The swastika as part of the Vedic culture

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura explains that the spiritual path is composed of three components: Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojana. Without proper Sambandha, we may not be able to reach the goal.

In the modern age, the swastika is a symbol identified with Nazi Germany and is thus usually hated and feared. A number of countries have laws banning it. In Germany, for example, one can be fined or even go to jail for exhibiting it in public.

However, the swastika was not invented by the Nazis. On the contrary, the swastika is a very ancient symbol that comes from the Vedas. This explains why it is found not only in Hinduism, but also in Buddhism and Jainism, as well as in other ancient cultures in Europe, Africa, and America. In all these cultures, the swastika has different auspicious meanings, symbolizing peace, spirituality, opulence, and so on. Even today, the swastika is used in fire ceremonies and other auspicious rites.

The word "svasti" in Sanskrit means auspiciousness or good fortune. It represents the sun and its energy, and it's also one of the 108 symbols associated with Lord Vishnu. Even today, the swastika is widely used in India, being present in all kinds of religious rites, and even as a symbol of good luck in buildings, vehicles, and so on. Starting from the Renaissance, the swastika was also gradually becoming popular in the West, being used in buildings, stationery, and even in marketing. This however changed after the appearance of Nazi Germany.

The traditional swastika is square, with the legs making horizontal and vertical lines. The Nazi swastika is triangular, tilted at a 45 degrees angle. Unfortunately, most people are not able to tell the difference and thus identify the Vedic swastika with the nefarious Nazi regime.

The Nazis also defined themselves as Arians, another idea borrowed from Vedic culture. The Arians were the people who followed Vedic culture, the most advanced people, not only in terms of religious and spiritual knowledge but also in terms of culture, social organization, arts, military power, and so on. In the Bhagavad-Gita (2.2), for example, Krsna explains to Arjuna that his hesitancy in performing his duty was not befitting an Arian "kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam anārya-juṣṭam". Being the Arians such an advanced people in antiquity, it made sense for the Nazi leaders to mold their philosophy around the idea that the Germans were part of this ancient Arian culture and were on the path of recovering their former glory.

Of course, they were not satisfied with the idea of being just "one" of the groups that form the Arian race. They wanted to be the original one. Therefore, they adopted another nefarious theory to justify their philosophy: the Arian invasion.

According to their reading of this theory, the original Arians were ancient Nordic tribes that colonized other parts of the planet, including India. However, in their imagination, these other groups had mixed with local, non-Arian populations and adopted their culture and religion, and thus lost their original strength. Germans, alongside a few other groups, were thus the last "pure" descendants of the original Arian race.

Of course, we understand that all of this is fantasy. If we go to the Vedas, we can understand the true story.

The Arian culture didn't start in Germany. It was a worldwide culture that had its roots in Vedic India. Up to about 5,000 years ago, different peoples in the world who were followers of Vedic Culture were connected with a central government in Hastinapura, which survived up to the time of Maharaja Pariksit and Maharaja Janamejaya. With the advance of Kali-yuga, these different peoples separated, and their cultures and languages started to diverge. Some symbols, like the swastika, continued to be used by different groups, but most of their Vedic past was forgotten.

If we go even further in history, we can trace the appearance of the different Arian groups outside of India to the advent of Parasurama, who through his policy of annihilation of the Ksatriyas in India forced many groups to seek refuge in distant countries, leading to the colonization of the Middle East, Europe, Russia, Caucasus, and Americas.

However, the richness of the Arian/Vedic Culture is not in genetics, but in its spiritual knowledge. It's believed that in the past, there were indeed lineages of people who were superior in intelligence and physical strength, but all these lineages were broken with the advent of Kali-yuga. Now it's kalau śūdra sambhava: we are all in the same boat, all sudras by birth. The process for reviving this ancient civilization is thus not in genetics, but in reviving the spiritual culture that was at its core. Fortunately, the very essence of this culture is available nowadays through the Krsna Consciousness movement. We just need to take advantage of it.