The swastika

[VioletVortex]

First of all, no one should be offended by any display of the Swastika, no matter the motive. I fail to understand why people are "offended" when someone says something they don't like. They disagree. So what?

The Swastika is a symbol of the cyclical nature of the world, this it's use in Paganism and Hinduism. In Paganism, the symbol originates in Germanic symbolism for the year.

 

[VioletVortex]

Sorry, but dead Nazis don't get to continue appropriating and twisting the meaning of the religious symbol of Hindus, American Indians, and others. I can understand why those of the WW2 generation who fought Nazis would have had a hard time with it. But it's high time we know the truth and get past this.

If the Nazis had appropriated the Christian cross instead, would we still react with hatred towards it today? Or would Christians reeducate the world about its earlier meaning and reclaim the symbol?

The Swastika originated in Ancient Europe, not India as many believe. In both religions, the Swastika had the same meaning. Adolf Hitler did not change the meaning. He thought it was an aesthetically pleasing emblem with roots in European culture. It may be associated with racism, but it has never meant racism.

 

[Madhuri]

Then I don't really get why this Thread exists.

Because the OP disagrees. This thread started because he and I were debating this point and I suggested we create a thread for it to get others' opinions.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I am sad that your emblem which means beauty to you is received with such negative responses even today, but in this situation the empathy and understanding would need to be strong in you, because the Eastern Europeans and Jews were slaughtered; religions like the Jehovah Witnesses were slaughtered, the gypsies, the Gays were slaughtered., cities like the Londoners, Brummies, Liverpudlians and all were layed waste, sons, husbands and fathers were slaughtered like the American, Brit, Canadian, Indian, Aussie, NZ and countless other nationalities of soldiers .. far from their homes.

IMHO, the Cross and the Crescent have caused equal or more misery in the world than the Swastika. Why don't people get enraged at them?

See my albums 'Swasti' to know how both, the Star of David and the Swastika are considered auspicious and have co-existed peacefully in India since 2,578 years, and not even one incident of unpleasantness. http://www.religiousforums.com/media/users/aupmanyav.11823/?page=7

"The oldest of the Indian Jewish communities is in Cochin. The traditional account is that traders from Judea arrived in the city of Cochin, Kerala, in 562 BCE. .. It is also believed that the Jews settled in India when King Solomon was in power." "The Hindu king gave permission in perpetuity (or, in the more poetic expression of those days, "as long as the world and moon exist") for Jews to live freely, build synagogues, and own property without conditions attached." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_India)

Star of David on the Cochin Synagogue window and its neighbor, the Swastika. Maharashtrian Bene Israel Jews.
Now most Jews have migrated abroad. We wish them well wherever they are.

 

[oldbadger]

IMHO, the Cross and the Crescent have caused equal or more misery in the world than the Swastika. Why don't people get enraged at them?

I don't know.................
All I know is that it will be some long long time before people around here accept the swastika.

 

[Flankerl]

Because we don't all live in Germany.

I know of no current event where a Buddhist or Hindu swastika was mistaken for a Nazi Swastika, so perhaps just chill?

So is there a current event about this matter anywhere?

Yer image is just a blank.
Yer point is blank.
Response? Blank.......

Great talk.

 

[Jainarayan]

So is there a current event about this matter anywhere?

It doesn't matter. It's not all about what you think is worth posting.

 

[Spiderman]

So is there a current event about this matter anywhere?





Great talk.

Hindu swastika banned from facebook and other western organizations:
http://peopleofshambhala.com/banned-the-ancient-hindu-symbol-of-dharma/

 

[psychoslice]

The idea of the swastika was stolen by the Nazis, its no different than someone taking the cross symbol and using it for evil, would the Christians still use the cross, or do away with it just because it was tarnished by someone evil, of course they wouldn't.

 

[VioletVortex]

The idea of the swastika was stolen by the Nazis, its no different than someone taking the cross symbol and using it for evil, would the Christians still use the cross, or do away with it just because it was tarnished by someone evil, of course they wouldn't.

It wasn't stolen. You could just as easily say the Pepsi logo was stolen from a beach ball.

 

[Papoon]

The idea of the swastika was stolen by the Nazis, its no different than someone taking the cross symbol and using it for evil, would the Christians still use the cross, or do away with it just because it was tarnished by someone evil, of course they wouldn't.

The Ku Klux Klan appropriated the cross. But I guess since only colored Americans were terrorised and killed, that's not an issue...

 

[psychoslice]

It wasn't stolen. You could just as easily say the Pepsi logo was stolen from a beach ball.

Well I'm sure you knew what I meant ?.

 

[Papoon]

The swastika is not merely an arbitrary symbol.

It is an archetypal entoptic display - pardon the pseudoscientific poetic license.


I have observed it many times.

 

[psychoslice]

The Ku Klux Klan appropriated the cross. But I guess since only colored Americans were terrorised and killed, that's not an issue...

Of course its an issue, but you cannot blame the cross that they burnt, its nothing in and of itself.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I have posted a Swstika in Facebook. Let them get back to me.

 

[Ingledsva]

The Nazi also used the Christian Cross.

We don't see that getting banned. It even has rays.

Take a look at the cross artifacts on this page - http://www.nobeliefs.com/mementoes.htm

 

[psychoslice]

That is a beautiful cross, that's for sure.

 

[Kartari]

Hi Iron Wizard,

The Swastika originated in Ancient Europe, not India as many believe. In both religions, the Swastika had the same meaning. Adolf Hitler did not change the meaning. He thought it was an aesthetically pleasing emblem with roots in European culture. It may be associated with racism, but it has never meant racism.

It had European roots as well, certainly. I did not say otherwise. I've not really read a lot about swastika to make expert claims, but the earliest evidence offhand appears to be from ancient Greece so you may be correct. But it's had multiple roots throughout the ancient world, it seems (About.com). So it's a pretty universal and ancient symbol, albeit with different connotations depending on the cultural context.

The point remains, the majority of people associate the evils of Hitler and the Nazis with the swastika even today. And that's certainly a change in meaning.

 

[Ingledsva]

He talks about taking back the swastika - and were each of the swastika designs came from.

 

[Nietzsche]

Huh?

Hindu or Buddhist Swastikas aren't even banned in Germany where I am not even allowed to wash my car on my own property.

I know of no current event where a Buddhist or Hindu swastika was mistaken for a Nazi Swastika, so perhaps just chill?





Yeah uhm that didn't happen.

Ehhhhhh while I agree that the bombing on Germany was infinitely worse than anything Germany was able to do with its own airforce(not from lack of want or trying, mind you, lest Herr Meyer roll in his grave), there was certainly sustained civilian bombing. They did it first, really. Guernica, Warsaw, Rotterdam, Belgrade, London. Then they seem to have had the audacity to believe they would be able to do that...and not have it happen to them?