Where to place the prayer room?

It's a standard practice to make a prayer or pooja room in residential and commercial buildings. Regardless of the building's usage, one must maintain the sanctity of the prayer room. Vastu Shastra provides certain guidelines to maintain the holiness of a prayer room so that family members can reap maximum benefits to receive positive energies. This article highlights the crucial factors to look out for when deciding to place the pooja room in a home, office, or factory.

The North-East direction is considered best to place the pooja room in any building. The overall construction of the pooja place should be of low height and lightweight. Heavy stone material is not suitable to build the pooja place in this direction. The wall colors in the pooja place should be light pastel colors, such as light blue, cream, or green.

I have usually seen a lot of confusion about the direction one must face when offering prayers, so I would like to clarify that here as well. As a universal rule, a person should always face east when offering prayers. That essentially means that God's idols face west direction. However, one can also face the west direction when offering prayers if the prayers are offered in the evenings instead of morning hours. Therefore, it depends on the routine of a family.

There are different sizes of idols available, and one can select the size they feel a bond with. However, it is recommended that idols' size should not be huge. In Hindu pooja places, It is quite common to see several Gods' idols. It is okay to keep multiple idols of the same God; however, one must use only one God's idol to offer prayers.

In many buildings, it is common to use extra space under the staircase. However, one shouldn't use this place for pooja purposes. This extra space is best to be used as storage instead. Lastly, it is always a good idea to light candles/diya and offer prayers to keep the pooja place energized.