Research by the German author, Mathias Tietke, presented in his book, Yoga in National Socialism, outlines how Germany had already developed a German interpretation of yoga, through the lens of philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and Theosophists like Helena Blavatzky, before the Nazis came to power.
Then along came Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, founder of the German Faith Movement, During the Third Reich, who was a member of various National Socialist organisations, including the SS and the NSDAP [1]. Hauer was a yoga expert and he recommended a particular Aryan form of yoga, as part of "the healing path" for the Nazi military.
The fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita was the main source of fascination, not only for Hauer but for Heinrich Himmler; the Reich Leader (Reichsführer) of the SS. He carried the Gita about with him from 1941 and saw the Gita as being a "sacred" book. Himmler identified himself and the SS with the old Indian Kshatriya caste and its attitude of warrior-like killing for a "higher purpose".” Himmler and Hauser and other members of the Third Reich also saw their purpose, not only as part of a fighting machine but one that also had a higher spiritual purpose.
The Kshatriya caste of Hindu society saw themselves as sitting at the pinnacle of the four Hindu social orders, operating in society as the ruling and military elite. This concept matched the way that the Nazis viewed themselves. The Nazis also saw themselves as descendants of the "Aryans" — the original Indo-Europeans.
The delusions of humanity never cease to amaze.
Hauer, in his 1939 book, Aryan Warrior God, presented the Vedic god Indra as a role model for the Nazi military soldiers, being the embodiment of discipline and control of feelings, readiness to sacrifice and obedience. Interestingly, the word svastika is of Sanskrit in origin and means “conducive to well-being.” The swastika is, as we know, part of much older traditions and symbolism, having been found at the ancient Greek city of Troy, in Germanic and Viking cultures, and of course, the Indian subcontinent, as well as East Asia and Southeast Asia cultures.
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