Vaastu Shastra, the ancient Vedic science of construction and architecture is a pre-Feng Shui, traditional Indian practice derived from knowledge dating back some 5,000 years. In Sanskrit, Vaastu means dwelling, Shastra means scientific treatise. Vaastu teaches us how to live in harmony with nature and influence nature for our benefit. The principals of Vaastu inform us on the best places to live in and the best way to live where we dwell.
Raymond Prohs, the author of Mystic Living; The Principals of Vaastu for the 21st Century, practices a tradition called Kaleshwara Vaastu, which is he says, named for “The knowledge and wisdom brought to us through Sri Kaleshwara, an amazing saint who refers to knowledge from ancient palm leaf books that are two to three thousand years old written by amazing divine souls. It’s a sacred science.”
{youtube}MJc9wFTktIs{/youtube}
Grounded in the elements with an impeccable sense of direction, Raymond arrives at my home in a remote canyon near Los Angeles for a consultation. He is decidedly exacting in his assessment.
“There are four fundamentals in Vaastu; height, weight, direction and open space. In the context of the direction are the influences of placement; where you place your homes, where you place your rooms inside your home, where you sleep. Also influenced is where you place your entrances and exits on your property and in your home: your doorways, windows, driveways and garage. Those are all very important to maintain a positive auspicious flow of energy,” he says.
I follow Raymond, his compass in hand as he walks the property taking in my exterior Vaastu, checking the flow of energy. The directional pull of the magnetism and its relationship based on exact location in relationship to true north makes a difference.
“We start outside first to see the energy of the property and how it influences the people who live in the home. Once we check out the positive and negative points we come inside,” he says. “The energy in the southwest is commanding energy. If you’re in a room, in a house or on a property, the southwest has the strongest commanding energy. The energies that come from different directions have their own characteristics. If you’re sitting and having a meeting or conversation you should know where the southwest is and that’s where you should sit. The most receptive energy comes from the northeast.”
My home is the southwest corner of the property, which means that it is the commanding energy on in the property. “All the inhabitants of the property have a great inspiration to listen the person living here and support what he’s doing,” Raymond informs me.
Just outside my door are a hill and a slope that go from the southwest to the northeast. “That’s a perfect Vaastu slope,” he says, “You go to the northeast where the beautiful divine energy comes from; the wisdom and light and abundance. You want as much clear and open space as you possibly can there. You want to protect from the energies that come from the southwest.”
“In a world of duality the material and spiritual work in synchronicity. You can improve your spiritually at the same time as you’re improving your material life. They are not separate, rather enhance each other. Having auspicious entrances where the positive energy comes in and blocking off inauspicious energies is also important.”
Many elements must align to achieve the desired result. Vaastu is fifty percent of your experience; fifty percent of your life. In the creation, maintenance and transformation of our karma and the way we relate to the environment, fifty percent of all the energy that goes into you living your life comes through the influence of the place that you live, most especially where you sleep. Directional strength is very important.
“Within seven days Vaastu influences you tremendously,” he says, “You can make big changes in your life very quickly and in your spirituality. You change your Vaastu, you change your life. That’s a golden statement.” That is Raymond’s credo based in a deep understanding of the tradition.
“In the Vedic tradition people talk about the different gods: Ganesha, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva. It’s possible to say that the way those characters came into our lives through the ancient rishis (seers), the rishis came to have relationships with these gods and goddess, these energies or forces of nature, through two ways. Through shruti and smriti, through observation and through research and development [respectively]. The rishis learned their language, which we call Sanskrit. Through their conversations and through these characters, the Maharajis started to apply this knowledge to the world to see how it actually worked. They found that when they meditated if they sat in the northeast facing the southwest that there was one influence on their meditation. If they sat in the southwest facing the northeast there was a different influence.”
Raymond stops at a small fishpond and poises himself to deliver some bad news.
“Water is here. In the northeast is the ideal placement for water, while this is beautiful, having water which has the characteristic of amplifying energy in the southwest… If the southwest is the commanding energy is, putting water there would amplify that commanding energy. But what it amplifies is not positive in the southwest. According to Vaastu, it can amplify it as much as 1008 times.
In the West most architects don’t build homes with Vaastu in mind. In Victorian times they changed the property to conform to the home they wanted to build, the pool and gardens they wanted to put in. In modern times they build to the shape of the landscape.
Inside my house the Vaastu is not so good. Raymond starts by moving my desk and a large trunk, the objects that make up my home office, to the southwest corner. “You ideally want the majority of the height and weight in the southwest quadrant of the space. This home is all basically one space. This corner influences the whole space.” he says. We increased your commanding energy and inspiration by working in the southwest.”
My desk had been placed in the southeast; the relationship area. Raymond reads my life through my Vaastu with uncanny precision. He is either a genius, has read my diary or knows his practice. He tells me that I’ve been drawing my romantic relationships through my business. “It impacts everything,” he says, “Having your relationships filtered through your work…it’s an important consideration,”
he politely tells me.
Next we adjust my heartfulness and relationship capacity by adjusting the furniture placement southeast where my desk was. “The fire element is here. The passion, the transformation.” he says and tells me to burn candles a lot in that area.
“Fire here is good,” he says about the kitchen in the northeast, “It’s facing east to cook. Either the east or the north to cook is good.” Next is the alcove with a loveseat and television.
He calls it the meditation area. “This is great for meditation and relaxation for peace. I would have that shade up so the dawn light comes in,” he says.
The closet next to the alcove is an ongoing disaster. No matter how much I throw away it’s always cluttered.
“Gluzzy means clutter,” Raymond tells me in a non-judgmental tone. “It’s basically an earth element. The more clutter the less flow of energy; having a flow of energy on really important. To maintain that flow,you want to have as little clutter as possible. In meditation we’re trying to get peace, profundity, infinity and you’ve got a bunch of crap clogging up that area. It’s closed. The energy into that space and into that alcove it’s all gluzzied up.”
He moves a floating wall so my alter is facing in on the alcove. “Now you’re meditations can be more free-flowed,” he says bluntly as I start to remove the stack of books from the adjacent shelves that I don’t want and will never read and throw them away.
“Anyone can do these adjustments. You just need to learn some Vaastu. Learning these practices and principals you can make amazing adjustments in your life in your experience in changing your karma, in transforming your karma. Not just making transitions into new chapters, but really transforming yourself and your life.”
Sam Slovick: What’s your highest aspiration?
Raymond Prohs: To know myself. If we are divine, we should know this from our own experience. It’s cool that other people call us divine souls. It’s beautiful that we have all these teachings that say that we are one with God. We should know it from our own experience.
SS: What’s your biggest challenge?
RP: My own blocks; the energy that I’m holding in me. They have a place in our lives, but not to rule the life. Our jealousy, our anger, our unworthiness, blaming, complaining. I observe it myself and others. It’s the main energy that holds us back and keeps us bound to our karma. That is the nature of creating unnecessary illusions or leelas; unnecessary confusions in our lives. It’s what makes relationships difficult. So we wash them, we change them so those energies don’t have a grip. For example, unworthiness is just divine competence and confidence used badly. So we do spiritual practices to change that.
SS: What’s your saving grace?
RP: Grace is that which fills us with Light. A guru is that which guides/leads us from darkness to Light. It’s saving grace that my guru, Sri Kaleshwar, has taken a physical form in this life. Sri Kaleshwar and the Devine linage of masters. Everything comes from that.
Raymond is a Vaastu practitioner, an Ayurvedic healer, a scared jewelry designer and a devotional songwriter. A devotee of Sri Kaleshwara, he aquired his Vaastu knowledge from his guru in India. After five years in his ashram in the subcontinent he sent Raymond back stateside with a one-way ticket, a hundred dollar bill and a mission. Find out more about Mystic Living, an easily understandable introduction to the intense, sacred science of Vaastu at: mysticliving.org
Sam Slovick is writer and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to LA Yoga Ayurveda and Health magazine and the LA Weekly. samslovick.com
By Sam Slovick
Photos by Luigi Ventura
