Title prefixed with logo ॐ for our main site

Question

There are two questions in our meta site regarding logo (2014) and favicon (2015).

Although ॐ is present both as logo and favicon everywhere. It is not present before the title of our site as most of the other sites.

But, if you observe the site AI stack exchange, they have their logo symbol prefixed along with their site title.

and recently in a blog post, you can see the thems containing the same.

I am interested in seeing the ॐ symbol before the title of the site. I don't know whether it is possible unless we design a new banner for our site.

Please share your opinions on this. Is it okay for you to see the symbol ॐ before the title of our site?

Answer 1

First of all, good that you brought this up!

I always wanted to change the whole theme of HSE. Since now we are graduated, the change in theme would be a good addition.

I have come up with a sketch diagram. Here is an image for reference:

Basically above part is divided into 3 parts as shown here:

So the first point is title part where it will show Hinduism prefixed with Om symbol as a title. Second point is nature and 3rd point is a rishi imparting jnana to his shishyas.

The idea which I kept in mind is, an ancient time gurukulam where shishya used to go to receive jnana. Gurukulam used to be in the lap of mother nature, that's why we see rising sun, mountains and animals and guru seated under the tree.

Of course we will need to make a better sketch since the current one is just a prototype.

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_{Note: Prototype is made using draw.io.}

Answer 2

I would like to add to what @Thelittlenaruto sir proposed.
Here is my proposal, (PS- This is just a rough sketch)

1. The conecpt of sea is kept same, but in the BG, Jagganath Mandir shikhars are added on the left side. As we know, Hindusim is incomplete without a Mandir. Also, Jaggantha is the dham amongst 4 dhamas & a major site where all the 5 sampradayas (Shakta, Shaiva, Vaishnava, Saurya & Ganapathya) converge without any conflict.

2. The concept of Nature is here modified by adding the anecdote of the snake protecting a pregnant frog from rain by spreading his hood over her. This was what Adishankaracharya saw in Shrungeri & he too was astonished. Thus, this also shows the spirit of Sanatanis who would even go against their natural tendencies for Dharma.(like snake instead of eating the pregnant frog, protected her)

3. The ablazing sun is shown over the 'i' of Hindusim, thus signifying the undying spirit of Sanatana dharma. Which will keep rising even after darkest of nights.

4. I have modified the concept of Guru Parampara with Dakshinamurti & the 4 shishyas, as when someone speaks of Guru, Dakshinamurthy is first remembered. Also, many mantras have him as rishi. Thus, truly for thus concept noone could be as perfect as Dakshinamurthy swamy.

Hope, everyone likes this concept.
If anyone has better idea, kindly add a comment to improvise this.

Answer 3

Here is the prototype of a symbol designed by me for this website which ought to satisfy everyone

Since our religion is a rather complicated but somewhat organised mess, I didn't think that a single image could do justice in describing our faith, so I used multiple images for this purpose. It is interpreted as follows

1. The largest image which immediately catches attention is that of a sādhu imparting sacred knowledge to his śiṣya. This signifies the significance of the concept of gurupaṅkti & renunciation in our religion. If one searches it in Google, then one finds that the image actually shows Svāmī Samartha Rāmadāsa imparting the Dāsabodha to Kalyāṇasvāmī. Samartha Rāmadāsa was the personal guru of Chatrapati Śivajī but here he is portrayed as a traditional sannyasī seated on an āsana made from deer-skin without any hint of affluence that usually from political patronage (like a pagṛi, a silk āsana or a wooden seat), which signifies that our religion is able to survive without state patronage. (Infact I had another picture, in which they are portrayed wearing only kaupīnas, the bare minimum necessary clothing that distinguishes Hindu sādhus from Digambara Jaina ones but I refrained from using it because currently I am using that picture as my DP in this website & adding that would have been considered as vanity). Kalyāṇasvāmī appears to be writing down his guru's words in the traditional way (many such depictions erroneously show a modern hard-bound copy & pen made of peacock-feather but this one shows a traditional manuscript & reed-pen). This literary corpus represents our scriptures (Śruti, Śrauta, Smṛti, Smārta, Itihāsa, Purāṇa, Upapurāṇa, Saṁhitā & Āgama) passed on through a tradition of oral transmission from guru to śiṣya.
2. To the right of the before-mentioned image is that of an 11th century stone idol portraying Brahmā as per His dhyānamantra in the Kālikapurāṇa. This image signifies the 3 main religious strands of our religion - Vaidika (Prajāpati is a Vaidika deity), Pauraṇika (the concept of an veneration through icons is largely a Paurāṇika theory) & Tāntrika (Kālikapurāṇa has a heavy dose of Tāntrika content in it) coming together.
3. To the left lies an image of Bhagavatī Gaṅga in Her divine form. She represents the tīrthas & inherent unity of our faith. Her physical form as the river Ganges signifies the veneration of the various aspects of nature prevalent in our faith & the Hindu concept of the Ultimate Reality's omnipresence within this material world (a main thing which diffentiates our faith from the Abrahamic ones).
4. The strategical placement of the picture of guru-śiṣya couple between that of Brahmā & Gaṅgā is to be interpreted as - the sacred knowledge passed down through paramparā will now become freely available to the masses (like water flowing through a river) in this website (to some extent).
5. Since this is a site dedicated to dialogue, the deities presiding over speech & knowledge have been invoked in the row above - Dakṣiṇamūrti, Sarasvatī & Hayagrīva. These 3 symbolise the Trinity of our faith - Śiva, Śakti & Viṣṇu.
6. At the corner lies the symbols of our faith - the pranava in Devanāgarī script denoting our Hindu affiliation, the svastika to ward off evil in the form of hate speech, fake info & discord from this site (N.B - You can't expect to remove the unwanted stigma associated with the svastika if you are ashamed to use it in it's proper place) & the dharmacakra to signify dharma. I chose the Ashokan variety to represent Bhāratavarṣa, the land between the Himālaya in the north & its N->S running eastern extension in the east, the NE->SW running eastern extension of the Hindukush in the west & the 3 large waterbodies surrounding it in the south, our Holy Land, without which our faith can't survive.
7. At the bottom lies the Gāyatrī mantra, which can be considered as our creed.
8. Tho overall choice of material was inspired through this verse of Gitāmāhātmya

गीता गङ्गा च गायत्री गोविन्देति हृदि स्थिते । चतुर्गकारसंयुको पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥

Translation: Re-birth doesn't occurs for the person in whose heart resides the 4 gas - Gītā, Gaṅgā, Gāyatrī & Govinda

The 4 Gs does paraphrase what constitutes a Hindu identity - scripture (Gītā), pilgrimage + Holy Land of Bhāratavarṣa (Gaṅgā), mantra (Gāyatrī) & Isṭa (Govinda).

I expect the logo to be used in this way

Opinions are eagerly sought in this regard.