The Swastika (non-racist topic)

Swastika on doors in India as a sign of good luck

 

Yep, for thousands of years it was a symbol of good luck and the nazis ruined it for everyone

Hotwater​

 

Not for hundreds of millions of Hindus and Buddhists.

 

Where would that pic be from?

 

They don’t count atriot:


Hotwater

 

The Bavarian women’s ice hockey team?


Hotwater

 

You have a point there. Any good Buddhist will admit that he doesn't exist.

 

http://www.sharenator.com/All_the_world_loved_Swastika_before_WWII/

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007453

Apparently the symbol has been around for 1000,s of yrs- with all kinds of meanings- -

I see it as a symbol of hate- but that because that's what its MOST famous for - that symbol could never mean anything else ever again

 

Swastika on a Greek silver stater coin from Corinth, 6th century BC.

 

Detail of the tomb of William Edington in Winchester Cathedral (14th century)

 

http://www.wisegeek.com/did-the-swastika-symbol-really-originate-in-some-eastern-religions.htm



Swastika is Sanskrit for ‘good luck charm,’ or a wish of well-being and good fortune. A lucky penny, four leaf clover, or other talisman of positivity could be said to be more or less synonymous with the general meaning of swastika. The unfortunate selection of the swastika as a Nazi Party emblem in World War II left the West cold to the symbol sometimes referred to as a broken cross, but its origin is as ancient as mankind itself, predating modern genocidal associations.

The swastika is a sacred symbol that appears as far back as the Stone Age, or Neolithic times. The oldest record of the swastika comes from artifacts unearthed in modern-day Iran dating back 7,000 years. Swastikas also appear on archaeological items from the Bronze and Iron Ages and are closely associated with peoples of the Mesopotamian regions. The ubiquitous symbol is also found among the Indo-European Celts, Greeks, throughout Asia and Africa, and even among Native American peoples.

To the ancient Zoroastrians of Persia, the swastika represented the revolving sun, the source of live-giving fire and infinite creativity. This pre-Christian monotheistic religion is thought by some scholars to have heavily influenced the development of Judaism, which in turn influenced Christianity and Islam.

The swastika is mentioned in ancient Indian epic poetry, among the oldest epics known to the world. Hindu scripture is in part based on these poems. In Hinduism, one arm of the swastika represents Brahma, or creation, and the other represents the evolution of that which is created, or consciousness. The four arms also commonly represent the four winds of change or the four cardinal directions.

In Buddhism, the swastika represents the balance of opposites and signifies All That Is, or divine totality. Christianity used the “hooked cross” or swastika as a symbol of Christ’s ability to overcome death on the cross through resurrection. It might be interesting to note that prior to the Nazi’s adoption of the symbol in the mid-18th century, the swastika was used as a motif not just in Europe and Asia, but throughout the United States as well. Purportedly, through the 1930s, a swastika design could be found in lobbies, on road signs, and even in a Coca-Cola advertising campaign.

In India and many other nations, the swastika continues to be used as a symbol of good fortune to mark weddings and to bless entrances to homes and temples. Its ubiquitous presence throughout ancient history the world over has led some, like Carl Jung, to suggest its origin might be psychological. Astronomer Carl Sagan noted that a spinning comet sometimes takes the shape of a swastika, as depicted in at least one ancient manuscript reproduced in Sagan’s book, Comet. Both explanations might give insight into the origin of the swastika as a symbol hearkening back to the very origins of mankind.

Unfortunately, in the West, the swastika continues to be used by neo-Nazi groups that practice modern-day hate mongering. This only strengthens negative associations established in World War II, ensuring that the historically benevolent swastika remains a despised icon in this part of the world.

 

In 1925 Coca Cola made a lucky watch fob in the shape of a swastika with the slogan, "Drink Coca Cola five cents in bottles." At that time, the Swastika was still a symbol of 'Good Luck'. The watch fob is approximately 4cm x 4cm in size and is made of brass. Also see this article, "Why historians say Coke inveted Fanta to enliven Nazi soldiers," with photos at my daily nutrition, food, and health site at the Examiner.com. See the photo of the coca cola swastika watch fob at: the "USA- Coca Cola Swastika Lucky Watch Fob" site.

 

Metal Cut Work Swastik Tea Light Holder-Diwali Gifts-Apno Rajasthan
www.craftsvilla.com - 800 × 800 - Buscar por imágenes
Let truth and peace prevail in your home with this exquisite Swastika and Sun metal cut work tea light holder encased in glass. Once lit the lamp displays ...

 

BBC - The Story of the Swastika [HD] - YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg-4rlSxGic"]BBC - The Story of the Swastika [HD] - YouTube
3/2/2014 -
In the week that Hindus celebrate the holy festival of Diwali, this documentary tells the story of

 

http://reclaimtheswastika.com/







The swastika is an ancient symbol present in numerous and diverse cultures around the world, including the cultures of India, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.

In India, the swastika has thousands of years of history and still retains its place of pre-eminence among the sub-continent's spiritual symbols. It remains one of the most prominent spiritual symbols in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, and is found adorning temples and religious shrines throughout Asia.

After its misuse by the Nazis, it became associated with murder and oppression on a scale never before witnessed on this earth. For this reason, in Europe, for many millions, the swastika came to symbolise evil. There arose, as a result of this, a move to ban the swastika.

This website is dedicated to "reclaiming the swastika" - to sharing information that reveals its long and varied history and the spiritually deep meaning that underlies it. For, if we allow the swastika to remain forever distorted, then those responsible will have won. Have your say.

 

http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/yad/can-swastika-be-rehabilitated



Can The Swastika Be Rehabilitated?
06/27/2012 -
Steve Lipman


Message from the Raelians.

What do you do if you see someone wearing a swastika?

Do you confront the offender? Inquire why the person is displaying the hated sign of the regime that perpetrated the Holocaust? Educate? Walk away?

The decision is harder if the person in question obviously means no harm and is apparently oblivious to the Swastika’s emotional impact on Jews, if not on anyone who grew up in the era of World War II or has some historical consciousness.

I faced this dilemma a few weeks ago.

Stepping out of an elevator in a mid-town apartment building, I walked past a middle-aged woman with a lapel pin adorned with a swastika. She was apparently from Asia, most likely Southeast Asia, where the symbol is an important part of culture. The Swastika – the crosses hooked in the opposite direction from the well-known, hated symbol co-opted by Hitler – is an ancient, venerated part of the Hindu, Buddhist and Jainist faiths, and of some Native American groups. It’s also a Chinese character that represents eternity. On East Asian maps, it indicates a Buddhist temple.

The word comes from the Sanskrit “svastika,” which means ‘to be good.’
Clearly, the swastika predates the Third Reich.

Occasional news stories surface of an Eastern Asian merchant somewhere selling some wares that feature the Swastika, or of a Jew being taken aback upon encountering Swastikas on a visit to some site in India or another land in the region.
Last week the swastika again made the new, closer to home. This time, the perpetrators knew the symbol’s past, and current significance. A small plane towed a Swastika banner over New York City and the Jersey shore over the weekend; it was an attempt to rehabilitate the swastika.

The international Raelian movement, a group that believes that humans were created by extraterrestrials eons ago and that the Swastika represents infinity in time, made a public display of the symbol part of its third annual Swastika Rehabilitation Day.
The swastika, “the oldest and most recurrent symbol in the world,” was corrupted by the Nazis, the movement’s website explained. “Any negative emotions regarding the swastika by people under the age of 70 years old are obviously linked to their education and not to their experiences.”

A “misguided, but not malicious act,” said Etzion Neuer, acting head of the Anti-Defamation League in New Jersey. “Incredibly insensitive … an egocentric attitude.”
The ADL, incidentally, recently declared that the swastika “will no longer be automatically considered an act of anti-Semitism” – it’s graduated to a universal sign of hatred or prejudice.
Unless you’re from some parts of Asia.

From whence, I assume, came the lady whose path I crossed here.
I froze for a second when I spotted the Swastika on her lapel. Was this an unrepentant neo-Nazi inviting a confrontation? Then I looked at her face. She clearly was no neo-Nazi. She was innocent, apparently unaware of the emotional baggage a swastika carries. Maybe she has no Jewish friends, maybe no one told her that her taste in jewelry, if not politically incorrect in this country, is questionable.

In Germany and Austria and Poland and Hungary and Lithuania , countries that suffered under Nazism, a swastika is illegal. Here, it’s merely offensive. To me, the son of a refugee from Nazi Germany, the grandson of a man who died in a Nazi death camp, a swastika was a slap in the face.

The moment passed quickly. The woman stepped on the elevator and the door closed behind me. She never saw me shudder.
Should I have said something? Should I have remarked that “some people might take offense at the broach?” Was it my responsibility to acknowledge her swastika, to prevent other people in New York from a similar near-confrontation or to prevent the woman from embarrassing herself in the presence of someone more violence-prone than I?
I did nothing.

Maybe the purpose of me seeing the swastika was to inspire me to think rather than act.

 

Raelians sign

 

[Swastika in Russian passport of the Red Army (before the war)