Feng Shui, Vastu and India- Aroon's observations and interviews:
Aroon’s frequent visits to India in the past decade has offered him several interview opportunities by the local journalists, editors and TV crews. His observations and responses have been summarised below:
What is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui has been called an art of placement. This describes Feng Shui well, as it is not a science, a religion, a philosophy or a belief system. It is not a science, as its principles cannot yet be proven by scientific method. It is not necessary to follow any religion to understand or practice Feng Shui. It is not a philosophy, as it encompasses many practical tools and techniques. It is not a belief system, as asking someone if they believe in Feng Shui, is like asking if they believe in weather.
Feng Shui is an art of channelling the ch’i (cosmic energy force) in such a way that it can help you in life to make you very successful by creating a supportive and harmonious environment.
According to the Chinese, our success depends upon three factors.
· Our Destiny, fate or karma or heaven’s energy
· Feng Shui or the energy in our environment
· Our personal background-inheritance, actions, education, experience, health etc. or our own energy.
As we cannot control our destiny, Feng Shui is only one of the three influences in our lives. Feng Shui is not a magic to guarantee you health, wealth and happiness but good Feng Shui can simply help us to overcome difficulties during our times of bad luck and can help us reap maximum benefits from the good times. It can be used to protect us against misfortune and harm and improve our health, wealth, relationships or any of the nine areas of our life. It is a tool for transforming one’s life by transforming one’s environment. It is an art of perceptual management for designing premises.
Is there a resistance to Feng Shui and how you have overcome this?
Yes. People think that Feng Shui is yet another alternative therapy like acupuncture and acupressure. But these therapies have now been accepted by medical profession all over the world, as they do prove to be beneficial for our wellbeing. Increased acceptance of Feng Shui in the west in the last few years is making it a global phenomena and even more popular than other therapies. Feng Shui experts arrange and participate in International conferences to share the benefits across the planet.
It is quite self-evident that our environment affects us as we live in a vibrational world. It is so fundamental that Feng Shui needs to stop being something esoteric and out of a different culture. People must recognise that our environment makes a difference to our lives.
What are your views on Vastu?
Vastu is a classical Indian science of design, which skilfully combines modern knowledge with the ancient wisdom for organising space that accord with the laws of the universe. The purpose of Vastu also refers to harnessing positive energy from your environment but it puts greater emphasis on precise proportions and magnetic directions.
Although it is an older Indian science compared to the art of placement of Feng Shui, there are certain fundamental differences between the two with regard to the elemental locations and the methods of alignment of energy.
Vastu would not have existed all these years if it did not work. However, this body of knowledge is more focussed on the architecture of a building and therefore it is more practical to implement it whilst constructing new homes. This could perhaps be the reason for its greater popularity in USA compared to in Europe.
Are people open to the ideas of Feng Shui?
People with open mind are open to the ideas of Feng Shui. People who are sceptical and who only believe in mathematical logic, consider the principles of Feng Shui ‘a pie in the sky’. Once the awareness increases with the success stories of others, people become more inclined towards trying it. You can manifest your dreams only if you believe that image precedes matter.
Is Feng Shui a quick fix method compared to Vastu?
No. Although they both set out to achieve the same result of creating the premises for harmonious living by harnessing positive energies, the approaches are different. It is like saying that Intuitive Feng Shui is a quick fix method compared to the classical or compass method of Feng Shui with detailed calculations. However, one must not forget that someone’s intuition created compass method of Feng Shui.
Cures that you recommend-do they really help?
It has been established by ancient wisdom, that the harmony in universe prevails through the cycle of five elements within the yin and yang forces. Our life force must nourish, be the same or be nourished by one of its creative partners. We are talking about fire, earth, metal, water and wood.
The cures we recommend for balancing the environment represent the elements by colour, shape or material. Red signifies fire, crystal signifies earth, round shape signifies metal, water feature signifies water and plants signify wood.
These recommendations are no different to doctors’ prescription of drugs, diet, exercise, and meditation suggested for re-balancing the energy in the body or bringing about stillness of mind.
What are your views on Indians abroad and the foreigners and their responses?
Indians abroad have their roots back in India, an Asian culture is more open to the existence of auspicious time frames, auspicious space values and spirituality. Westerners are in a culture where progress is based on logic, measurable sciences and materialism. The response therefore to Feng Shui by foreigners is slower in the west than from the Indians abroad.
What is the scene in India and is Feng Shui a simple science to follow?
The scene in India is that of faster acceptance of Feng Shui practice. The thirst for knowledge, the multitudes of life’s issues and the eagerness to resolve them as quickly as possible are responsible for this scene. The properties, rented or owned, due to space constraints in urban areas are in multi-storey buildings, which makes it difficult to make structural alterations (an issue less relevant in Feng Shui compared to Vastu).
Even if we take the most complex of the schools of Feng Shui (compass school) out of the four different available schools, it is a much simpler science for diagnosing imbalance and implementing changes compared to our Vastu.
I am a great believer of the world of vibrations. We can change our inner landscape by changing the outer one. If we create a paradise in our environment, we can live in harmony, balance and peace. Our space, is the next layer in our environment after our skin and clothing. We never get a second chance to make a first impression. Feng Shui is about the energy of space in relation to the energy of time. There is a lot of truth in the saying that ‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams’.
Aroon
To view some photographs of various events and read the photo captions, please click on the images on the following page.
click on India Photos
May the daily sunrise fill your life with harmony, balance and peace.
