Thread by @vedicvishal

|| Swastik स्वास्तिक ||

In the dharmic tradition of Bharat (or Aryavart) the marking of the Swastik symbol has been going on since very ancient times.The symbol has been found mainly and repeatedly on Bharat’s ancient coins, seals, utensils and homes.

At Bharat’s most ancient, historical sites – MohenjoDaro, Harappa and Lothal, seals bearing the anticlockwise left handed facing symbol 卍 have been found at excavations.

A question worth pondering over now is; what is the real nature of the स्वास्तिक symbol which has been found in such great numbers over such extensive areas of land?

Actually the Swastik symbol is an amalgamation of two “AUM” (ओ३म्)
signs written in an artistic style in the ancient known script of Brahmi.

The greatest distinguishing feature of the स्वास्तिक symbol is that if looked at from any of the four sides it always reads ‘AUM’.

In ancient भारत there were sixty four writing systems of which the Brahmi script was one of them.

The way in which “AUM” (ओ३म्) was written in this script was as shown below –

If this AUM sign is also written twice in an artistic manner then its form becomes as shown below-

The ओ३म् form in Figure 1 can be seen on Arjunayangan and Ujjaini seals. The AUM (Svastika) form in Figure 2 and the clockwise right handed form like this 卐 are seen nowadays throughout Bharat.

Due to ignorance of the script, writers have changed it during the interval of thousands of years from the left handed to the right handed form. Of the स्वास्तिक symbols drawn by artists today only fifteen percent of the symbols are left handed

which is interesting as only a few right—handed examples of Swastik have ever been found.
As the writing of the ordinary script changed,other prevailing customary writing styles also changed.However among ordinary peple the deeply ingrained AUM (Swastik) word remained unchanged.

For thousands of years it has existed in its ancient form having been given a spiritual wrapping. Nevertheless as seen below, from the 5th to 14th centuries the symbolused to depict AUM changed n the examples given below are very diff. from the ॐ symbol which is currently used –

This symbol ॐ representing ओ३म् is its changed form. The only difference however is in the scripts.
Ordinary people continue to this day to write the ॐ symbol which is about a thousand years old.

There are nevertheless those who depict the symbol ॐ by writing ओ३म् in the modern day prevailing script, like these examples of AUM being written in different modern-day scripts–

In this way the diff. between ॐ and ओ३म् is only that of scripts used over a passage of time and not one rooted in sectarian differences. The left handed AUM 卍 symbol was changed to the right handed AUM symbol 卐  due to ignorance and in some places its anusvar has been removed.

Similarly today the symbols ऊँ and the invertedare written on both sides of some cars, houses, doors. This dual method of writing seems to have been adopted when writing AUM in its स्वास्तिक form.

Some people are under the misconception that the Swastik symbol should only be drawn in its right handed form like this: 卐  because it is a spiritual symbol and being so it should only face the right. The main argument is that if it were left-handed it would be inauspicious.

In the spirit of good will it is humbly asserted to the proponents of such an argument, that this supposed diff. b/w the left n right is pure fantasy nd it bears no connection with any auspicious n inauspicious form. The left handed form is adopted also in the Arya writing style.

On numerous Ancient Bhartiya inscriptions, copper plates and manuscripts, the line ‘AUM svasti” is written. Moreover the traditional blessings that are given at the end of the yajnas which are part of dharmic rituals are “AUM svasti, AUM svasti, AUM svasti”.

Maharishi Yaskacharya writes in the ‘Nirukta’ that:

Svasti – ityavinashinam Astirabhipujitahsvastiti Nirukta (3.20)

This sukta from Nirukta means that Svasti is the name of the indestructible. There are three indestructible things in this universe — Prakriti, Jeev and Ishwar.

Matter cannot by itself be for the welfare of the soul because, matter is inert. The soul is not the embodiment of well-being as it can only wish for its own well-being. What cannot be attained from within can be taken from others.

For this reason ईश्वर the embodiment of well-being, who acts for our welfare and so delivers all remaining justice, is the only accomplished one,  after whom ‘svasti’ and its representation ‘AUM’ can be named.

This Explains why the Aryas at the beginning of each auspicious deed remembered ईश्वर in their oral and written depiction of the svasti form. AUM Svasti in its written form has gradually over time becm just a धार्मिक symbol, and its written script form has becm largely forgotten.

ईश्वर acts for our well-being, he makes us happy, keeps us healthy n in order to explain these kinds of sentiments, the word AUM was changed into the Swastik symbol. So in fact it is a symbol depicting ईश्वर. In भारत today, 5 forms of the Swastik symbol r prevalent. For instance–

भारतीय civilisation until 5,000 years ago was spread throughout the whole world. It is for this reason that among many relics discovered the स्वास्तिक symbol has also been found in many diff places and in many places. The Swastik as seen throughout the world are as follows –

In Figures 10 to 13 this type of circle ० represents the anusvar of AUM, in other words (•) represents the ‘m’ sound.

The greatest distinguishing feature of the Swastik symbol is that whichever of the four sides you look at it from it still reads ‘AUM’ in the Brahmi script. In this way this beautiful unparalleled symbol really succeeds in expressing ईश्वर’s omnipresence. —Shri Virjanand Devkarni