Air. His presiding Devtaa's Mantra is Yam. His noise comes rending and resounding, moving onward he makes all things ruddy. He comes propelling the dust of the Earth. The gusts of air rush after him and congregate upon him. Hasting forward he never reels. He is friend of the waters. His sounds are heard but his form is not seen.

There are five kinds of Vaayu in our body - 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.

Origin and meaning
The word Dikpaal has been derived from two words Dik meaning direction and Paal meaning sustainer and protector. Dikpaal is thus the Deity who guards and protects the directions. Origin and meaning of the word Dishaa is given below.

Dish Daanayati - the medium through which one gets what one desires.
Da Daan - that which endows
Di Druk - 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.

Other Names
Dishaa Swaamee or Digpaal or Dikaal or Lokpaal

Directions and Their Guardian Deities
The table given below gives information on the eight main directions and their guardian Deities (Dikpaal or Digpaal). 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.

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 Yam Raaj (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.

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 Yam and inauspiciousness
North : Spirituality and attainment of heaven (Swarg Lok) after death.

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.