Shri Yantra: Meaning, Placement and Direction as per Vastu

The Shri Yantra is a sacred diagram of nine interlocking triangles around a central point, associated with the goddess Tripura Sundari and with Lakshmi. In Vastu it is traditionally placed in the north-east, in the pooja room, on a clean raised surface, so that the person praying faces east or north.

The Shri Yantra (a geometric diagram used in practice) is the best known of the sacred diagrams in the Hindu tradition. It is found in temples, pooja (a prayer ritual) rooms, shops and offices, and it is one of the items families ask us about most. This guide explains what it is, what its geometry represents, where it is traditionally placed, and how it is looked after.

A note on how we write about it. The Shri Yantra is an object of devotion and focus. Tradition associates it with prosperity and wellbeing, and many families keep one for that reason. What any person experiences from keeping one depends on many factors, differs from one household to the next, and is not something we or anyone else can promise.

What the Shri Yantra is

A yantra is a geometric diagram used as a support for worship and meditation. The Shri Yantra, also written Sri Yantra or Shree Yantra, is associated with the goddess Tripura Sundari, a form of the divine feminine, and in popular practice with Lakshmi. It is central to the Shri Vidya tradition, where it is treated as the form of the goddess rather than a picture of her.

The geometry, layer by layer

The Shri Yantra is built from nine interlocking triangles around a central point. Read from the outside in, it has these parts:

1. An outer square with four gates, called the bhupura.
2. Three concentric circles.
3. A ring of sixteen lotus petals.
4. A ring of eight lotus petals.
5. Four upward pointing triangles and five downward pointing triangles, which intersect to form 43 smaller triangles.
6. The bindu, the central point.

The upward triangles are traditionally read as Shiva, the masculine principle, and the downward triangles as Shakti, the feminine. Their interlocking is read as the union of the two. The bindu represents the source from which everything is said to emerge. Drawing the figure accurately is difficult, which is why the precision of a Shri Yantra is one of the first things to check when choosing one.

Flat and meru forms

A Shri Yantra comes in two broad forms:

• Flat (bhu prastha). Engraved or printed on a plate, usually copper, brass, silver or gold plated metal. This is the most common form in homes.
• Meru (three dimensional). The same geometry raised into a stepped pyramid, carved in metal or crystal. It is traditionally treated with more formality, and families who keep one usually give it a fixed place in the pooja room.

Material is largely a matter of tradition and preference. Copper is the most common choice for a flat yantra because it is durable and easy to keep clean.

Where to place a Shri Yantra: direction and room

In Vastu practice, the Shri Yantra is placed where worship happens and where the space is kept clean and undisturbed.

• Direction. The north-east is the traditional first preference, since it is the zone associated with worship. The east and the north are the accepted alternatives.
• Room. The pooja room or pooja shelf is the natural place. In a shop or office, it is usually kept in the north-east of the premises, or near the cash area in the north.
• Facing. It is traditionally placed so that the person praying faces east or north while looking at it.
• Height. At or slightly above eye level when seated, on a clean raised surface rather than the floor.

Places it is traditionally kept away from:

• Bedrooms, and any wall shared with a toilet.
• The space under a staircase.
• A cluttered shelf used for storage.

Our guide to pooja room Vastu direction and placement covers the room itself.

How a Shri Yantra is traditionally kept

1. It is installed on a day and at a time chosen for the purpose. Many families have this worked out as part of a muhurat consultation.
2. It is kept clean. Metal yantras are wiped with a soft dry cloth, and some families wash them periodically with water or milk as part of worship.
3. A lamp or incense is offered, most commonly on Fridays, a day traditionally associated with Lakshmi.
4. A yantra that is badly damaged or warped is traditionally replaced rather than kept.

The ritual side of installation and worship belongs to your family's tradition and your pandit. We advise on the placement and the timing, and we can usually help a family find a pandit if needed.

How to choose a Shri Yantra

Because the geometry is the yantra, the first thing to check is how accurately it is drawn. A carelessly engraved Shri Yantra is common, particularly in cheaper printed or stamped pieces. When choosing one, look at these points:

1. The triangles. The nine large triangles should meet cleanly at their points, and the 43 small triangles they form should be distinct and roughly even. Lines that miss each other or overlap untidily suggest a poor drawing.
2. The bindu. The central point should sit exactly at the centre of the innermost triangle.
3. The petals and gates. The sixteen and eight petal rings should be complete and evenly spaced, and the outer square should show all four gates.
4. The engraving. On a metal plate, the lines should be cut or etched cleanly rather than printed on a surface that will wear away.
5. The size. Size is a practical choice. A pooja shelf usually suits a plate of three to six inches, while an office or shop may use a larger one. Size is not a measure of strength in the traditional view.

A yantra is traditionally chosen with care and then left in its place. Moving it from room to room, or keeping several in a drawer, runs against how it is meant to be used.

Keeping a Shri Yantra in a flat or a small home

Many families live in flats without a separate pooja room. A Shri Yantra can still be kept well. A wall mounted pooja unit or a clean shelf in the north-east of the living room works, provided it is not shared with a television, books or stored items, and does not back onto a toilet. Where the north-east of the flat is occupied by a toilet or a bedroom, the east or north of the living area is the usual alternative. The principle in every case is the same: a clean, calm, dedicated place at a comfortable height.

Shri Yantra, Kuber Yantra and Vastu Yantra compared

Some families keep more than one. When they do, each is given its own place rather than being stacked together. All three are available in our sacred yantras collection.

Is a Shri Yantra a Vastu remedy?

In our practice, yantras are one of several tools, and a modest one. When a home has a real placement problem, such as a toilet in the north-east, a yantra is not a substitute for looking at the layout itself. We read the plan or the home first, and suggest a yantra where it fits. Whether and how a yantra is felt to help differs from family to family, and the result can be positive, neutral or otherwise. A residential Vastu consultation looks at the whole picture, and a Vedic astrology consultation can bring in the birth chart where a family wants that.

If you are also choosing stones for the chart, our guide to yellow sapphire (Pukhraj) explains why a chart check comes first.