Pune,12 May, 2004

Designs on the future

Adherence to Vastushashtra, in city planning and architecture, has suddenly assumed tremendous significance. It may be difficult to predict if this is just a fad or not. Interesting, due to lace of adequate academic curriculum, there is a not of genuine practice as well as hearsay going around. Architect and building biologist Mayank Barjatya give you and overall picture of this science…

When I become architect I was on top of the world. With my degree I had the power to design some world class buildings, so I thought. As soon as I earned my degree from Marathawada College in pune, a well-known firm in Mumbai immediately offered me a job and I began working with all zest.

My enthusiasm, however, soon began to fade away. I realized that even the best of creation fell a prey to some hurdle or the other, or the other, either before or after its completion. It was at this time that I got attracted towards Vastushashtra or Building Biologist as it is termed in the western world. I stared reading books and surfing the web in my quest for knowledge. But I was bent on grasping the subject in depth and in it's fullest from. I did not want to be one of those hocus-pocus Vastushashtra experts, who make some weird demands on their clients.

I resigned from my job and demand to take up a recognized course in Vastushashtra from the International academy of Bioenergetics, one of the most reputed institutes in France.

After completing a two-year certificate course there, I came back to Pune. Here I started a consultancy and the Vastu World Academy, which holds workshop on the subject. To study Vastu, one has to understand that knowledge of science, especially Physics. We, hence, prefer to hold workshops for students who have completed 10+2, science graduation, architects or civil engineers. I am aware of students who want to study Vastu for their interest in occult science. For such people, we insist on them having the minimal knowledge of science. However, as soon as our School of Building Biology start, we plan to make the 10+2 in science compulsory.

Today, even as the western world relies heavily on Vastushashtra for its constructions, it is a sorry state of affair as the rich subject still remains out of the architecture and civil engineering books. Back home, although it has originated in India, there is hardly any curriculum, which we can be proud of. The only one is in Tamil Nadu at the Mamalapuram Government College of Architecture and Sculpture, Chennai, which again is limited to temple architecture.

Today, with hospitals, commercial complexes, residential building, huge roads being built, the need for a Vastu Consultant has grown manifold.

It is essential to stress that Vastushashtra is not about redoing constructions, but it is about removing obstructions by applying practical and scientific methodology.

Although, the trend to hair Vastu experts has still not caught on, it provides a reasonably good chance of self-employment. Although, studying reputed Vastushashtra courses can be a cause of a hole in your pocket, the dividends from it can be higher.