Monday 5 August 2013

Building A House In Tune With Natural Law

Our house is part of our extended body.  To look after our body better, architecture should encourage ecological building practices.  But it is not just building materials that affect our health!

Vedic Architecture is an ancient and eternal knowledge of building in accordance with the organization of the universe.  It was part of the ancient oral tradition of India and was eventually written down in Sanskrit around 2500 BC.  Vedic architecture is exemplified in one of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal.  Traces of it are found in other buildings such as the Palace of Versailles, St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the Pyramids etc.  It is a universal knowledge which has been forgotten.  In recent decades Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the founder of Transcendental Meditation™ has assembled all the original texts, and restored the full body of knowledge.

Maharishi Vedic architecture is not a style but a set of deep principles applied to houses of any style.  When you travel on a train, if you sit in direction of travel or not, will have a different effect on you.  As we live in our houses, it is as if we are sitting on the train of Mother Earth, as it rotates around its’ axis.  We travel best if we align ourselves with the rules that maintain the Earth.

There are a few fundamental principles which make a house Vedic:

Orientation: Maharishi Vedic architecture emphasis the importance of a buildings orientation to the cardinal directions (true north, south, east & west).  The strongest influence of Natural Law comes from the Sun.  As it travels from east to west, it generates different qualities.  The Sun’s energy is most nourishing when it is rising and therefore buildings that face east bestow health and vitality to their occupants.  north is second preference but west and especially south bring harmful effects.  Orientation comes from the word; orient, ancient architects orientated the building to connect it to the East.  This concept of orientation is missing in modern architecture.

Neuroscientists have discovered that the human brain has specialized nerve cells which are highly sensitive to direction, position and overall orientation.  This may explain the phenomenon of ‘sick building syndrome’, where people living and working in buildings not according to Maharishi Vedic architecture suffer disorientation, confusion and frustration.  Whereas people living and working in Vedic buildings experience increasing calm, focus, vitality and happiness.  This is the result of the house being in synch with a higher, more universal order which in turn creates orderly functioning in the brain.

Right Placement of Rooms:  The rooms in a Vedic structure are placed according to the Sun’s movement so as to get the maximum benefit from there energies corresponding to the specific activities performed in these rooms.  When each room is positioned as per specification, the result is ‘truly healthy living’ for the occupants.  This means that every room becomes perfectly conducive for the activity it is assigned to e.g. kitchen in south east corner to stimulate appetite and digestion, study in the north where the mind acquires the essential calmness and peace required for concentration etc.

Proportion:  Dimension of rooms is according to specific mathematical equations.  The measurements and proportions are calculated with respect to the general proportions of human physiology and the symmetry of cosmic physiology.  This ascertains that the proportions are in harmony with the celestial bodies.  It is this harmony between the individual structure and the cosmic structure that ushers in good health and enriching happiness for the occupants.  Symmetry is preferred as it brings beauty to the design and order to the brain.

Brahmasthan:  Our greatest structures from bridges to airplanes to velcro, copies the ingenuity of Nature’s design, termed biomimicry.  But still Nature knows best, a spider’s web for instance is stronger than Kevlar.  A distinguishing feature of Maharishi Vedic architecture is a silent centre in the building called a Brahmasthan.  Like the centre of a flower, a snowflake or a wheel, it is that silent point of nothingness where everything originates from and which holds the whole structure together.

When we build a house on a bit of land we are intruding upon nature.  Earth belongs only to Earth itself.  If we don’t build according to the Laws of Nature we are thieves.  Building according to the Laws of Nature delivers us from that debt.  Having a Brahmasthan or a place of nothingness in the centre of the house leaves a bit of virgin ground and nature gets invited to live there.  A Maharishi Vedic Architect knows how to build and how not to build.  Installing the Brahmasthan makes the difference as it connects individual life to cosmic life.

Near and far environments: In nature everything is perfectly integrated and sustained by everything else.  In Maharishi Vedic architecture the whole cosmos is considered part of our living environment.  For this reason proximity to hills, ponds, cemeteries, stadiums, high voltage wires etc. are considered.

Eco building:  Materials which are natural, non-toxic and local are preferred.  The use of natural light and fresh air is maximized and fills the house from windows placed in all four cardinal directions and also from the heavens coming from a skylight above the Brahmasthan.  This gives the whole house a very bright and uplifting feeling.

The knowledge of Maharishi Vedic architecture is very intellectually satisfying but it is all the positive effects which these houses bestow which makes it really worthwhile.  There is lots of scientific research as well as people’s testimonials which validates and makes concrete the effects of these principles.  The School of Medicine at the University of Milan conducted a test by placing bipolar patients in rooms facing east.  The same number of similarly afflicted patients remained in rooms facing west; the east room patients recovered in half the time.

Recently Maharishi Mahesh Yogi established the Global Country of World Peace that aims to reconstruct the world using the principles of Vedic architecture.  This brings to mind the effects of the Industrial Revolution when people and governments were forced to rebuild because the slums were full of crime, violence and disease.  Maharishi Vedic architecture is just another branch of the Vedic knowledge which brings about Peace in the world.  Transcendental Meditation which develops the consciousness of the individual and dissolves stress is the fundamental aspect of this knowledge.

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