It shall be the duty of an astrologer to examine and note indications connected with the dik (direction), sthāna (place), and āhṛta (anything carried), as well as the ceṣṭā (motion) connected with the body of the querent or of any other person, and time. For the All-knowing Universal Intelligence pervading all movable and immovable objects indicates coming events by motions and casual words to devout souls who have faith in Him.
That place is known as Sama-sthāna which is shaded over by trees overgrown with fruits and flowers, inhabited by birds of fine glossy plumage, unapproached by evil birds and bearing good names. Dwelling places of the Devas, the Ṛṣis, the Brāhmaṇas, the Sādhus and the Siddhas, places rendered agreeable by fragrant flowers and crops, and places covered over with green turf, and from its purity and waters calculated to exhilarate one’s spirit, are also good places.
That is not a good place in which are found trees cut or split, or eaten through by worms or covered with thorns, or burnt or of ugly appearance, or crooked or inhabited by evil birds, or of bad names or with most of their leaves or their bark dry or fallen.
That is not a good place which is either a cremation ground or a deserted place of tapas (psychical training) or any uneven ground, or ground with barren or saline soil, or ground with excrement, charcoal, pot-shared, ash or dried grass.
That is not a good place in which is found a person who has abandoned all worldly cares, or a mute person, or a barber, or an enemy, or which may be a place of detention or custody, or in which may be found butchers, Cāṇḍālas, gamblers, ascetics or diseased persons, or which may be a place where weapons or liquor may be sold.