Loving Ganesha: Chapter 7 (Section 2) - Symbol of Auspiciousness -- Swastikam

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Namaste all,

 

The rest of chapter seven of Loving Ganesha, from

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-07.html

 

Om Shanti,

 

Neil

 

Next to the Indus seal, the oldest Indian swastika motif appears abundantly on

the early Buddhist sculptures, a period when Buddha was not depicted in human

form -- only his foot prints surrounded by dozens of right-hand swastikas.

Similarly, the Jain emblem for their seventh Tirthankara (path finder) is the

symbol of the sun, the right-turning swastika. In Malaysia the Sikh shrines all

have right-hand swastikas as mystical ornamentation. In some sources neither

swastika was assigned a negative connotation: the right-hand was a spring

solar, male symbol and the left was an autumn solar, female mark. As the

tantric sciences of Saivism and Shaktism bifurcated into a left-hand and

right-hand path (the vama and dakshina) the swastika may have followed into

black or white mysticism and magic.

The search for a pre-World War II treatise on the swastika struck gold with a

book entitled The Swastika: the Earliest Known Symbol and its Migrations, by

Thomas Wilson, a curator of the US National Museum. It was written in 1894 for

the Smithsonian Institute. The work opens with a right-hand swastika on the

title page and presents an exhaustive survey of the global dispersion of this

symbol, from the Navajo tribes of North America to Egypt, ancient Troy and the

Taoists of China.

Among other Oriental scholars quoted in the book is Max Muller, the German

professor at Oxford and Veda translator who introduced the word Aryan to the

European intelligentsia. It was through Muller that Aryan was first imbued with

a sense of race rather than an attribute of virtuous, spiritual nobility. Wilson

writes, "Prof. Max Muller makes the symbol different according as the arms are

bent to the right or left. That bent to the right he denominates the true

swastika, that bent to the left he calls suavastika, but he gives no authority

for the statement." After examining the positions of dozens of scholars Wilson

concludes, "Therefore, the normal swastika would seem to be that with the ends

bent to the right."

Wilson's book pictorially surveys the dispersion of the swastika symbol, region

by region. Indeed, so broadly cast is the symbol in the early ages of human

society that Wilson determines it is impossible to trace the swastika's origin.

Wilson's exploration of European use of the swastika prior to 1894 is an

eye-opener. In the section "Germany and Austria" we are treated to ten samples

of the swastika (now displayed in museums) that are designed into filigree

screens, used to ornament burial urns and spearheads, and fashioned into broach

and pin jewelry. They orient both right and left, with a preference to the

right. The entirety of runic Europe was covered with swastikas, both in

ornamentation and in some of their best-preserved Teutonic inscriptions to the

old Gods.

The swastika is an emblem of geometric perfection. In the mind's eye it can be

stable and still or whirl in perpetual motion, its arms rotating one after

another like a cosmic pinwheel. It is unknown why and how the term swastika,

"may it be good," was wedded to this most ancient and pervasive of symbols.

Most authorities designate the right-hand swastika as a solar emblem, capturing

the sun's path from east to west, a clockwise motion. One theory says it

represents the outward dispersion of the universe. One of its finest meanings

is that transcendent reality is not attained directly through the logic of the

mind, but indirectly and mysteriously through the intuitive, cosmic mind.

Though Hindus use the swastika straight up and down, other cultures rotated it

at various angles.

The left-hand swastika appears in many cultures, including Hindu. It often is

used interchangeably with the right-hand version, though the majority of Hindus

employ the right-facing form. One school sees this swastika as that which

rotates clockwise because a wind blowing across its face would catch the arms

and rotate it to the right. But this is an unusual interpretation. Most see it

as rotating anti-clockwise, as the arms point as such. Some say this form

signifies the universe imploding back into its essence. It has been associated

with the vama, left-handed, mystic path that employs sensual indulgence and

powerful Shakta rites, with night, with the Goddess Kali and with magical

practices. Another interpretation is that it represents the autumn solar route,

a time of dormancy.

Because of its infamous association with the Third Reich, the swastika was and

still is abhorred by many inside and outside of Germany, still held in

disparagement and misunderstanding, which itself is understandable though

unfortunate. Now is a time for this to change, for a return to this solar

symbol's pure and happy beginnings. Ironically, even now Hindus managing

temples in Germany innocently display on walls and entryways the swastika, the

ancient symbol of Lord Ganesha and more recently the hated insigne of Nazism,

alongside the shatkona, six-pointed star, the ancient symbol representing God

Siva and Lord Karttikeya and as Star of David, the not so ancient but cherished

already for centuries emblem of Judaism.

>From a mystically occult point of view the swastika is a type of yantra, a

psychic diagram representing the four-petalled muladhara chakra located at the

base of the spine within everyone. The chakras are nerve plexuses or centers of

force and consciousness located within the inner bodies of man. In the physical

body there are corresponding nerve plexuses, ganglia and glands. The seven

principal chakras can be seen psychically as colorful, multi-petalled wheels or

lotuses situated along the spinal cord. The seven lower chakras, barely visible,

exist below the spine. The following is a list of the fourteen chakras, their

main attributes and location in the body.

CHAKRAS ABOVE THE BASE OF THE SPINE

14) sahasrara crown of head illumination

13) ajna third eye divine sight

12) vishuddha throat divine love

11) anahata heart center direct cognition

10) manipura solar plexus willpower

9) svadhishthana below navel reason

8) muladhara base of spine memory/time/space

CHAKRAS BELOW THE BASE OF THE SPINE

7) atala hips fear and lust

6) vitala thighs raging anger

5) sutala knees retaliatory jealousy

4) talatala calves prolonged confusion

3) rasatala ankles selfishness

2) mahatala feet absence of conscience

1) patala soles of feet malice and murder

Sivacharya priests, adept in temple mysticism, testify that when they tap the

sides of their head with their fists several times at the outset of puja, they

are actually causing the amrita, the divine nectar, to flow from the sahasrara

chakra at the top of their head, thus giving abhisheka, ritual anointment, to

Lord Ganesha seated upon the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine.

Meditating on the right-facing swastika, visualized as spinning clockwise, is a

key to ascending to the seven higher chakras, which likewise spin clockwise.

Meditating on the left-facing swastika, spinning counterclockwise, takes

consciousness into the seven lower chakras, which spin counterclockwise.

Devotees sometimes ask, "Why is it that some souls are apparently more advanced

than others, less prone to the lower emotions that are attributes of the lower

chakras?" The answer is that souls are not created all at once. Lord Siva is

continually creating souls. Souls created a long time ago are old souls. Souls

created not so long ago are young souls. We recognize an old soul as being

refined, selfless, compassionate, virtuous, controlled in body, mind and

emotions, radiating goodness in thought, word and deed. We recognize a young

soul by his strong instinctive nature, selfishness, lack of understanding and

absence of physical, mental and emotional refinement.

At any given time there are souls of every level of evolution. My satguru, Sage

Yogaswami, taught that "The world is a training school. Some are in

kindergarten. Some are in the BA class." Each soul is created in the Third

World and evolves by taking on denser and denser bodies until it has a physical

body and lives in the First World, the physical plane. Then as it matures, it

drops off these denser bodies and returns to the Second and Third Worlds, the

astral and causal planes.

This process of maturation, occurring over many, many lifetimes, is the

unfoldment of consciousness through the chakras. First the young soul slowly

matures through the patala, mahatala, rasatala and the talatala chakras. Such

individuals plague established society with their erratic, adharmic ways.

Between births, on the astral plane, they are naturally among the asuras,

making mischief and taking joy in the torment of others. When lifted up into

jealousy, in the sutala chakra, there is some focus of consciousness, and the

desires of malice subside. Finally, the patala chakra sleeps. Later, when the

sutala forces of jealousy are thwarted, the young soul arises into anger,

experiencing fits of rage at the slightest provocation. As a result of being

disciplined by society through its laws and customs, the individual slowly

gains control of his force; and a conscience begins to develop. It is at this

stage that a fear of God and the Gods begins to manifest. Now, totally lifted

up into the atala chakra, seventh of the fourteen force centers, the individual

emerges into the consciousness of the muladhara, the seat of the elephant God;

and several of the chakras below cease to function. Here begins the long

process of unfoldment through the higher chakras , a process outlined in Saiva

Siddhanta as the progressive path of charya, kriya, yoga and jnana.

Thus, through hundreds of lifetimes and hundreds of periods between births, the

asura becomes the deva and the deva becomes the Mahadeva until complete and

ultimate merger with Siva, vishvagrasa. Individuality is lost as the soul

becomes Siva, the creator, preserver, destroyer, veiler and revealer.

Individual identity expands into universality.

Our loving Ganesha, sitting on the muladhara chakra, signified by the swastika,

is "there for us'' throughout our evolution from one set of four chakras to the

next until all seven of the highest are functioning properly. He and His

brother, Lord Murugan, work closely together to bring us all to Lord Siva's

feet, into His heart, until jiva becomes Siva.

 

 

 

Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

 

Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/ & http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy Kauai's Hindu Monastery107 Kaholalele RoadKapaa, HI 96746-9304

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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