Unfortunately, the history of the swastika has forced many people to revert from using it...but either direction of the swastika was used to signify a good luck symbol and fortune. It is my goal to help revive the integrity of this symbol by using it in many of my malas.
Swastika, meaning "it is well" is the symbol of auspiciousness, prosperity, and good fortune. The four limbs of the Hindu swastika denote the Four Vedas (symbolizing auspiciousness), four goals of life (denoting prosperity), four stages of life (signifying good fortune), four directions in space (symbolizing the Divine omnipresence), four seasons (symbolizing the cyclic nature of time), and four yugas of the world-cycle (symbolizing the natural evolution of the universe).
HELP CLARIFY MEANING OF LEFT AND RIGHT FACING SWASTIKAS (Feminine and Masculine aspects of the divine symbol)
The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known as a manji (whirlwind), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. It is derived from the Hindu religious swastika, but it is not identical in meaning.
The Manji is made up of several elements- a vertical axis representing the joining of heaven and earth, a horizontal axis representing the connection of yin and yang, and the four arms, representing movement- the whirling force created by the interaction of these elements.
When facing left, it is the Omote (front facing) Manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the Ura (rear facing) Manji.
I have been asked by a reader to eliminate Wikipedia from the resources of information that I have listed below and I will honour that request...it has been brought to my attention by several others that this resource is not the best to reference. You may search this information on Wikipedia on your own accord but I will honour the comment left at the end of this post. (Please click on COMMENTS below to read the post that was left...the writer has left his own links as well that may shed light on the history of the swastikas use.)
I welcome any additions to this list of information and I do not claim to be a scholar of the swastika but agree in its ancient meanings through Hindu, Buddhist, and many other facets of human existence.
Visit http://www.reclaimtheswastika.com/ to state your feelings on reclaiming the Swastika...a discussion formed around the EU wanting to BAN! the use of the swastika. Fear breeds ignorance and this can only be abolished through education...there needs to be conversation and the true facts of the origin of the Swastika needs to be revealed to all for it to remain a positive symbol (as it has always been before Hitler and so it shall again in our time)
A fascinating detailed history and account of the swatika can be found here.
A further description of the swastika can be found here.
The reason why Hitler chose the swastika is explained with excerpts from Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, 1923.
Regarding the Nazis, you have been duped by neo-nazis and others who post to Wikipedia. You should not cite an anonymous bulletin board. By citing the anonymous bulletin board, you are duped into never using the actual name of the group you discuss: the National Socialist German Workers' Party. It makes people think that you do not know that there was no "Nazi Party" and that they did not call themselves that, and it is behavior similar to many on Wikipedia who cover-up for what the Nazis actually called themselves (they did NOT call themselves Nazis). Also, the anonymous bulletin board duped you into making readers wonder if you know that German National Socialists did not call their symbol a "Swastika." Your comments suggest that you are unaware of the amazing discoveries by the historian Dr. Rex Curry concerning swastika symbolism. Your comments about the Aryan word have no support because there is none to cite as shown by the anonymous bulletin board. By citing it you commit the same error in that you fail to mention even once in passing that German National Socialists believed that their socialism was part of their "superior" society or race (what you call their Aryan fixation). That leads to your failure to even mention the use by German Socialists of the swastika as alphabetic symbolism of overlapping "S" letters for their "socialism." Thus even your early quote from the notorious book by the German Socialist leader shows that he altered the swastika to use it a alphabetic symbolism, because when he used the term Aryan, he included in that term his fanatical dogma - his self-described socialism - a word you never even mention in his regard.
If you want to "rescue" the swastika from German National Socialism, stop repeating wikipedia's Nazi propaganda about Aryan ideas that attempt to tie the swastika into India etc. You never address the fact that the German National Socialist leader knew early on that the swastika could point either direction and that it was, in Germany, usually flat on one side. It is clear that at some point, he oriented future uses to highlight the "S" orientation and he turned it 45 degrees to the horizontal also, for alphabetic symbolism. All of this you miss because you rely on an anonymous bulletin board.
Swastikas symbols as alphabetic symbolism originated in the USA where it was adopted later by the Nazis.
Nazis adopted the modern swastika symbol as overlapping S letter symbolism for "socialism," as shown in the research of the noted historian Dr. Rex Curry.
It had also been used as S symbolism for socialism by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
http://rexcurry.net/ussr-socialist-swastika-cccp-sssr.html
Many people do not know that the term "Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers' Party" and that members of the horrid group did not call themselves Nazis, but called themselves socialists.
Swastikas as alphabetic symbolism began in the USA as early as 1875 and continued through the creation of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (German Nazis or NSGWP).
http://rexcurry.net/theosophy-madame-blavatsky-theosophical-society.html
Also see http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html
The NSGWP had clear roots in National Socialism promoted by socialists in the USA.
The USA also originated flag fetishism, robotic group-chanting to flags, Nazi salutes, and Nazism.
The "Nazi salute" is more accurately called the "American salute" as it was created and popularized by national socialists in the USA where its use was mandated by law in government schools for three decades before, and through, the creation of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. It was the early gesture of the Pledge of Allegiance.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
The original pledge was anti libertarian and began with a military salute that then stretched out toward the flag. In actual use, the second part of the gesture was performed with a straight arm and palm down by children casually performing the forced ritual chanting. Due to the way that both gestures were used sequentially in the pledge, the military salute led to the Nazi salute. The Nazi salute is an extended military salute via the USA's pledge.
The Pledge's early salute caused quite a Fuhrer/furor. The dogma behind the Pledge was the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million slaughtered under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 49 million under the Peoples’ Republic of China; 21 million under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. It was the worst slaughter of humanity ever.
The USA is still the worst example in the world of bizarre laws that require robotic chanting to a national flag in government schools (socialist schools) every day for 12 years. It has changed generations of Americans from libertarians to authoritarians. The government bamboozled individuals into believing that robotic group-chanting in government schools is a beautiful expression of freedom. Frightening photographs are at http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html
Posted by: Tinny Bell | January 02, 2007 at 12:45 AM
Probably the earliest record of the swastika is an early Chinese astronomical text(about 6000 bce) concerning commets and other sighted phenomena. The right facing symbol was for a superior(entering the solar system from above the ecliptic) and the left facing swastika retrograde commet(entering the solar system from below the ecliptic)
Posted by: Charles | October 20, 2007 at 07:41 AM
It is really unfortunate that the auspiciousness of the swastika symbol was misused by the Nazis and is now ingrained in people that it is a symbol of hate and evil by the Nazis. I hope the true meaning of this great symbol will overcome the negative press it has gotten for the past decades.
Posted by: Emma | July 17, 2011 at 11:51 PM