Read how white and green can enhance your home & office ambience

Sanjay Mittal

Color! Colors are just so much a part of our lives that for many of us, they are life itself. For some years, I have been exploring how the Vaastu of colors can enrich our homes and offices. I have also explored and implemented solutions where we can draw a gentle color balance so that spirituality in buildings can be achieved through #Color #Vaastu.

Here is a list of suggestions which can certainly help you uplift your office and home. My basic idea as a #vaastu consultant is to guide you on how to make the right selection. Ultimately, color choices are so much about your own personality and preferences. But here are some exciting ideas for you!

White

In India we have traditionally associated the icy covered Himalayas and the clouds as the abode of gods. The snow in the Vaishno Devi cave still draws lakhs of devotees every year. So a white exterior of your building or that of the inner walls of your house or office will always have its elegant charm and a connect to spirituality.

Lord Shiva is visualised to be in the Kailash mountains. A white background with a tinge of blue, yellow or gray as a highlighter would always give that dash of spirituality to your life. You could have discreet blue lighting as an option on one wall somewhere in your room. Yellow lights and lamps work well in the house to give a warm and personal feel. In offices, white lights are the norm, even though hidden yellow lights can be used to highlight displays.

The shades of white too are exciting and each represent a different aspect of life and spirituality which can elevate your life. You can have off whites, that is white given a 5 per cent mix of yellow, brown, fawn, gray or green. With paint companies giving you options of thousands of colors through computer controlled mixing, the choices are unlimited.

Variations in white are possible – from warm beige to cool blue

Colors can be used to get sparkle and life in your spaces. These can be used to get love, passion, humour, culture and mood. You are the artist with the color palette. Use it wisely and with discretion.

In case you want the mood to be warm add just a tinge of yellow or beige to color the white in your bedroom or living room. Subtleness with color choices is something we in India need to learn and develop. In case you are tempted to use a darker or deeper shade of beige or yellow, then it may make more sense to do just one wall of a room in the darker shade and the rest can be kept as white. You can explore lavender, pink or lemon shades also.

A subtle green on walls and live plants gives the feel that Goddess Aranyani lives in your house. Do get in natural light!

Green, especially in cities, is soothing. It works well in the lightest hue to the darkest shade. In Hindu religion, Aranyani is the goddess of forests and the animals that dwell within them. An elegant name for a newborn, Aranayani has surprisingly not yet been used so often.

For me the green of foliage and the brown of tree trunks and branches represent Aranyani.

Aranyani has the distinction of having one of the most descriptive hymns in the Rigveda dedicated to her. Hymn 146 in the 10th mandala of the Rigveda describes Aranyani as being elusive, fond of quiet glades in the jungle, and fearless of remote places. In the hymn, the supplicant entreats her to explain how she wanders so far from the fringe of civilisation without becoming afraid. She wears anklets with bells, and though seldom seen, she can be heard by the tinkling of her anklets. She is also described as a dancer.

Can you dream of getting the feel of your abode being a home to Aranyani? If you move with this idea, a positive power would engulf your home and office. Using eco friendly wood like rubber wood, woods from sustainable forests or wood substitutes on doors and windows. Getting the feel of natural wood will always add that magical ecstasy. You can even use laminates and veneers. Wood-look laminates on exteriors can get you the nature feel. Do remember that you need the presence of Aranyani, the sound of her anklets with bells, in your house to get the mood right. The shades of brown for polishing the wood will certainly help. You could also have bells and wind chimes at strategic points to enhance the musical feel.

The feel of Aranyani will also come from real plants. In case you make the effort, plants like Areca, rubber plant, aloe vera, ferns, money plants and many more can be rotated inside and outside your house. The touch of green and brown they get into your life is surely priceless.

A good book rack or a showcase for artifacts is also possibly a great way of getting color in your office or home.

In the next part of the series, we will delve more into ways of getting good color vaastu in your spaces. Till then think of getting the spirit of Aranyani into your life.

Sanjay Mittal is an engineer from the Delhi College of Engineering (now DTU). He likes making modern eco-friendly buildings, and works as a realtor also. He has written two books, the second one being 2040: The Battle for Life is slated to be released soon. He is the founder director of a fitness research unit mygravitymyfitness.com email: [email protected] and twitter handle sanjaymittal@9_81g