good or bad. Because of the orbit of the Sun from East to west these factors are given to position the house favourably in the gravitational orbit.

Drawing Room Entrance/ Main Entrance

The main entrance of the House is usually through the Drawing room. When Locating the entrance ensure there is more space towards the right. The Direction of the main entrance is significant, as a door to prosperity as well as adversities.

1. North or east entrance- Bestows health,wealth,prosperity and fame.

2. South, North-east or south-east entrance- Indicates success but through hard work.

3, West Entrance- Ideal for scholars as it has a calming and quitening influence.

4. North-west entrance- Indicates development in all spheres.

5. South-west entrance- Considered inauspicious. Its negative influence can be countered by shifting the entrance towards east.

Vastu Guidelines for Bedroom

Let us also explore the basic Vastu guidelines that have to be followed, in case of the bedroom:-

1.       Vaastu Shastra does not recommend a bedroom in the South East under any circumstances. It is best to shift from this room to any other room in the South West, South, West or North West. In case there is no choice, keep the bed away from the southeast corner or you will be sleeping on too much fire. Sleep in this room with your head towards the South and feet towards the North to ward off the ill-effects.

2.       2. According to Vaastu Shastra, mirrors should not be located inside the bedroom as this leads to frequent misunderstandings and quarrels between couples. However, if essential, place them preferably along the North East wall.

3.       6. It is best to sleep with the head towards the South or East direction of the bedroom. The South brings a good deep sleep and ensures long life, while the East brings enlightenment. There should be no window behind you, while sleeping

Dining Room

Sitting Arrangement

1. The head of the family must always face east while eating.

2. The rest of the members can face north, east, or west.

3. Avoid the Southern direction

4. Keep the number of dining chairs even to avoid dispute within the family members.

Vasthu for Kitchen

Kitchen is the most effected area of house from where all kind of energies prevails while an expert Vastu consultant would surely identify about the adverse situation of house if kitchen is placed incorrectly. This important part of house must be placed on its corresponding place i.e. South-east governed by element Fire. Kitchen being the important part of home is the primary contributing factor in the general health and well-being of occupants.

Some essential things need to be considered in Vastu of kitchen, read out related Vastu tip for kicthen:

Element Fire governs in the direction South-east, so this portion of house ideal for locating kitchen. However, if choosing alternative then North-west part could be taken for constructing kitchen but avoid making kitchen in any other direction.

Kitchens in north quadrant tend to affect health female members.

Place water sink in the North-east with the maximum distance from cooking gas.

Larger windows in the kitchen should be in Eastern side while small ventilators should be placed in South.

Provision for water storage and taps should be made in North-east of the kitchen.

Avoid placing dining table in the centre of the kitchen instead locate it in the North-west direction.

The sink should be in the Northeast corner of the kitchen.

Electric equipment like microwave, oven or refrigerator should be placed in South-west.

The slope of the water flow should be from Southwest towards Northeast.

The cylinder should be placed in the Southeast corner.

The Geyser should be installed on the Southeast side.

The storage for all the food grains, utensils, the over head almirah should always be on the Southern and the western walls and not on the Northern and the Eastern walls.

A dishwasher can be placed in the north west of the kitchen.

The exhaust fan should be installed either in the Northwest corner or the South wall.

There should be no toilets and bathrooms adjoining, and above or below the kitchen.

The door of the kitchen should never face the door of the toilet.

There are more related to Color and Decorations but in this blog I have considered only the key elements which are Fixed in nature and needs to be considered before building or Moving in.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Mixed Bag Of Cookies- Sixty years of tossing and turning!!

My Birthday Falling today on 31 January 2018 truly represents my life Pattern. Unique in all ways, truly a mixed Bag of cookies. Some Salty, Some Sweet, Some Bitter Chocolate, Some caramelized. But I truly cherish all those moments.

Today's Birthday falls on a full moon day and a Blue Moon at that , and followed by a Total Lunar Eclipse, for devout Hindus another auspicious day as it is Thai Poosam dedicated to Lord Muruga. You see the pattern, Auspiciousness blossoming to a full rare Blue Moon eclipsed by its shadowy counterpart only to be released to its fullness again. There goes my Life story. Extreme activity like Cycling 360 Kms to Bangalore at one time and sitting on hard flour for Five hours at a stretch at another. To strike the balance was the issue! This is where the Guru came in to rock the boat only to direct it the Right way.

Been fortunate to have a good family, Select Friends who are Friends till date! Inspite of my Vagaries of extremity at times. A Spiritual Guru who pointed out the right Source of Happiness at an Age when the Shimmering Tinsel world was trying to taunt me into its tentacle , and there He was standing like a Rock beside me.

So my Adolescent Age and Teenage and Middle Age was spent on the hard floors of Ashrams and temple hopping when my friends were Pub Hopping. When my Audit seniors would line up for New Cinema Release I would sneak in to Vivekannada Rock Memorial only to spend Three Nights consecutively secluded on the Rock.

True Finding is, Life has come a full cycle. The vanity of the austerities have fallen off, only to find that irrespective of what You think you are doing, God finds you! You do not contribute anything in Finding Him. It is His Grace alone which matters. I have childhood friends who were Atheists and who ridiculed me in my pursuits turning to hard core Spiritualists now. I know of Friends being Communists in College build Temples or Joined Ashrams.

So Past does not count, Future does not exist, It is the NOW which is ever present. Little wiser now, I take care of my present. Do what I want to do. Do not bother myself about absurd rigidities imposed by the Social Norms or get dictated by Religious doctrines. It is more like a Free format drive. Flow with the current Only dictated by the Conscience, nothing else. Life becomes much easier that way and more awareness of the present sets in.

The rush to accumulate Things is gone, it is more like releasing what I have. Less Luggage More comfort- a slogan I have seen on Railway coaches takes on a new twist and winks at me!
At the same time forced simplicity like Diogenes has lost its charm and I do not find using a Luxury item a Tax anymore. Everything has its time and Place. What is there now is gone the next moment. So attaching undue importance to people, place or things only creates misery.

Children have this habit, always comparing things. They can ask for hours question like If Tiger and Hippo fights who will win? If you answer next question will be ready If Superman and Spider man fights who will win? The list is endless. Now do not laugh!! As adults nothing much has changed. Only to be replaced with Who is Bigger? My God or your God? My Guru or Your Guru? So where is the progress? Zilch. I hope coming years will be productive in evolution and just patiently waiting for the next toss or turn!!

So here I am breaking my own promise of posting on Silence posting my Little mind's prattle.

See you at another time!

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Benefits of Silence

Q: Could tell us about the benefits of silence and how we could bring that home with us from this retreat?

A:Many of us have realized in the last few days that silence can be enjoyable. We realize that there are many things that we do not have to say, and that then we can reserve the time and energy to do other things that can help us to look more deeply into ourselves and things around us.

If you are pushed by your habit energy to say something, don't say it. Instead, take a notebook and write it down. A day or two later, read what you wrote, and you might find out that it would have been an awful thing to say. So slowly you become master of yourself, and you know what to say and what not to say.

I remember one time I proposed to a sister that she practice silence. She was an elder nun and she had a few negative seeds in her that prevented her from being happy. She was just a little bit too hard on the other sisters. I proposed to her that she was a very talented person, very skillful in many things, and she could make many people happy if only she knew how to be silent and to say only things that needed to be said.

I proposed to her that she use only three sentences for three months. She could repeat these three sentences as many times as she wanted(laughter) and I told her that if she practiced that for a week, she would feel happiness right away. The first sentence was, "Dear sister,is there anything I can do to help you?" (laughter) The second sentence was, "Did you like what I did to help you?" The third was, "Would you have any suggestion that I can do it better?" (laughter) If she could say that, she would make many people happy and the happiness would go back to herself very quickly.

In the family we can practice silence. We can ask the other members of the family to agree that we will practice silence for three days or for a week. It is very beneficial. There will be a transformation after the period of practicing silence.

Thich Naht Hanh

Miracles and cure

Excerpt from “Baba is God”- H.E.J.R.Jayawardene- Former President SriLanka.

As President of Sri Lanka, I had invited Baba on several occasions to visit Sri Lanka as a guest of Government and People. Though He was keen to visit us, He did not find an opportunity of doing so. However, in April this year, 1990, I visited Bangalore and had two audiences with Him on Thursday and 19th April and Saturday the 21st April. He spoke quite freely to me and to many others from Sri Lanka who meets Him with me.

His advice was always based on the teachings of the religious teachers, namely the Hindu Avatars, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed.
He answered our questions dealing with public matters as well as private ones quite freely and in the contest of the same noble principles He always advocated. We were all deeply impressed by His presence and advice.
I remember several extra-ordinary healings narrated to me directly by persons who experienced them, of whose friends had experienced them.


I will mention one of them, which I heard directly from a reputed and highly qualified surgeon. A patient who needed surgical treatment to remove a portion of his intestines, which were subject to cancer, had seen him. He did not have the operation performed. He had gone away.


Ten years later, the same person whom the Doctor did not recognize, had consulted him again. This time he needed an immediate operation for a prostrate problem.


When they were preparing for an immediate operation, the patient asked him, “Dr; do you know who I am? “ When the Doctor replied “No! “He introduced himself as the patient who had seen him about 10 years ago for the operation mentioned above.


The Doctor was surprised that he was alive today without having the earlier operation.. The patient said, Dr, soon after I left you I paid my respects personally to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. His miraculous cure helped me to live without an operation. Baba further advised me that 10 years from that date, you would need an operation for a prostrate problem and then to see the same Doctor and not to delay the operation. That is why I immediately consented to being operated by you.


This doctor, who is not a Hindu and not a devotee, narrated this story to me when he heard that I had visited His Holiness in Bangalore.


I accept Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as a Purna Avatar. His presence in this world enables Him to advise with His words of wisdom and love those who live in it.


Swami Says - The nature of divine can be understood only when the divine in human form teaches as man to man, the nature of this love.


Jai Sai Ram 

Wedding Gift

Bhagavan's Wedding Gift for a Student's Sister

I am also happy to let you know that Bhagavan did two important miracles that day. Having come out of the interview room, suddenly, He called one boy. Then, He just looked at him and took the wedding card he had for his sister.

The boy said, "Swami, this is my sister's wedding card."

"OK," He said and told the boy to go and sit.

The boy went and sat in the tenth or fifteenth row, which was his seat that day. At the end of arati, he finds there in another cover, the Mangalasutra, the sacred knot or the golden chain, which is given to the bride on the wedding day. The boy was thrilled and he told me. I was very excited to hear this. I have been sharing this with as many groups as possible because you must have understood my temperament. I cannot be at peace unless I share whatever I know with everybody. Yes, it is the greatest delight!

Another Vibhuthi Wonder

I can also share with you another miracle. There is a district by the name Khammam about a fifteen hours drive from here. There is a very small village close to Khammam by the name Chilukuru. Our seva dals went there and started doing some service. They noticed a Hanuman temple there, which was dilapidated and neglected. There was no priest, no daily worship, nothing whatsoever. So, the seva dals cleaned the whole premises; they whitewashed the whole temple. While they were there, they kept Baba's picture.

From Bhagavan's picture, vibhuthi started flowing continuously. Those seva dals were immensely happy for the kindness of Bhagavan, approving and accepting their service to Hanuman. In doing this, Swami was establishing that He and Hanuman are one and the same.

The seva dals also did bhajans there in the temple premises. They saw Baba's face in the photo, full red in colour. Normally, Hanuman's face is smeared with the red colour (vermillion), as most of us must have seen. They noticed the same thing on Baba's face. I also wanted to share this had happened.

From: Anil Kumar Satsang, "Sai Pearls of Wisdom"

Going Bananas

At the rate of Dhs 12/- a dozen, death is being sold now-a-days in our markets.My request for everybody is to be vigilant. Friends, we all love bananas and we eat a lot of them, but the bananas available in the market are forced ripe by dipping in water mixed with Carbide.The consumption of these bananas is 100% sure to cause Cancer or some other infection in the stomach. Therefore, such type of bananas are to be avoided.

But, how does one recognize the bananas ripened with the help of Carbide?  Bananas which are ripened naturally are dark yellow and there are small black spots here and there on the bananas and the stalks are black.While those which are forced ripe with Carbide are lemon yellow and their stalks are green and more over they are clear yellow without any black spots.

Now, what is Carbide and how is it harmful?  Carbide is a chemical which if mixed with water, emits heat and the heat emitted by a Close tank mixed with Carbide is even more than that emitted by a LPG Cylinder, so much so it can be used for Gas Cutting (which means the calorific value is so high that it can replace LPG gas).

 In the same way, when the bunch of bananas are dipped in the water mixed with Carbide, the gas gets absorbed into the bananas and they get ripe.  However, the banana vendors are not that literate and so they do not know the exact proportion of Carbide to be used for a dozen of bananas.  As a result they end up using excess quantity of Carbide which gets absorbed into the bananas and ultimately enters our stomach.  Due to this excess use of Carbide, Tumours can be formed in our digestive system.So, next time you purchase bananas, make sure you select the naturally ripened ones. 

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Your Duck is dead!!

  A woman brought a very limp duck into a  veterinary surgeon. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away." The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet.

 "How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

 The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left  the room. He returned a few minutes later with a  black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs,  put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at  the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it  out of the room. 

A few minutes later he returned  with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also  delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat  back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly  and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm  sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100%  certifiably, a dead duck." The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a  few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the  woman..

 The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill.  "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is  dead!".  The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just  taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20, but  with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."


Krishnamachari Santhanam