Vaastu scare: Top 3 symbols people won't keep at home!
It's hard to believe, but true! The following symbols are part and parcel of our heritage, yet we shudder to keep them at home! Especially as Vaastu - a hitherto unknown word - is today a word people swear by, even if they don't know the difference between vastu (object) and vaastu (science of placement of objects)...
The Taj Mahal
The hardest thing to suffer the knocks of these nouveau-Vaastuites is the Taj Mahal! Yes, the symbol of love cast in pristine white marble, and created by toiling hands, which once figured in the list of wonders of the world, and is an eterrnal source of Indian pride in the world, is yet shunned as a souvenir to place at home or gift people!
I mean, it's okay to buy miniature Eiffel Towers from a visit to Paris, but beware if you even think of buying one from the most visited tourist destination in your own backyard!
What's the reason, you may well ask! It's because the Taj Mahal is not just a symbol of Mughal emperor Shahjehan's love for his queen Mumtaz Mahal, but a posthumous tribute to a departed wife from a loving husband! In short, the Taj Mahal is a tomb!
So, whether or not it's prescribed by Vaastu, people have taken it upon themselves to disown the Taj Mahal, as it might result in ushering death into one's household!
Krishna as charioteer to Arjuna
One of the most popular paintings is of Lord Krishna driving the chariot of Pandava prince Arjuna, and reciting the Bhagavad Gita or the divine song to him, as a way of motivating him to be courageous.
The Gita is an eternal source of inspiration to mankind, as it contains gems on how best to live life and provides an answer to every big life question. So, in effect, it is a book of courage. But the Vaastuites won't have it. They see only the war in the backdrop - the Kurukshetra war that took place between brothers. So, no way are you going to hang that painting on the drawing room wall!
Shiva as Nataraja
The final one that takes the cake is the statue of Nataraja, which is the biggest export out of Thanjavur, in Tamil Nadu.
Though thousands of homes and offices, including CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research - located in Geneva, Switzerland, have this symbol of Shiva, many Indian homes simply refuse to keep one at home.
This is because Nataraja was the form that Shiva, the Destroyer in the Holy Hindu Trinity, assumed, when he danced his famous tandav-nritya or dance of destruction, which resulted in the dissolution of the world.