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Universe

As is it wasn't mysterious enough, the Mandela Effect's similarity to the word Mandala is also seen by many as significant. This is because the word is a Sanskrit term meaning "circle", and it's symbol represents the universe. Taken literally, the "Manda" is a palace, the "La" is the center and taken together it describes the abode of the deity. In Hinduism and Buddhism it features as a spiritual symbol used in certain rituals. Whilst described generally as a repeating, petal like structure similar to a flower, like a snowflake each individual instance can take a unique form.

Sometimes the center of a Mandala actually shows a palace, which has 4 doorways pointing towards the four corners of the earth. It is protected by several inner circles, each of which symbolise a particular quality such as love, wisdom, devotion or purity for example. There can be other symbols at the heart of the Mandala too, including a lightning bolt for the male and a bell for the female.

Enlightenment

Tantric Buddhism aims to show the individual how to attain enlightenment. It teaches that it might take several lifetimes to achieve this, for reincarnation is a major feature of that religion. To do it in one lifetime, however, it shows tools and methods which allow this, and one of them involves a true understanding of the Mandala.

The role in meditation is to "see" the figure of the Mandala with your mind's eye, and the longer you can keep it there, the closer you'll get to the central meaning. The aim is for 2 hours, so you can see why they say it takes typically 20 years' practise.

Whilst always depicted as a circle, the meaning of "Universe" also represents harmony and unity.

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Here's the Large Hadron Collider at CERN: 

lhc

Ritual

A Buddhist practice when meditating the subject of impermanence is is to make a Mandala in sand, which can take days or even weeks. The person performs the necessary meditation, then scoops up the sand to place in running water in order to spread it's blessings onwards.

Although the Mandala originates in the world's eastern religions, it has a role to play in the west too. The world famous psychiatrist Carl Jung in particular drew parallels between the mind and the symbolism it portrayed. Jung recognised many patterns, or characteristics in human nature years before mobile phones and the internet. He noted they arise again and again, irrespective of the background, religion or education level the subject had experienced. He described the meaning as the concept of a whole, unified self.

Mandala Mandela

In one sense, the Mandela Effect is an attempt to describe reality, i.e. the physical universe we live in. The ancient Mandala symbol also represents this. Could there be more to it? Similarly, the religions which feature the symbol also teach of the path to enlightenment, which, once a true understanding of the Mandela Effect has been gained, might well turn out to be the same thing.

Many people are saying the Mandela Effect is some kind of deep message to humanity concering reality, which is exactly what the Mandala has been all along.