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Apartments and Vastu Shastra

By Kshitij Sharma, September 17, 2006

When I started looking for a house to purchase in Bangalore, my only intention was to purchase it for myself for living in and not for investment reasons. Initially I had thought of looking for a plot of land and constructing a house there. I had thought that I would take part in each and every aspect of planning, design and construction – but slowly I realized that I had none of the three things required for undertaking such a project – time, energy or patience. I then decided to do what most Bangaloreans are doing – purchase a flat in one of the up and coming areas of Bangalore. And like most Bangaloreans, I paid a lot of attention to Vastu.

While making a decision to purchase any property, it has become necessary for both the builder and purchaser to consider Vastu. For the builder because he/she has to sell the property for the first time and for the purchaser because he/she would like to live in the apartment without getting spooked if someone mentions that the house is not Vastu compliant and because they would like to have an option to sell it sometime in the future.

This article is not about Vastu Shastra and why I think it is relevant in our times. That is not a topic of discussion. I will also not try to explain every last principle of Vastu here. A lot of books are already written on this subject which explain nothing more than what portion of building should be built in a given direction. I am sorry to say that they do not do justice to the science of Vastu and are far from ground realities and problems that plague our cities. Consider a house with good open space towards east. Someone else purchases the plot towards the east and a building comes up there. It effectively blocks all the incoming sunlight and the morning fresh air. Although the neighbouring building and plot has a different ownership, would this affect the Vastu of our building in question? And how?

How do we then purchase an apartment given all the constraints? This decision becomes complicated since we cannot make any big changes to the layout and the plan. Even if the builder allows making some changes, we still cannot make the entire apartment Vastu friendly. We go for an east facing apartment, and find that the kitchen is in North-East where it is most inappropriate.

In case of apartments, we need to give importance to factors beyond this one unit. Even from ownership perspective, it makes sense as all the owners of the apartments jointly own the common areas of the entire apartment complex. The walls between the apartments are shared anyway. It is as if the residents of a building are all part of one big family.

Therefore, the entire plot area of the complex is important and rules of Vastu should be applied more strictly here. The plot should be more or less rectangular. North-east should be developed and more prominent than the other three corners. If there is only one bore or tank for water supply within the apartment complex, it should be towards this north-east corner. Large water bodies, e.g. swimming pools, artificial ponds or lakes should be in appropriate area, i.e. away from the fiery portion of south-east. The plot in its entirety should be sloping upwards from north-east to south-west.  Main entrance to the complex should be in north, east or north-east. The amount of open area towards the north or north-east of the plot should be more than south or south-west.

If there are multiple buildings in the apartment complex, the central area of the complex should be relatively construction free. This seems to be the case with most of the projects as a garden or play area for children is always planned for in the middle.

To choose a particular building, a building towards north east portion of the complex should be given preference. The entrance of the building should be looked at properly. Again, the plan of the building should be more or less rectangular. A building should be avoided if the main entrance is towards south or west. An apartment in the middle of a building should be avoided all costs – but that is just common sense since it would be difficult to get sunlight and air circulation in the apartment if it is planned in such a way.

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9 comments

  • Comment by Cherok on December 12, 2006 at 3:13 am

    Hello Kshitij Sharma,

    I’m very glad that I found your article. You express many of my thoughts and doubts about this complex Vastu topic. A lot of theory and rules … but how to use them in a _real_ house? With _real_ neighbours? I’m convinced that your practical ideas are a key for the future of Vastu.

    thanks a lot,
    Cherok

  • Comment by Khephaa on March 26, 2008 at 1:19 am

    Hi

    We build a Vastu home in eastern Tennessee and went through A LOT to build it according to all the guidelines. It was well worth it! We love it. We now are having to move and we would love to know if you know of any way we can tell people who understand this type of home, that are looking for a Vastu type home that we have ours for sale.

    We would love to share the wonderful energy that this home has with someone who would appreciate it and take care of it. please let us know if you have any ideas or suggestions.

    Thanks you!

    Will & Karen

    khephaa@gamil.com

  • Comment by nirmala.t on April 10, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    where i get explaining vastu with building

  • Comment by Lokesh on March 25, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    I am planning to buy an apartment on the third floor in a five story building. The plot in which this building is located is rectangular in shape but the south-east of the plot is extended. Is this south-east extension bad? Kindly advise.

  • Comment by D.RAMACHANDRAN on April 6, 2009 at 8:21 am

    I am very much confused abput using vastu for apartment buildings with common walls ..

    how to make efficiently all apartments vastu compliant

    when the buildings are continuous and directions of entry also changes

    pl explain

  • Comment by Sunil on April 23, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    I am buying a flat, wherein there are 5 blocks and the one chosen is in the noth east part of the entire plot, However, please note the following :

    1, the main door is located in south east area ( with respect to the apartment )
    2. Main bed room is in the north west and the rest in the north( with respect to the apartment )
    3. Two toilets are in the S. west and one in the north east( with respect to the apartment ).

    Please advice.

    Thanks

    Regards

    Sunil

  • Comment by rajesh mishra on March 21, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Dear sir,we want to purchase an apartment in Visakhapatnam.Entrance of the complex is from north,but the entrance to the apartment is from south. Balcony of the apartment opens in north which is open area. Pl. advise if this type of apartment can be safely purchased Thanks. Rajesh Mishra

  • Comment by ajay narang on March 21, 2015 at 6:36 pm

    i am buying a flat,there are 14 tower in our society,we purchase a flat in 11 no. tower,there are 12 flat in each tower, ground floor is parking ,i live in first floor and ishift in flat 2014,dated 23 feb.but some cicumstances i leave this flat due to our life partenr because she is not well there,than again i shifted on 23rd feb.2015 on same flat but in this time i lost my life partener,so please tell me what can i do now my name is ajay narang ,my date of birth is 18 december 1959

  • Comment by Namrata karki on February 6, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    What is the best place to keep kundalipatra?

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