A common question posed to a Vastu Shastri is whether a house constructed as per the Vastu guidelines would be as auspicious for the son and the grandson as it has been for the person who built that house.  The answer invariably is in the negative.  Then the next question arises as to whether Vastu is important or is only a fashion.

We all know that a dwelling unit whether it is a small house or a royal mansion,  is built for protection and for physical, mental health and spiritual development.  The happiness of the individuals depends upon the planetary periods of the individuals.  Therefore, it is not necessary that a dwelling unit built by a person would be as prosperous and auspicious for his progeny.

The basic components of a dwelling unit are the building, the passage, the lighting arrangement and its location, besides its maintenance and cleanliness.  The building laws impose many restrictions.  The availability of land as per one's desire and requirement is also not possible in the present times.  The Vastu factor stands modified due to the painting and lighting inside the house in spite of the basic structure and airy passage remaining the same.  The various planets during their planetary periods create different types of impact on the outlook of persons in matters of brightness and colors.  These indeed change the overall effect of the dwelling unit.  Why talk of the son and the grandson, a person may find the same dwelling unit inauspicious even for himself after a few years.

It is important to have maximum benefit of the dwelling unit, which is derived through natural inflow of the sunlight and air.  The provision for these basic necessities can be made if a house is facing east and its doors and windows open in the southeast, southwest and western directions.  This will help in the influence of the sunlight on the house throughout the day.  Persons living in such a house will be optimistic and energetic.  Besides the basic structure, the light and bright color on the walls and door panels help in mental happiness, which is possible during the periods of strong and well placed planets like Jupiter, Venus and Mercury.  It will give a hygienic, clean and decorative outlook while the influence of Rahu may make the man dubious and deceptive in character.  He may use dark colors on the walls, corners or candlelights.  Saturn in its weak state makes the man feel insecure and he loses trust.  As the person's stress is on savings in life, he/she uses dark shades on the walls and door panels to save money on maintenance and this creates a stuffy atmosphere.

The result of the maintenance and the shades on the walls and door frames/panels may be different.  While the light and bright shades bring in prosperity and enlarge the social circle, dark and stuffy shades isolate the person from society and thrust upon him/her unstable and insecure attitudes in life.

For example, once a gentleman contacted us about the inordinate delay in finalization of the marriage of his daughter.  The visit to their house showed that though the house was east-facing, its openings were on the north-east, north-west and west side and he was using a pretty dark blue shade on the walls of his drawing room and navy-blue paint on his door panels.  Our suggestion for change of shades on the walls and the door panels helped in early settlement of the marriage of his daughter.  In another case, a medico who had set up an ultrasound diagnostic center was not getting clients, resulting in a loss by way of expenses on the maintenance of fixed assets.  During the course of a visit to the clinic, it was found that the desired space was not provided for in the waiting lounge and instead of the mercury tube-lights, the lighting was done with incandescent bulbs.  The lighting arrangement with bulbs makes the atmosphere a little gloomy and one cannot tolerate this atmosphere while waiting.  Slight modifications of space in the waiting lounge and provision of tube lights resulted in a growing clientele.