Vaastu Shastra For Your Dining Room

As Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art of the arrangement of objects to create a harmonious totality which optimizes the flow of energy to bring fruition of goals, so is Vaastu Shastra the Indian art of designing and building living environments that are in harmony with the physical and metaphysical forces. Like Feng Shui, Vaastu also concerns itself with the flow of energy which in Sanskrit is ‘Pran’ or Life Force and which finds its corresponding term in Feng Shui as ‘Chi’.

‘Vaas’ means to reside or dwell, and ‘Shastra’ means science, so that literally it is science of buildings or homes. Vaastu prescribes how the different rooms of the house including the dining room should be oriented in terms of direction and construction and also how the furniture therein should be placed. Vaastu tells you how you should arrange your dining room furniture in the best possible manner, in a way that is most auspicious. The Vaastu of the dining room and dining room furniture is said to influence the positive effect that eating will have on you and your family.

The principles of Vaastu indicate that the most beneficial direction to construct the dining room is the western portion of the house. There are also directives for the dining room furniture: the dining table, should not be set against the wall and there should be sufficient space all around the dining table to move comfortably. The dining table can be of a square or rectangle shape.

Like the tenets of Feng Shui, Vaastu also requires the dining room to be free from clutter and to not be crowded with too much furniture.  If the dining room is an open plan area; i.e. one that merges with or into the kitchen and / or the drawing room area, there should be a distinction made for the dining room area by demarcating with a screen or some potted plants.

In Vaastu, not only are there instructions for arranging dining room furniture like the dining table and the dining chairs but also how the different members of the family should be seated. It is indicated that the parents of the family should sit facing the North, North – East, or Eastern directions. It is also indicated that should the children be seated in that particular direction, they gain control or the house and impose their will upon their parents!

In keeping with ancient Indian traditions of animals being considered sacred, Vaastu advises that before beginning the meal, some small offering should be made to a cow, crow or dog. It is considered inadvisable to have a toilet adjacent to or opening out on to the dining room. Since there is much emphasis placed on the actual construction of the room and not just the placement of the dining room furniture, it is advised that the dining table should not be placed under a beam. The color palette for the walls of your dining room considered suitable by Vaastu are pink or orange or other non- jarring and calming colors such as cream, or yellow.