Is the Swastika Really a Symbol of Nazi Racism?


For many people the swastika has been rendered sinister since it was adopted by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. They believed, mistakenly, that it was a symbol of a pure Aryan race. In fact, the swastika is a s very old solar symbol, going back to Neolithic times, revered in many cultures, and found in many different forms, including being a sacred symbol in the sand paintings of the Navaho Indians. 

It is one of the few symbols that have almost universal meaning, significance, and distribution and its spread extends throughout India and Northern Europe to Central America, and as far as East Asia. The name comes from the Sanskrit word Swasti, meaning "well being" or "so be it" and there is a theory that it may have  first been "invented" by basket weavers, since the swastika shape is produced during the weaving process.

In examining the component elements of the swastika, the first thing to notice is that the shape of the four arms resembles a wheel. Like a wheel, the swastika can rotate in either direction. Officially, if the arms are pointing in a clockwise (deosil) direction, then it symbolizes the Sun, the male principle, the overt; if it is pointing counterclockwise (widdershins) then it resembles the
Moon, the feminine principle, the covert.

In this case, the swastika is sometimes called the "sauvastika." However,, there is generally no differentiation in the direction of the swastika that can be discerned from its usage as a religious symbol, and it is certainly not the case, despite popular belief, that the left orientated swastika is  somehow "evil" or that this was the only swastika employed by the Nazi's.
For the Hopi Indians, the clockwise swastika stands for the Earth, and the revered one, the Sun. The wheel is a major symbol of the Dharmic religions, and so is the swastika. When used in Hindu Temples, homes and other places, the swastika is often decorated with a bindhu or a dot in the center of the space between each arm. The swastika is one of the 108 sacred symbols of Lord Vishnu.
The next thing to notice is that the swastika has four arms, which are jointed, giving further reinforcement to the significance of this number. The number 4 stands for solid, material objects, the constructed universe, order and discipline  and for the four corners of the world. It also indicates the four winds, the four cardinal directions, the seasons and the elements, with quintessence, also known as the fifth element. 

This central hub, the still center, points to the swastika as a symbol of Axis Mundi. In Freemasonry, the hub of the swastika resembles the Pole Star.

Adele N.

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4 comments

27 August 2013 at 02:59

It's also a symbol of sinister origins. It's known by those in the occult to also be the symbol of the Summerian Goddess Nenki or Naki. Also, it is a solar symbol that Hitler put purposely, because the Aryan trates are actualy those that ancient pharoahs and queens used to have. The other thing is that Hitler believed that this race of blonde and blue eyed people were the descendants of Goddess Nanki, and almost world wide, some deitys are described to have elongated skulls, blonde and blue eyed as well with blue skin(in some cases). The swastika according to the Nazis, was the rise of an empire of the "master race" or those who resemble the gods.

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18 December 2018 at 11:24

My dumb friend said it means peace

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21 May 2021 at 11:41

Your friend is not dumb and you my friend are a bit racist. according to wikipedia, (the basis of information and also you can find this on sites like brittanica.com and hinduamerican.org) it says that the swastika stands for divinity and spirituality in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. (I myself am a Hindu.) The infamous nazi's have taken the Swastika and used it in a more power-stricken use and hence making it extremely racist. However, dating back to the centuries old, in the west, it was considered to be a sign of auspiciousness (or luck) until the Holocaust had even begun. Because of the use in the war, it had become racist but the sign itself is not a means of assimalation but purity. (remember that I did one google search to find all of this out so before you start ranting, you should do more research before writing stuff like this.) I hope you understand.

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2 January 2022 at 22:18

Hitler mein kamph mentions Hakenkreuz means Haken Kreuz which means hooked cross. He never mentions swastika. The person who translated Mein Kamph to english was a Christian priest who instead of the making it look like the nazis had a certain white supremacist Christian mindset tried to blame it on Indians. NYT article of that time 1 year said germans used hooded cross later they said it was swastika. Hitler used the Sanskrit work Aryan which is not a racial term but the western translators made it a racial term. He could have used the term Sanskrit term Swastika as he used Sanskrit word Aryan, but he never did use word Swastika. He grew up attending a church which already had that symbol. So it is not a Swastika it is a Hooked Christian Cross. It was used before WWII by america, russia, france, norway, england in various military and governement things. German dictionary of Hitlers time doesnt have word Swastika. and the work Hakenkreuz is translated as hooked cross.

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