I'm really surprised I haven't noticed this thread till now.
We're affected by the shapes of things every day, even our sense of up and down continues as we meditated, even after forgetting our bodies. Hence, the influence of vertical and horizontal are ever present, in the kamamaya kosa as well as in the subtler realms. Architecture affects our sense of presence, and squares, rectangles, right angles, circles and triangles continue to influence us throughout our day as well as demonstrate and illustrate the shapes of thoughts that pass through our minds otherwise unnoticed.
The swastika shows up among aboriginal peoples on every continent, and in all of those cultures it, among other things, represents the sun too. Yantras, usually shown in two-dimensional art, are multi-dimensional machines of virtuality within which the meditator steps into and surrounds themselves with the yantra to activate subtler realms of reality, and in the case of the swastika, it is used to unwind the kundalini to ascend the spine and can unlock each chakra to loosen the knots that may hinder the kundalini's ascension.
The kundalini is supposedly always wound clockwise at the base of the spine, thus witnessing the swastika spin counter-clockwise facilitates awakening it to rise up the shushumna. The notion that the Nazis "twisted" it or "turned it around" is a major boo boo. In much of contemporary Hindu culture the clockwise spinning swastika is considered good fortune, whereas the counter-clockwise is considered fortuitous, and among Hindus, the clock-wise spinning swastika is often used to identify a restaurant as vegetarian.
Reasons why some things are so often lost in history, eating fish on Fridays is an example of that. In the case of this rendering of the swastikas turning left or right, it is thought that an undisturbed life of material static peace among sincere people undisturbed by calamities is why the swastika spinning clockwise may be preferred by some, whereas the counter-clockwise spin not only raises the kundalini but also hastens the relinquishment of sam'skaras and for some this may seem to facilitate calamities in their lives and for their family and community so the clockwise swastika may be preferred by some, though is not a good choice spiritually.
Another reason why folks may seem to think the Nazis turned it around is through a misunderstanding of Sino-originating art. Many Buddha statues have what, from the outside, appears to be the clockwise swastika. Such perspectives are 'extroversive' appreciation of art. The purview of Sino-cultural art appreciation is from the inside, thus, to perceive the art of a Buddah statue of Sino-originations with an externally seeming clockwise swastika on his belly, chest or forehead is to be perceived from 'inside' the statue or picture, seeing the swastika from Buddah's perspective, not externally. Thus to the Buddah represented in the art and to the person perceiving the art from within, the swastika would appear to spin counter-clockwise, as it should be to hasten spiritual progress and facilitate raising the kundalini.
Often, when the world is blessed with the presence of a sadguru, they will refresh both mantras and yantras with siddha, they will raise their kundalini to their third eye or above chanting specific individual mantras and/or visualizing and experiencing kinetically yantras throughout the process, thus giving, through diksa or pervasively throughout the planet and perhaps beyond, the siddha power of the mantras and yantras.
After a person attains samadhi, ranging from Aninda'nanda Rasa Sama'dhi to savikalpa and nirvikalpa, geometric forms may appear in their purvue, often constantly, in the minds of those blessed.
Aninda'nanda Rasa Sama'dhi often results in seeing the hexagram throughout their peripheral vision, whether eyes are open or closed, and after many of the various samadhis they will often witness pratyahara occurring geometrically, sometimes like watching a Swiss Army knife or Rube Goldberg device drawing back into itself into its smallest unit, or even a dot or point, without trying to witness such things, without projecting them.
Along with its spiritual use, the swastika, particularly due to its association with "good luck" has been used in culture icons as well as being such a simple and symmetrical form in mundane art. A few people have created some swastika oriented websites, such focusing solely on the mundanity and a few dedicated to its true spiritual history and utility. Here are a small few of those:
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On 3/15/06, Rick Archer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
on 3/15/06 9:22 PM, feste37 at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Rick's being Rick again.
>
> I guess that means they're all just a bunch of Nazis, right, Rick? Oh, of
> course,
> I realize that you are neutral and impartial and don't mean the movement any
> harm. No, of course not.
I know that the swastika has positive connotations. It's on the Guru Dev
picture that we all did puja to, but not very obvious. But I concur with
Shemp's observation that displaying it prominently is a risky PR move. Kind
of like praising Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro.
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