We think we design our homes. But the truth is, our homes design us.
Our Rishis taught that humans have Ten Indriyas - Ten Instruments of experiencing life.
Five Jnanendriyas - Sense Organs - How we TAKE IN the world (Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Skin)
Five Karmendriyas - Action Organs
How we GIVE BACK to the world (Hands, Feet, Speech, Excretion, Reproduction)
A poorly designed home disturbs our senses. A well-designed ideal home nurtures them. That is why two people living in same city can have different peace, health, and productivity, because their homes influence their senses differently.
Let us see how, as shown in the image.
LEFT SIDE: Five JNANENDRIYAS - SENSE ORGANS - How our Home Feeds our Senses
These are the windows through which life enters. If our home gives pure input, our mind become pure.
1) Eyes - Light & View
Influence: Perception, awareness & calm vision
Our eyes need natural daylight, beautiful views, and clear sightlines. A dark home with small windows, no view, and harsh artificial lights makes eyes tired, mind dull, and increases anxiety. Children studying in dark rooms lose concentration.
Design for Eyes:
Provide large windows, skylights, natural daylight in every room, and clear sightlines from one room to another so mother in kitchen can see child in living room.
Provide a view of greenery, our eyes see peace and mind feels peace.
2) Ears - Sound & Silence
Influence: Peace, focus & tranquil hearing
Our ears need both good sound and better silence. A home on main road with thin walls, echoing tiles, and no courtyard brings constant noise - TV sound, traffic, shouting. This increases cortisol, we cannot focus or sleep well.
Design for Ears:
Provide courtyard layout that blocks outside noise, soft furnishings that absorb echo, noise-buffering walls (thicker walls on road side), and wooden jali that filters sound. We design silence. A home where we can hear birds in morning and soft rain - that is a home that heals our ears and gives us focus.
3) Nose - Smell & Air
Influence: Fresh air, fragrance & wellbeing
Our nose decides if we feel fresh or suffocated. A home with closed kitchen, no cross-ventilation, damp corners smells stale. That stale air goes into our lungs and our thoughts. A fragrant home with fresh breeze gives energy.
Design for Nose:
Provide cross-ventilation in every room, herb garden with Tulsi, mint, jasmine near windows, and open courtyards that bring fresh air circulation. When breeze enters through herb garden, our whole home smells natural, not chemical air freshener. This gives true wellbeing.
4) Tongue - Taste & Kitchen
Influence: Nourishment, flavor & mindful eating.
Taste is not just in food, it is in the space where food is made. A dark, hot, unventilated kitchen with artificial materials makes cooking a punishment. Food cooked in anger and sweat can't be tasty. A kitchen should inspire you to cook with love.
Design for Tongue:
Provide well-ventilated kitchen with natural light, natural materials like stone and wood that don't release chemicals, and direct access to food garden - grow curry leaves, tomatoes, coriander just outside kitchen window. When kitchen is bright and airy, we cook mindfully, we eat mindfully, family health improves.
5) Skin - Touch & Comfort
Influence: Comfort, safety & sensory ease
Our skin is touching our home all day - feet on floor, back on chair, hands on wall. Cold, rough, synthetic floors, uncomfortable seating makes body tired. Natural textures make body relax.
Design for Skin:
Use natural textures - cool stone floors (cool in areas of hot climate), warm wood, comfortable seating heights, lime-plastered walls that are soft to touch. our feet feel cool, our hands feel texture, our body feels home. This gives sensory ease and safety, especially for children and elders.
RIGHT SIDE: 5 KARMENDRIYAS - ACTION ORGANS - How Our Home Supports our Actions
These are how you act in the world. If our home supports right action, our life becomes productive, harmonious, and creative.
1) Hands - Work & Craft
Influence: Productivity, creativity & skill
Our hands create. We need a space to work, study, craft, repair. If home has no dedicated work/study nook, we work on dining table with disturbance, productivity drops.
Design for Hands:
Provide dedicated work/study nook with natural light from left side (for right-handed), craft workspace for hobbies, proper desk height. When hands have their own place, creativity and skill flourish. This is Artha - prosperity through work.
2) Feet - Movement & Circulation
Influence: Movement, health & natural circulation
Our feet need to move freely. A home with blocked pathways, furniture clutter, steps without logic, no connection to garden makes us lazy and circulation poor. Good movement is good health.
Design for Feet:
Provide open pathways, wide corridors, step garden (small garden at different levels), easy flow from living to kitchen to garden. We walk naturally inside home. Children run, elders walk safely. Movement is health.
3) Speech - Communication & Living Room
Influence: Dialogue, harmony & community
Our speech - how we talk with family - depends on where we talk. If living room is TV-centered with chairs facing TV, family talks less. If seating is circular and central, family talks more. Many family problems come from lack of proper communication space.
Design for Speech:
We design central living room, seating circle facing each other, open gathering space under verandah with pillars (like in image). This encourages dialogue, not just watching. Festivals, family meetings happen here. Speech becomes harmonious, community becomes strong.
4) Excretion - Payu - Cleansing & Toilets
Influence: Hygiene, cleansing & health.
This is most ignored but most important for health. Toilets placed wrongly, without ventilation, without water access, unhygienic, create disease and bad energy. Cleansing is purity.
Design for Excretion:
Provide clean, ventilated, hygienic washrooms with proper water access, natural light, exhaust, dry and wet areas separate. Toilets in Northwest or West, never in Northeast. Easy to clean, beautiful to use. This directly affects hygiene, cleansing, and health of whole family.
5) Reproduction / Creation - Upastha - Creation & Bedroom
Influence: Creation, rest, nurturing & privacy.
This is not just physical reproduction, it is about creation of new ideas, new life, rest, and nurturing. Our bedroom is where we rest, create future plans, nurture relationship. If bedroom is noisy, bright, exposed, we cannot rest or create.
Design for Upastha:
We design calm private bedroom in Southwest (most stable, earth zone), with soft lighting (not harsh white light), restful space, privacy from living areas, with small garden view. This gives deep sleep, rest, nurturing, and privacy for couple to create - both children and ideas.
CONCLUSION:
When home nurtures our senses, our senses nurture our mind. When home supports our actions, our actions build our life.
