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Nothing turns out right so long as there is no harmony between body, mind and soul.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Spirituality at Work

According to the Vedic texts, the divine exists within us all, within the building as well as in the external environment. And yet spirituality is rarely honored in the Western workspace. At best, a spiritual life is treated the same as a lunch break or workout at the gym. It is an activity crammed into stolen time.

Most of us don't even consider the workspace as a part of us. We don't claim it as our space in the way that we claim our homes. We think of work as a place

where we ''must" spend our timeand we derive pleasure to the extent that the time passes quickly and is generally free of turbulence. Rushing through work, however, often robs us of the pleasure that comes with the discovery of the solution to a difficult problem. The goal to finish whatever-now-no-matter-what consumes people, and strips work of meaning. It can also lead to mistakes.

These days, with more and more people working in cubicles and wall-less offices, it can be a real challenge to introduce vastu living to one's workspace. Quarters can be so cramped that one is even unable to find the Brahmasthana, the sacred center space. The lack of natural sunlight, openable windows, and the invisible presence of recycled, temperature-controlled air eliminate anyone's ability to experience the natural rhythm of the earth. It is a challenge to do good work in a bad environment.

Fortunately, vastu can put us on the right track to reversing whatever negativity churns around the workspace. It can help us turn our workspaces into friendly spaces, introducing energies that celebrate life. By slowing us down, vastu helps us overcome the problems that come with being in near-constant overdrive. Because vastu living underscores the importance of mutual respect, it can help foster a strong harmonious relationship between you and your colleagues and between you and the elements in your workspace. Bringing vastu principles into the workspace gives you a wonderful new opportunity to find satisfaction in your work, whatever it is.

Claim Your Workspace

Please, please don't ever view your workspace as temporary space that doesn't belong to you. It is your space. It is where you work, so claim it for yourself. Yes, you may end up moving to another post within your company or taking another job elsewhere, but this is where you are working now and you must treat it with care. If you put vastu into your space, it will nurture you. The best first step you can take is to train your mind to think of your workspace as sacred.

Claim Your Work

I cannot overemphasize the importance of learning how to work for your own satisfaction, not for the satisfaction of your boss or your company. Once you make this shift and begin to work for yourself, you will most likely find pleasure in your workno matter what the work. You will also do better work. When you work for yourself, it is difficult to accept anything less than your best effort. Learning to believe that your work is your own is the second most important step that you can take toward vastu living.

Harmony and Rhythm

As in your home, it is necessary to create harmony between the elements and you and your workspace. Harmony is a prerequisite to inner peace (yes, it is possible to find inner peace at work!). You can, for example, bring the rhythm of life into your personal workspace by creating a square photomontage that chronicles your growth, the growth of your child, your partner, your best friends. The square signifies the universe and the harmonious balance within the universe. Hang it on a wall where you can easily see it during the course of your day. Even in a windowless cubicle, you can take advantage of the soothing and positive influence of nature. If you happen to have a window with sunlight or decent overhead lighting, you can introduce live plants. If you don't get much natural sunlight, try bouquets of fresh or dried flowers or other organic products, such as small wood or rattan boxes. Or put down an inexpensive jute area rug or a dhurrie (woven rug of cotton or wool or camel hair) or kilim (a woven tapestry rug). Even visitors and co-workers will feel comfortable when they enter your space.

Make Room for Peace and Serenity

Try to create an area for calm and reflection: a zone of tranquility. Even if you work in the tiniest cubicle or office, you can dedicate a small space to a shallow vase with flower petals floating on water or a glass jar filled with glistening pebbles, or a terra cotta dish filled with sand and seashells that are soothing to touch, or whatever pleases you, including your pet rock. Your zone of tranquility should evoke for you the beauty of creation and the eternal presence of spiritual power. What could be better for defusing stress in the middle of a tense day? Your zone of tranquility should be so appealing that you can look at it and clear your head whenever you are frustrated. Help yourself to a tranquility break, perhaps instead of a coffee break. You can recharge by focusing on nothing but your breathing for five minutes, which is superior to a recharge on caffeine. It works. You'll return to work with positive energy, not just coffee jitters.

Honor the Divine Essence

Once you create a space dedicated to tranquility, work cannot overcome you. During the course of your moments of reflection, you will probably discover or remember, sooner or later, that your work or your career does not define you. Work is an important part of us all, but it is not all of us. What matters most is you: your unique being, a divine part of the Supreme Creator.

Orientation and Shape

PLEASE NOTE: If you live in the southern hemisphere, you will need to shift everything on the vastu purusha mandala 90 degrees to the right. For example, any advice that suggests the northeast would mean the southeast in the southern hemisphere.

Cardinal Directions

NORTH

DEITY: Soma and Kuber

IDENTIFICATION: Health and Wealth

WEST DEITY: Varuma IDENTIFICATION: Unknown and Darkness EAST DEITY: Surya IDENTIFICATION: Enlightenment and Inspiration SOUTH DEITY: Yama IDENTIFICATION: Death, Duty, and

Responsibility Intermediate Directions NORTHWEST ELEMENT: Air DEITY: Vayu NORTHEAST ELEMENT: Water DEITY: Isa CENTER ELEMENT: Space DEITY: Brahma SOUTHWEST ELEMENT: Earth DEITY: Pitri SOUTHEAST ELEMENT: Fire DEITY: Agni

Shape of the Site and Work Space

The site and the workspace should be rectangular or square; most people work more comfortably in a space that conforms to one of these shapes. Quadrangles have static energy, are conducive to thinking, and are relatively easier to turn into a becalming environment. Circular and oval spaces, which are dynamic and charged with moving energy, are fine for sports arenas, where action defines the game.

Flow of Energy

If you are choosing a site for a company or personal office, remember the importance of attracting and trapping the positive cosmic

energies. If there is a slope on the property, it ideally should lead down to the north and the east. These two quadrants should also bear less weight and a minimum of construction so that the positive energy, which enters from the northeast corner, the heavenly gateway and the realm of water, are unobstructed and free to move through the site. When you leave more open area in the north and east, you also receive maximum morning sun. Northern light is called the painter's steady light.

A natural depression in the northeast or a pond or fountain is a plus. The lowland acts as a receptacle that collects the positive energy. The optimum site should also be higher and heavier in the south and in the west so that the cosmic energies, which travel in a diagonal arc from the northeast to the southwest (the element of earth), are trapped inside the property.

Entrance Door

Two locations of the entrance door are most likely to reduce workspace stress: the north and the east close to the northeast corner. The northeast corner is the heavenly gateway that draws in the positive energy. It is also

the location of the element of water, which is calming. As with the home, the entrance door to a company building should not be located in the exact center of a cardinal direction. Ideally, the correct placement of the door is to the left or right of the center point of the northern wall, the southern wall, the eastern wall, or the western wall. But since the majority of us obviously can't make structural changes to the company building, we should focus our attention on other vastu guidelines that we have the power to control. If you really feel that an improperly located door is the source of your stress, don't despair. You can correct the problem with a symbolic solution. See Chapter 9,

Appeasing the GodsAppeasing Your Soul. Inventory Exit

If you sell products, place your inventory in the northwest, which belongs to the element of air. In this quadrant, with its characteristic of movement, the inventory moves out quickly. We use this same principle at home by having our guests sleep in the northwest. In the case of a business, a fast-moving inventory is the key to success.

Interior Layout

Corridors and Passageways

If possible, keep the passageways wider in the north and east of the workspace. Passageways should also be kept reasonably empty and free of heavy furniture or heavy equipment so that the positive energy that enters from the northeast can move easily through the space.

Interior Doors

Since stress can invade the workspace, the optimum direction for an entrance door is near the northeast corner, which receives positive energy and represents the soothing element of water. The doors inside the work place should not be located at the precise center of a cardinal direction. See Entrance Door, above (p. 159). Again, if you can't make structural changes, you can consider a corrective remedy in Chapter 9, Appeasing the GodsAppeasing Your Soul.

Windows and Balconies and Terraces

Taking maximum advantage of the morning sunlight that comes through eastern windows is wise. Farmers know that plants grow best in the morning's east light. Windows in the west and the south should have heavy drapes with transparent undercurtains, or blinds, or shutters that permit you to control the intensity of the afternoon sun.

Gentle colors and organic materials work best for window shades. Wooden shutters or blinds made out of wood slats, jute, linen, or crushed silk bring nature into the workspace. If you have a balcony or a terrace, the place of honor belongs to nature with potted shrubs or trees if the light is good. Otherwise, use chairs made of natural products. Shun plastic. It does harm to our environment. If you have a window, you might put a plant you like on the sill, but don't forget to feed and water it.

The Sacred Center

The center of every space should be clean, and empty. This is the realm of Brahma. Spiritual power emanates from the sacred center of a room, radiating in every direction. If you can arrange your workspace like a temple, with the center space as the inner sanctum that protects you and the deity Brahma, you will thrive on the results.

Zone of Tranquility

A zone of tranquility is essential in every workspace. Remember this is not the same as the sacred center. Whether you work on your own or for a company, this zone will provide a calming influence, beneficial to your work. The ideal location for this special space is in the north, the northeast, or the east. In the north, you receive the blessings from Kuber, the lord of wealth, and Soma, the lord of healthall of which adds up to healthy finances. In the northeast, you face the gateway of the gods, which gives you positive energy. In the east, you are the beneficiary of light and enlightenment, and the morning sun if you have a window.

Although many companies now provide employees with on-site day care, a canteen or cafeteria, and even a health club or gym, few think of the need for a calm and quiet space. Smart administrators would provide a special area where employees can take a "health break" and listen to contemplative music while they meditate, do yoga, or just sit back and close their eyes. A company would reap benefits from this in increased productivity and so would we.

Drinking Water and Bathroom

Drinking fountains and coolers should be near the northeast corner, the direction controlled by the element of water. Bathrooms can be located in any quadrant but the northeast, because waste would pollute the sacred water element. Toilets ought to be placed in the direction of the south or the north.

Where to Sit at Work

When you sit at your desk, ideally you should face the east, the northeast, or the north. East is a smart choice since it is the direction of enlightenment, and is thus ideal for creative work, from writing and composing to inventing software programs and inventing anything else. These activities

demand a lot of inspiration. The northeast, the gateway to the gods, increases positive energy. The north honors the gods of wealth and health, both of which we all need. You should place the desk, however, in the south or west near the southwestern quadrant, which is the realm of the element of earth and ancestors, who endow this quadrant with wisdom and strength. This location is extremely good for people who are leaders or who are developing leadership and decision-making skills.

Furniture and Equipment Placement

With the exception of built-in furniture, keep equipment and furniture at least four inches from the wall. This empty space prevents your own energies from being absorbed into the wall behind you or in front of you. Put light furniture in the north and east. Try to avoid putting any heavy or tall object in the northeast corner that could obstruct the positive energy. The northeast is also the best location for a zone of tranquility. Place heavy furniture and heavy industrial equipment in the south and the west. Their weight serves as a barrier that keeps the positive energies inside your workspace. If your company or personal work requires the use of heavy-duty electrical equipment, put this equipment in the southeast, the realm of the element of fire. Circuit breakers should also be placed in this quadrant.

Don't forget that furniture placement can also improve your physical constitutionpitta (fire), vata (air), and kapha (water). These

constitutions, which relate to the elements in our body, are connected to ayurveda, the science of life. See Chapter 4, Vastu and the Vedic

View of Health. Because you spend so many hours at work, where you sit and even the location of your office can have a strong influence

on your health. Always try to follow the sensible rule: like increases like. For example, if you have a pitta (fire) constitution, it may be wise for you to avoid working in the southeast, which is the realm of fire. You may feel better if you work in the northeast. This quadrant, which belongs to the element of water, will cool down your fire.

If you have a kapha (water) constitution, you should probably avoid working in the northeast quadrant, the realm of water. It could be far healthier for you to have your personal workspace in one of the southern quadrants, which will not aggravate your kapha constitution. If you have a vata (air) constitution, then you probably shouldn't work in the northwest, the realm of air. Instead consider working in the quadrants that belong to the elements of water or earth. These elements will not interfere with your constitution. If you have no control over where you work on the company premises, then at least try to sit in a quadrant within your space that is healthy for your constitution. You can apply all this advice when you sit or relaxin the conference room, in a company canteen or company cafeteria, or when you go out to eat.

Aim for 50 Percent or Better

Also, remember that you will reap the benefits of vastu living if you can incorporate even just 50 percent of the vastu living guidelines. This is an important reminder since many workspaces have problems that are far beyond our control. If you recognize a problem that you cannot resolve without getting fired, and you know that it interferes with your work, make an appeasement. This allows you to reinstate the

Room by Room

Reception Area

Figure 42

Vastu Reception Area Layout

If you have the wherewithal to do this, hang an Indian toran over the entrance door so that everyone who comes to the company will feel welcomed and showered with invisible blessings. As always, the center of the reception area should be empty so that the spiritual power of Brahma can radiate in every direction. If the reception area is an enclosed room, the receptionist should sit in the south or west and face the northeast, the north, or the east. Facing northeast is particularly beneficial to the receptionist. The positive energies that infuse the room enter from this direction.

The zone of tranquility should, again, be a place of quiet focus or retreat. For a reception area, you might think about adding a weathered wood-slat garden bench with cushions and a collection of plants in the north or the east, close to the northeastern corner. Visitors' chairs or sofas, which are

heavy, should be positioned near the west wall, the realm of Lord Varuna, or the southwest wall, the realm of Pitri, lord of ancestors.

Conference Room or Boardroom

Figure 43

Vastu Conference Room Layout

A conference room or boardroom can be located in the east or west. The east inspires inspiration and enlightenment. The west is relatively neutral and won't stifle the exchange of ideas. Because this room requires a large table that would ordinarily cover the center of the room, you might try a table with a U-shape and rounded corners. A rounded table creates dynamic energy, which is ideal in this space, where meetings frequently involve

brainstorming sessions or presentations that call for an open exchange of ideas and constructive interaction. And the U-shape would leave