What's in a name? Plenty: Bombay was city of prosperity, Mumbai is a land of riots and disorder, says vaastu expert

Dr. Poornachanddra Rao, with a Ph.D. in architecture and honorifics such as 'Vaastu Visharad', 'Vaastu Brahma' and 'Millennium Vaastu Shastri', speaking at the last meeting on 'The Science of Vaastu'

Is the increasing popularity of vaastu shastra a sign of its acceptance as a science, or does it remain confined to the realm of mumbojumbo?

Just what is the role of vaastu in a world increasingly enamoured of Harry Potter, haunted houses, flying broomsticks and so on?

Has the city of Bombay become more prone to riots and disorder after its name changed to Mumbai?

No definitive answers to these and other posers emerged at the last meeting when a senior vaastu expert spoke on "The Science of Vaastu".

Dr. Poornachanddra Rao, who has a Ph.D. in architecture and honorifics such as "Vaastu Visharad", "Vaastu Brahma" and "Millennium Vaastu Shastri" attached to his name, did make a few tantalising revelations about the world of numbers, bamboo plants, water points and other common (mis)conceptions, but at the end left his audience thirsting for more.

Dr. Rao, who has toured the world to study feng shui and to disseminate information on vaastu, started by pointing out that the venue of the meeting, the Taj Mahal Hotel, was a perfect example of a building built according to vaastu.

As per vaastu, there was a sheet of water to the east (the sea is indeed to the east of the Taj) and a garden to the north (such a garden does exist); but, more than anything else, the hotel had roads on all four sides, making it an ideal brahmasthala (abode of God).

The Sanskrit word vaastu, he said, meant (the place) where one resided. It had five basic elements, viz., agni (fire), water, air, earth and ether. These elements were also seen in the human body.

For example, the food one consumed was fuel (or agni); a very large proportion of the body consisted of air and water; and the entire body itself was made of earth - which was the reason why, after death, it was buried or burnt so that it went back to the earth.

As for ether, it was believed that it was the unknown energy in the heart, also called atma (soul?). The atma was akin to a body's sky (just as a ceiling was the "sky" to a building and the wide, blue sky to the earth). If the atma stopped working, the body would have to be burned or buried.

Similarly, Dr. Rao said, all five basic principles were taken care of by vaastu shastra, for example, the location of the kitchen, the bedroom, the master bedroom, the water point and so on.

A question often asked was, when all humans were ruled by karma, where was the need to follow this type of science? It was a valid question, but then did one not open an umbrella when it rained? Why didn.t one just accept rain (and the body getting drenched) also as mere karma?

Expanding the point, Dr. Rao noted that India had the Himalayas to the north and deep seas to the south (the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean). Thus, according to shastra, India did not have good vaastu principles. On the other hand, the Himalayas were to the south of China - and China was flourishing.

"Why is China flourishing and why is there a tussle everywhere in India, whether in political parties, in homes, families, everywhere? This is because for India the north is heavy and the south is low. These two should have been interchanged. That's why these two are favourable to China. And China is progressing.

"In 1950, we were together; we had the same problems; we were friends since the time of Huen-Tseng. But after 1980, China has been progressing faster than us because of the continental situation; they have a lot of positive energy. positive energies are missing for us.

"We have to take care (of things, like we take care) of our building by having four wide compound walls, or roads, or water on the east side and a garden to the north. We'll be better off and neighbours won't trouble us."

Spell 'Mumbai' as 'Mumboi' and then see the difference - it will lead to happiness all around, claims Dr. Poornachanddra Rao

Pradeep Saxena checks his notes as Premnath and Dr. Poornachanddra Rao (right) bide their time. Dr. Rao was the guest speaker at the last meeting and spoke on 'The Science of Vaastu'. Pradeep introduced him, while Premnath proposed the vote of thanks

But what happened where there was no compound wall? For instance, many shopping complexes; how would they flourish?

Dr. Rao said these were constructed on south-north roads, or with roads to the east and to the west, thus ensuring that they flourished and did well.

Similarly, towers had common parking areas resting on pillars. In their case, earth was "released" from the negative magnetic energy; besides, the first floor became the ground floor. Thus the residents were happy, whether it was a 17-storey or a 100-storey building; all negative energy was located on the ground and also released on the ground.

Bombay itself was an island with water circulating around it. Likewise, Singapore and London were islands. And it was accepted that wherever rivers or a water flow encircled a body of earth, there was a lot of progress.

That was not the case in a country like Pakistan which had water only on its south-west side, where Karachi port was located and the rivers Ravi, Beas and Sutlej flowed.

Even though Pakistan was "born" a day earlier than India (on August 14, 1947), there was no stability there. Democracy had not flourished and hundreds of people were killed as dictators ruled the roast. Even now, the country was being pressed to conduct elections and join the mainstream; the Commonwealth had removed Pakistan from its fold. In India, despite all the negative energy, democracy was flourishing.

Dr. Rao said this was because of the principle of panchamahabhuta. Taking recourse to numerology at this stage, he said fortunes rotated 12 times; India was now in its 60th year and a country, like every human, had 120 years of life according to astrology. At 60, India had completed 50% of 120 years and a lot of changes were visible in the 60th year.

Just ten years back, in 1997, India was not doing well. If the first 50 years from 1947 to 1997 were put on one side of a weighing scale and the ten years from 1997 to 2007 on the other, it was clear that India had grown very fast in the ten years since 1997.

During the first 50 years, Jawaharlal Nehru had ruled. and Indira Gandhi ruled for 16 years. But, Dr. Rao said, when Nehru took the oath of office at midnight on August 15, 1947, there was a period of kalsarpadosha. Therefore, for 50 long years the country did not prosper and the people suffered.

Singapore became independent about 40 years ago, but today its currency was 20 times that of India. Even Dubai became free in the 1990's and its dirham was 11 times stronger. But India continued to struggle with its population of 120 to 130 crores. Was India's plight due to its rulers or due to some other factor?

It was all due to the stars, asserted Dr. Rao, who next touched on the auspiciousness or otherwise of the time of birth; the significance of the nakshatras (the 27 stars in the zodiac) at the time of a person.s birth; how Indians were able to communicate only in English; the numerology of 26 letters in English and 56 in Sanskrit, Marathi, Kannada and Devnagari; and so on.

Staying with the English language, he said "Congress" had 8 letters and 8 was written in an "up and down" manner, which meant that it would rule for five years and not be seen or remain invisible for five years. Indira Gandhi had ruled for 16 long years, but during her time the party was called Congress (I), thus altering its numerology.

Similarly, the Kamaraj Congress, the Sharad Pawar Congress, the Trinamool Congress, instead of just using the word Congress, had added a letter and managed to survive. Thus, "everything is covered by numbers, some unknown energy which is all-pervading on all of us".

Dr. Rao said vaastu principles were not difficult to understand. Most architects knew them and sometimes even took his help and that of other vaastu experts.

The main thing to remember was that the fire element had to be on the south-east corner; the water element on the north-east; air on the northwest; and earth on the south-west. These, respectively, meant agni, jal, vaayu and prithvi.

Simply put, he said, it would help to remember that the east was ruled by Indra, the west by Varuna, the south by yama and north by kubera.

"They are not such awful guys. If you extol them, they keep quiet. Whereas the five basic elements are very powerful, so we must take care of them in our apartments, in our houses, in our bungalows and in our areas."

Winding up his take on vaastu, Dr. Rao noted that there were four types of vaastu: (1) Kshetra or field vaastu, pertaining to gardens; (2) Devalaya or temple vaastu; (3) Graham or home vaastu; and (4) Moorti vaastu.

In the case of the last-named, several details were predetermined, for example, the length of a Ganesha idol's trunk, ears, tusk and so on. "Everything is prewritten, only then do they manufacture an idol of Ganesha - and it looks beautiful to you."

Turning to China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and other eastern countries, Dr. Rao said most houses were constructed by the government. Buildings were prefabricated and residents allotted apartments in which they could not make any changes.

So they opted for feng shui (feng meant wind and shui meant water). By taking care of wind and water, and with the help of wind chimes, mirrors and plants, the people ensured that their homes became happy homes.

Feng shui also involved various "cures" like keeping a statue on the south-west corner; a mirror on the north side to help career growth; or a pendulum wall clock to help the resident make progress in his/her career.

Finally, Dr. Rao came down to specifics. He noted that President Dr. Rumi Jehangir.s birth date was October 17, 1944. This made him a good humanitarian, with a desire to do good for others even if he himself was not in a position to do so. Besides, he was a surgeon, as ordained by his date of birth.

As for the year 1944, it was the same in which Rajiv Gandhi was born. Rajiv, too, had achieved name and fame. In fact, all those born in "alliterative" years such as 1922, 1933, 1944, 1955, 1966 and so on, were destined to do well, earning fame and popularity and remaining comfortable financially.

In another surprising take, Dr. Rao pointed out that so long as it was called Bombay, there was no problem in the city and there was a lot of money here.

"But once you started calling it Mumbai, a lot of danga-fasaad (riots and disorder) started. Why did this happen? It happened because of the spelling of Mumbai which gives the number 18 instead of 17; the number 18 has shani and surya which don't get on well. That's why I prefer to spell it as Mumboi, so that it becomes 24 and there is happiness all round.

"Similarly, Gujarat. If you spell it as Gujrat (without an 'a' after 'j') then there will be no problem. If you write it in your language, then there is no problem, but in English... That is why Kashmir is suffering, so are Amritsar and Srinagar. Myanmar and Sri Lanka, by changing their names, have landed in all sorts of trouble."

Finally, he had a word of caution. "Don't change the name of your Club from Rotary Club of Bombay to Rotary Club of Mumbai. Mumbai is danga-fasaad," he concluded.3

Answering questions, Dr. Rao said in any house, ideally, the kitchen should be in the south-east corner; water in the north-east; bedrooms and children.s bedrooms in the north-west; and the master bedroom in the southwest.

The hall would have to be in the centre, with all the rooms interconnected in the hall and dining area. As for the stairs to go up, these could be located on the north or the south, from the hall. And the main entrance could be on the north or north-east side, according to the road situation.

If it was not possible to take all these steps, given that one lived in a flat, then, according to feng shui, it was best to keep a bamboo plant on the south-east corner; a small pendulum wall clock on the north (in the hall, not in the bedroom); and so on. With these and other steps, career and professional growth could be ensured.

Dr. Rao said he had read an interesting book by an American who claimed that when her husband was about to retire from San Francisco University, she had wished that he should become a life-long professor. So she wrote a chit and kept it under a Buddha statue in her knick-knack almirah located on the north-west side.

'He changed the water point in his plant and started manufacturing 10,000 fans a month'

Within 15 days came a letter came from the University appointing her husband as a life-long professor. Thus her wishes were fulfilled with the help of the north-west effect.

On further research he had concluded that feng shui was the same as vaastu, with one difference, viz., while vaastu dealt with exteriors, feng shui dealt with interiors.

A difficult poser to Dr. Rao came in this shape: "Where does the credit to an individual lie as far as hard work, integrity and devotion is concerned?" (since everything was preordained).

He replied by pointing out that there were three types of luck. The first was that which came at birth by way of reparation for good deeds (like charity) done in previous births.

"If you have done charity then, then you will get land here, you will get children, a good husband/wife. But if you have not done charity (in previous lives), you will remain poor. This goes on in a cycle up to 72 lives. But past life gives only 30 marks.

"Hard work also gives you 30 marks. What about the remaining 40 marks? Forty marks come from your abode, where you reside, where you keep your bedroom, your other things, that gives you 40%... That is your home luck; that.s why we say 'happy home'.

"The word home contains Om. We have taken birth from a mother's womb and womb contains Om. Home also contains a dome; and when we bury, there is also a dome, a tomb, which also has an Om. So Om is already haunting us. Om has 1,001 meanings."

Dr. Rao narrated the story of a fan manufacturer in Hyderabad who worked very hard and manufactured 10,000 fans a year. After the water point in his plant was changed, he started manufacturing 10,000 fans a month. What was the hard work that he had done to make this massive change? All that he had done was to follow the principles (of vaastu) put before him.

When Laxman drew a yellow line and it came to be called the Laxman Rekha, it ensured that Ravan could not cross the line, but Sita could do so. That was how Ravan managed to draw Sita out and kidnap her.

"All these things go to prove that the old testaments are there; we only have to apply them to our day-to-day life. If we apply them, we will get 100 marks, if we don't, we'll get 60 or 30 marks, so you can choose..."

Referring to scepticism about vaastu, Dr. Rao referred to a Supreme Court ruling on a writ which sought to ban vaastu shastra and its study. The Court had declared that vaastu was also a science; if somebody wanted to read it, he should be allowed to do so. Why ban it?

Finally, Dr. Rao pointed out that politics was described as a science (its study was called political science). But did a third party emerge if the BJP and Congress parties got together. No. But if hydrogen and oxygen were mixed, water was formed. "If you do all these things (as suggested in vaastu) you will get happiness. That is science. Science is doable. We are doing it."

Pradeep Saxena introduced the guest speaker and Premnath proposed the vote of thanks.

Top