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Vaayu

Air. There are five kinds of Vaayu - Praan Vaayu, Apaan Vaayu, Samaan Vaayu, Vyaan Vaayu, and Udaan Vaayu living in our body. Among these, Praan and Apaan Vaayu are inhaling and exhaling airs. The Praan and Apaan move between Samaan and Vyaan airs. When the soul sleeps, both Samaan and Vyaan are absorbed. Between Praan Vayu and Apaan Vaayu dwells Udaan Vaayu pervading all airs. Udaan Vaayu controls all breaths, and Udaan is controlled by penance, and consequently that penance breaks the cycle of birth and death and leads to absorption into Brahm.

In the midst of all those life breaths that swallow up one another and move within the body, blazes forth the fire of seven flames. The nose, the tongue, the eye, the skin, the ear, the mind, and the understanding - these are the seven tongues of that Vaishwaanar flame. Thus which is smelt, tasted, seen, touched, heard, thought and understood are the seven types of fuels for these flames.

Vaayu is one of the five elements and a Deity to be worshipped.

A. Origin and meaning - The word Dikpaal (दिक्‍पाल) has been derived from two words Dik (दिक्) meaning direction and pal (पाल) meaning sustainer and protector. Dikpaal is thus the deity who guards and protects the directions. Origin and meaning of the word Dishaa (दिशा) is given below.

Dish Daanayati (दिश्‌दानयति) - the medium through which one gets what one desires.
Da Daan (द दान) - that which endows
Di Druk (दि दृक्) - the medium through which one can view.

To understand what one gets from a direction let us see what it generally consists of.
Sattwa frequencies come from the main directions - North, South, East and West and consist of pure particles (Pavitrak).
Raj frequencies come from the North-East, North-West, South-East and South-West sub-directions.
Tam frequencies are emitted by the downward direction arising from the centre of the Earth.
Things associated with frequencies are obtained from the respective directions.

B. Other Names - Dishaa Swaamee and Lokpal

C. Directions and their guardian Deities - The table given below gives information on the eight main directions and their guardian Deities (Dikpaal). According to some schools of thought the downward and upward directions are also included in the directions taking their number to ten. They have their own guardian deities. At times the eight directions are spoken of in the context of the eightfold Prakriti and pure particles arising from the eight directions.

D. Mission and special features - Though Sattwa frequencies are emitted by all the eight directions, their proportion varies. Stand facing each of the four walls of a room, not knowing the directions for one minute each.

A seeker should not face southwards during spiritual practice. Due to frequencies coming from the southern direction the master of which is Yamaraj (deity of death), distress is experienced and spiritual progress does not occur smoothly. Contrary to this, since facing the east or north makes one feel pleasant, spiritual progress also occurs smoothly.

If an individual finds all directions distressing then most probably he is a psychiatric patient and if he finds all of them pleasant then his spiritual level is more than 60%. (The spiritual level of an average individual is 20%.)

Mission and special features of guardian deities of various directions are given below.
East: Light, heat, life, happiness and prosperity
West : Darkness, cold, death and destruction
South : The direction of Lord Yama and inauspiciousness
North : Spirituality and attainment of heaven (svargalok) after death

E. Science behind the idol - Eight guardian deities of the directions have been described in the Puraan and Tantra texts. They do not have temples of their own.

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