The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2391 page)

 
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Svarga
.

In Hinduism, heaven, and especially the heaven of Indra, situated on one of the
Him
layas
, usually Mt.
Meru
. By proper performance of sacrifice, the good can hope to attain svarga, and in later texts (e.g.
Vi
u Pur
a
2. 2) may attain the form of
devas
.

 
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(Skt.,
su
, ‘well’, +
asti
, ‘is’: i.e. ‘all is well’). A cross with each extremity bent at right-angles to the right, an auspicious sign in Indian religions (found also in many other religions, e.g. as a sign of the infinite and of the sun among American Indians). For the svastika mountain, see
KAIL
SA
.
In Buddhism, the svastika is a symbol of the wheel of dharma (
dharma-cakra
), or in Zen, the seal of the buddha-mind (
busshin-in
) transmitted from patriarch (
soshigata
) to patriarch.
In the 20th cent., the svastika/swastika was adopted by the Nazis in Germany as the party emblem. It was mistakenly understood as an Aryan symbol, indicating racial purity and superiority.

 
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