Worshiping facing North-East?

A widely followed myth is that the act of worshipping or puja should be performed in the Ishaan or the North-East (NE) direction only. However, if you observe old palaces or old homes made exactly as per Vastu Shastra, puja altars were made in the West Zone of the building. Moreover, in all the temples, deities have been placed in the West, facing the East direction. To understand this concept better, let us review what is written in the Vastu Shastra. The scriptures say ‘Ishaanyam Devtagriham,’ meaning  Devtas or deities reside in North-East Vastu Zone. However, the scriptures do not say that one must worship or do puja in this particular zone. Had the writer ofVishwakarma Prakash meant otherwise, while mentioning the ideal activities of different Vastu zones in the same series of shlokas, he would have written —Pujagraham instead of Devtagriham.

The word Dev means a deity or a soul guide with whom you communicate in a meditative state. This North-East Zone governs clarity of thoughts and intuitive foresights, helping you gain benefits in life. Therefore, Devtas or deities’ idols or paintings may be placed here. However, the rituals or worshipping should not be performed in this zone. To perform rituals, one can choose any of the adjoining VastuZones—NNE and ENE, since both of these zones support the processes of cleansing and strengthening of the Manomaya and Vigyanmaya Koshas. As per MahaVastu^TM, different deities reside in different directions and govern varied aspects of our lives. To get the blessings of a deity, one must worship or offer puja in the particular direction which is governed by that deity. For example, puja of Lord Hanuman and Goddess Mother Durga should be performed in South (S) Zone only. Similarly, one should placepuja altars of different Devtas in the 16 Vastu Zones as per the respective zones governed by them.

Lord Ganesha at Entrance?

Placing a figurine of Lord Ganesha at the entrance of homes, offices, shops and other buildings has been in vogue since a long time. Most people believe that it is inauspicious to place the image or statue of Lord Ganesha with his back towards their home. So, they place another image on the inside of the entrance. In this way, the position of Sarvapratham Pujaniya Lord Ganesha is reduced to that of a merely dwarpal (gatekeeper). Moreover, by placing his images both inside and outside they unknowingly have to face his back whenever they enter or leave the building. This practise must be avoided at any cost since it brings about abject poverty (daaridrya) to the occupants of such building.

Interestingly, this tradition had started in Rajasthan about 250 years ago. This region, which used to be in ancient times one of the most prosperous regions in the country, today has been branded a bimar rajya or a sick state, officially by the government.

There is another reason behind not displaying Lord Ganesha’s image at the entrance. According to the tale mentioned in the Hindu scriptures, Goddess Parvati had asked Lord Ganesha to guard the entrance while she was busy inside. Following her instructions, Lord Ganesha did not allow anybody in, even stopping her husband Lord Shiva at the door. This enraged Lord Shiva and a severe clash happened between the two. Since then, the belief has prevailed that Lord Ganesha should not be placed at the entrance.