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How Vastu Shastra Differs from Feng Shui
Vastu Shastra, an ancient scientific study from Vedic India, helps in understanding the law of nature by virtue of designing space and environmental objects that promotes a psychological, physical and spiritual health as well as prosperity. This rich ancient study was carried over to different countries including, South East Asia, Tibet and at the China, where it offered the foundation of Feng Shui. Vastu Shastra explains the way the nature is lawfully structured and only if the object is aligned to the core design of the nature, then the positive energy emits.
On the other hand, Feng Shui, an old Chinese system, promotes the art of placement to invite harmony by balancing between positive and negative energies. Both Vastu Shastra and Feng shui offer a wide spectrum of wisdom that promotes in designing harmonious system around us. Although the goal of these systems has a significant similarity with each other, there are many differences as well. While the proponents of Feng Shui have claimed that the idea of Vastu Shastra is much outdated and old-fashioned, the advocates of Vastu Shastra find Feng Shui as an unreligious and superstitious form of Chinese Vastu.
Vastu Shastra vs. Feng Shui
According to the spiritual belief embedded in Vastu Shastra, the earth is a living organism from which other living organisms materialize. The life energy in Vastu Shastra is referred to as Vastu Purusha. The primary goal of Vastu Shastra is to bring balance between the external world and that of the internal world. Vastu takes five elements under consideration. These elements are - Earth (prithvi), Fire (agni), Light (tej), Wind (vayu) and Ether (gagan) coupled with earth's magnetic field. On the other hand, Feng Shui incorporates water and wind and promotes the idea of living in concord with the environment in order to attract prosperity and fortune. While the former study puts emphasis over carrying out the energy, the latter is based on the idea of retaining it. In addition to wind and water, Feng Shui also incorporates elements like earth, fire, metal and wood. Hence it is quite evident that even the underlying goal is same in both of the cases, the operations are much different.
The Operation of Vastu Shastra & Feng Shui
Vastu Shastra operates on three integrated principles - (1) Bhogadyam, (2) Sukha Darsham and (3) Ramya. The first principle says that the designed premises must have a utilization quality, second principle puts emphasis over aesthetic quality and the third explains the well-being of the user of the premise. Vastu provides the guidance for setting up the foundation of the premise, starting from architectural quality to aesthetic quality along with the directional position of the objects concerned.
On the other hand, Feng Shui covers a limited aspect by optimizing an individual's or a group of individual's environment for a specific duration. Feng Shui is also operated on three principles - earth luck, man luck and heaven luck. The earth luck denotes the energies present around your environment, the man luck is the energies in you and the heaven luck is something beyond the materialistic arena. Based on these three principles, Feng Shui operates.