To understand the concept of Vastu Shastra, one must need to understand Vastu Purush and the 45 Energy Fields of Vastu Purush Mandal present in any place where human lives i.e. Home/Office/Factory/Temple/Mosque/Church etc. We humans understand things very easily when in told in form of story or poem. Our great ancient sages wanted all these sciences should be known in easy way. For this purpose, they have written all these science in form of slokas & stories. 

Vastu Purusha Mandala is a fascinating story from ancient Indian texts depicting the birth of Vastu Purusha, the chaos he caused and how he was overpowered by collective efforts of different Gods. This story also elaborates Vastu Purusha Mandala (the basis of Vastu Shastra).

Vastu Purusha: The Fascinating Story

It all started when Lord Brahma created The Universe and was experimenting to make some creatures. He thought that a” man” would be the best option for this and so he created a man. But this was no ordinary man, he was huge and had enormous powers to grow. Soon after his creation the man started growing. As time passed, he became extremely huge and with his size, his hunger also increased. He started to eat anything and everything that came his way. In no time he became so big that his shadow had cast a permanent eclipse on earth. This whole episode was enough for Gods (Shiva and Vishnu) to press the panic button. They immediately rushed to God Brahma and requested him to stop the man from spreading chaos.

God Brahma understood that he has made a terrible mistake and he needs to rectify it. But the man was too powerful for God Brahma, hence he requested the Gods of eight directions (Astha Dikapalakas) to come and help him.

Upon hearing his request, Gods came for rescue, they grabbed the man and overpowered him. They pinned the man against ground with his head in North-East and legs in South-West direction. During all this event God Brahma jumped into the center and held the man down.

Going through all this the “Man” started crying and asked God Brahma, 

“Why are you doing this to me? You have created me and now why this treatment is done to me? What’s my fault?”

Hearing his question God Brahma thought for a moment and answered 

“I know it’s not your fault, but you have become a threat to everyone.

I don’t want to destroy what I have created and hence you have to remain like this forever.” 

the man asked, “But what’s my benefit in all this?” 

Brahma said  “I will make you immortal and all mortal people who build any sort of structure on earth will worship you. You can tease, devour, and trouble these people if they don’t worship you and don’t keep you happy. You will be present in all the land, and you are from now onwards known as Vastu Purusha”.

To this deal, the man (Vastu Purusha) agreed and became an inseparable part of earth forever. Brahma ordered him to go on earth and reside there in every place/ house and ordered him that he would bless every occupant with health, wealth, and prosperity and in return, the occupant would worship him and make and make him lie comfortably in the house. This was the interesting story about Vastu Purusha, but you might be wondering about Vastu Purusha Mandala?

How Vastu Purush mandala came into Existence

From the story of Vastu Purusha you can recollect that Gods have pinned down Vastu Purusha to ground, hence the section of the ground where Vastu Purusha was pinned down is called as Vastu Purusha Mandala.

Then 45 deities collectively caught hold of Vastu purusha and threw him on the earth with his face downwards, head in the northeast and feet in southwest. 45 deities held his body, 13 from within and 32 from outside his body. In this way, the Vastupurush and 45 deities form a Vastu Purush mandala which is the most important spiritual aspect of Vastu evolution. The body parts of Vastupurush are given the names of those deities who touched there. Like –lord brahma touched his navel so center of the house where the navel of Vastupurush is located is called the brahmasthal. So, any part missing (cut) in the house in the house indicates that the concerned body parts of Vastupurush is missing, e.g., Missing northeast indicates that head of Vastupurush is missing. One or the other person residing in that house may have some problems related to head. So, there will be head related problems in the house, headaches/educational problems and so on southwest indicates feet which give you stability. Missing southwest indicates instability in your life, accidents, leg–related problems. 

Evolution of the 45 Energy fields in today's context of building house.

The first step in construction  is laying the Foundation Stone. Then the pillars are constructed. When construction of pillar completes, roof is constructed. After roof, walls are constructed and when the outer structure gets completed, inner building work starts like sanitary fittings, paint, interior decoration, etc, which led to the final completion of the building. 

With respect to the construction of the building, different energy fields gets created at each stage.

• When the foundation stone is laid, it led to the creation of lord brahma (the creator of whole universe), 
• when the construction of pillars start, 4 energy fields develop in each direction, North, East, South and West. 
• When construction of roof starts, 8 energy fields get developed in all cardinal directions, north east, south east, south west and North West, 
• When construction of walls starts, 16 energy fields gets created till completion of walls in all cardinal directions ahead of previously constructed energy fields. 
• When the interior work of building starts, 16 more energy fields get created till completion of building.

Geometrically, these 45 energy fields are generally gridded in 64 pad vinyaas or 81 Padvinyaas.

Let’s consider 64 pad vinyaas grid and understand different stages. I have taken square grids for ease of understanding. Consider the construction area as below outer rectangle.

Stage 5: When full work is finished