The Brahmasthan

The brahmasthan is a term from the Vastu Shastra or Sthapatya Veda, the guidelines for Vedic architecture. Vastu recognizes that a properly designed building will amplify the presence of the building and support its occupants.

The brahmasthan is a special central zone in a building. It is free from any obstructions in the form of a wall, pillar or beam, furniture or fixtures and is often well lit from above, by skylights for instance.” It is the silent center of a space.

Neutron Star 2004Every space has a center as I’ve illustrated here before. We can think of the brahmasthan as the center point of the space of self-aware consciousness.

I’ve always seen our personal brahmasthan as in the heart. This is the home of our soul and center of our energy system (chakras). But often others depict the brahmasthan in the gut. For example, the Vastu purusha or ‘body of the presence of a building’ has its belly at the brahmasthan. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man is similar.

I’ve realized that energetically, the brahmasthan IS in the heart. However, physically, the brahmasthan is in the gut. The body is a step more manifest and with limbs, the center is shifted down.

This relates to why some experience intuition through the heart, others the gut. It depends on if they have a feeling or a somatic orientation. Or you could say how they relate with source.

It may be tidy to think of all levels as being perfectly synced. However, space holds different levels a bit differently. Another example would be the chakras – tidy, vertical and equidistant on one level but much less so on more manifest levels. What about when we bend over?

Understanding how the brahmasthan is structured requires taking a deep step back. At a fundamental level, the structure the world and everything in it is in subtle, nested spaces. Those spaces begin with the dynamics of self-aware consciousness. Lively self-awareness enlivens the devata value, expressing qualities on the event horizon of the space.

These devata focus in on each other and interact through vibration (voice), singing in harmonies. This creates structured relationships that lead to subtle structures and forms. It also creates a deva of the space, a law of nature built from the amplified qualities produced by this group of devata.

This deva sits at the center. We might call him the purusha of the space. This is the law of nature people notice and interact with. They are a synthesis of the functions of what is expressed there-in, be it a home, a couch, or a liver.

Our own body is much the same. We are a synthesis of a specific set of principles. However, our body is more complex, composed of a variety of nested spaces on multiple levels that are synthesized by the brahmasthan of the whole, our soul.

I’ve also spoken of the devata body, an expression of the cosmic body. This is deeper, and the more unified version of what I describe above. The devata body performs all doing in all space and time simultaneously. The human body experiences a drawn-out version where the processes are expanded out into increments of experience we know of as time*. This way, we can experience all the details and fulfill our role for the Divine.

* I’ll write more on time in an upcoming article in 2 days.

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5 Responses to The Brahmasthan

  1. Jim says:

    Very well said, and beautifully expressed, David. Yes, the synchrony surrounding the soul, the brahmastan of living, and the value of time in its unfolding. Then naturally it shows up in the manifest expression of our individual lives.

    As I used to say, “It’s a rigged game!” :-0

  2. Jim says:

    Absolutely! Sustained Bliss, who knew?? Thanks again for the ever-present neon arrows in your commentary. 🙂

  3. Jim says:

    Inexorably! 🙂

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