The swastika is an ancient religious symbol dating back 3000 years. Many historians believe it was initially a fire and sun symbol occurring in Asia and later among some Germanic tribes. Up until the 20th century, it evolved as a highly auspicious talisman, evoking thoughts of reverence, good fortune, and well being. In the Buddhist tradition of India, it is referred to as "The Seal on Buddha's Heart". In Japanese and Chinese Buddhism, a swastika often appears on the chest of past and modern images of Gautama Buddha; however, due to the continued consternation of Western tourists, many modern Asian artists have chosen to eliminate it as one of the 32 signs of a supreme being. The debate as to whether this ancient religious symbol can be restored to its rightful place in history tirelessly continues. How such an auspicious and truly noble symbol came to represent tyrannical oppression and racial genocide is perhaps one of the greatest paradoxes of world history.

The Sign of the Swastika

Throughout India, the image of the swastika is as ubiquitous as the image of the serpent. It appears on Siva temples, the doors of homes, as a decoration on mobile food-stalls, in folk art and on rugs, and exists as a significant design or yantra at ceremonial occasions.

To the Western world, however, the swastika is probably the most disturbing image that has ever been associated with a political regime. The Nazi Party of Germany used its powerful pattern to full advantage during the Second World War.

Surrounding their use of the image there exists a widespread misconception concerning the representation of the symbol. It is commonly thought that the motif of the Third Reich was an inverted swastika, a deviation from the original ancient design. The point needs clarification.

Regardless of the swastika's configuration, i.e. right-angled or left-angled, the symbol's significance does not suffer; it merely indicates two opposing principles, evolution and dissolution.

The swastika has both spiritual and social implications. Its use by millions of people in India for ceremonial and decorative purposes is primarily a sociological application. Its more esoteric meaning is possibly obscure to many.

Cosmology and the Swastika

Like e.g. the serpent, the swastika crystallizes fundamental principles relating to natural universal processes and their relationship to terrestrial life and was designed to evoke an intuitive or emotional response rather than an intellectual understanding.

`Swastika', a Sanskrit word, means literally `well being' which has many variables depending upon the application. As the serpent is the symbol of the creative, energizing force of the Supreme Spirit, the swastika is representative of that life-force being set in motion to initiate the cyclic workings of nature. Both images are thus closely inter-related.

The ancient Vedic seers described the original cosmic creative process as `the churning of the milky ocean' whereby fields of subtle substance become condensed into gross matter; a view that is now widely accepted today in energy-field physics research.

If Hitler picked the exclamation mark "!" as his symbol, then we'd be talking about it now just the same.

If Hitler picked the exclamation mark "!" as his symbol, then we'd be talking about it now just the same. :roll: