Use of the All-Seeing Eye in Ancient Cultures of India and Nepal
India - Shiva’s third eye
We perhaps find the precursor to what eventually became known as the all-seeing eye in the Rig Veda, a sanskrit text thought to have been written over 3,000 years ago and one of the oldest known texts.
In it there are many references to the sun and to other deities as being an eye in heaven, as an eye which reveals creation, oran eye which never closes.
One can liken this to being symbolic of a high level of awakened consciousness that advanced spiritual beings have and which an ordinary person can potentially attain.
The Hindu god Shiva has three eyes.
The third eye or brow chakra eye is known as the eye of Shiva, possessor of all knowledge, which when opened will destroy anything it sees.
Thus it is a symbol of knowledge which destroys evil and ignorance.
This again can be likened to an awakened higher spiritual part of a person which sees the truth of things and can then eliminate within a person’s psyche that which is opposite to and blocks divine consciousness from manifesting more.
In this way it is a “creative destruction” of evil to transformit into higher consciousness.
Even in modern times, the eye of Shiva is used in jewellery to give protection against evil to its wearer and to gain wisdom and understanding from the world, from life events and from the self, for positive transformation.
Nepal - Buddha’s all seeing eye
In Buddhism, Buddha is referred to as the Eye of the World.
It is typical for temples in Nepal to display a graphic of the “Eyes of Buddha” as shown to the right – notice it includes a mark for the “third eye” as well.
The eyes are also known as the eyes of wisdom and compassion.
Statues of Buddha typically show a dot in the mid-brow to represent the third eye.
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