Hinduism · Compare this tradition with another
Life and Death - Daily Inspiration
Sukadev Bretz ·
Yoga Vidya – Tägliche Inspirationen ·
2026-10-14
· Horn-Bad Meinberg
· Source
Responsibility · main message
Humility · carrying
The conscious reflection on one's own mortality and the consistent fulfillment of ethical duties make it possible to avoid rebirth and to lead a life free of regret.
Bear in mind that death is waiting for you at every moment. Never neglect your duties, maintain pure conduct, Sadatcharan. Think of God as soon as you wake up and immediately before you go to bed.
The speaker reads two verses from the book 'Zahadana' by Zvamishivananda, which call on the listener to keep the constant possibility of death in view. He emphasizes the importance of not neglecting one's duties and of maintaining pure conduct. As a concrete practice, it is recommended to think of God in the morning after waking up and in the evening before going to sleep. The speaker illustrates the unpredictability of death through examples from the community, such as sudden heart attacks or accidents. He quotes his master, who advises leading one's life in such a way that one has no regrets when one leaves the body. A central argument is that one should fear rebirth more than death, since through ethical action and letting go one can avoid the necessity of new lives. The text concludes by stating that thinking of death and of God gives life a perspective.
- What, according to this text, is the root of the evil?
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Illness, death, and transience as the fundamental problem; Clinging, desire, the inability to let go (inferred)
- Where does the evil reside?
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in the heart, the will, or the soul of the individual
- What helps against it?
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keeping the commandments, maintaining order, fulfiling one's duties; prayer, worship, meditation, repeated practice
- What is human being according to this text?
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entangled in deception or desire, but capable of being set free
- Where is history heading?
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recurrence, no goal, always the same pattern
- What does the text base its claim on?
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on a present head, teacher, or office; on the holy scripture of its own tradition
- To whom does the text's call for devotion apply?
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to every human being, regardless of faith
- Where is the text's criticism directed?
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at one's own community and at oneself
Related texts from other traditions
by similarity of the analysis, one text per tradition
What the text calls for
- Pflichten erfüllen (inward)
- An Gott denken (ritual)
- Loslassen (inward)
Passages cited
Zahadana, 20 spirituelle Anweisungen, letzte Verse
Measured
- Basic stance
- 1 from -2 to 2
- Insistence
- 2 of 3
- Reach
- 1 of 5
- Concreteness
- 3 of 3
- Boundary
- 0 of 3
- Time
- past 1, present 2, future 3
Analysed with qwen/qwen3.8-27b, version v3.
The same standards apply to every tradition, see Values.
Full text in English
I am reading something from the book Zahadana by Zvamishivananda, from the 20 important spiritual instructions, the last two verses, the last two. Consider that death is waiting for you at any moment. Never neglect your duties, have pure conduct, Sadatscharam. Think of God as soon as you wake up and immediately before you go to bed. So, consider that death is waiting for you at any moment. Sometime, when we all die and we do not know whether we will experience the end of today’s day in the physical body. It can sometimes happen quickly. If this also happens in the years and in the more tangible community, community members, they can also die suddenly in a moment where no one expected it. Heart attack or something else, can come at any time. An accident can come at any time. Or almost every day there are these notes where someone asks for Omtriyamba, pleads. And almost every day someone there pleads for one who has left the physical body. I usually do not read out everything that is written there, but sometimes it says, he once, the one of 35 years leaves behind two children and so on. Anything can happen. And of course it can also happen that we become 108 years old. But then it is also over. And so we can think of two things, on the one hand. My Master once said, live your life so that you have no regrets when you leave the body today or when you become 128 years old and then look back on today. So we can put things in our life, life, into perspective. Can we really leave this body this evening? Or in the hour, would we be ready for it? If we say, we have then lived our life without regret, have we done our duty or have we postponed some things to the future, so that we say, if we have to live a new life again, to continue that. So we can look, Füben, do your duty as well as you can. Because it is not only about practicing Adana now, but my Master also once said, have no fear of death, but have fear of reincarnation. Because death comes in any case, but reincarnation we can perhaps avoid. What a new life is, we do not know. Therefore, better do, everything that needs to be done, as well as we can, as ethically as we can and so that we can let go. And on the other side also think of God. At least, when we wake up in the morning, think of God first. And before we go to bed, think of God again, that is simple, or? And so we can think of death and think of God and these two things bring our life into perspective. Ah, how on the side.
Full text in the original
Ich lese etwas aus dem Buch Zahadana von Zvamishivananda, aus den 20 wichtigen spirituellen Anweisungen, die letzten beiden Versen, der letzten beiden. Bedenke, dass der Tod jeden Moment auf dich wartet. Vernachlässige niemals deine Pflichten, habe ein reines Verhalten, Sadatscharam. Denke an Gott, sobald du aufwachst und unmittelbar bevor du zu Bett gehst. Also, sein Bedenke, dass der Tod jeden Moment auf dich wartet. Irgendwann, wenn wir alle sterben und wir wissen nicht, ob wir das Ende des heutigen Tages im physischen Körper noch erleben. Es kann manchmal schnell gehen. Wenn das auch in den Jahren und zwar spürteren Gemeinschaft erlebt, Gemeinschaftsmitglieder, können auch plötzlich sterben in einem Moment, wo es keiner erwartet hat. Herzinfarkt oder irgendetwas anderes, kann jederzeit kommen. Unfall kann jederzeit kommen. Oder fast jeden Tag gibt es ja diese Zettel, wo jemand um Omtriyamba kommt, bittet. Und fast jeden Tag bittet dort jemand für einen, der den physischen Körper verlassen hat. Ich lese meistens nicht alles vor, was da steht, aber manchmal steht, hat er mal, der von 35 Jahren hinterlässt zwei Kinder und so weiter. Kann alles geschehen. Und es kann natürlich auch geschehen, dass wir 108 Jahre alt werden. Aber dann ist er auch vorbei. Und so können wir an zwei Dinge denken, zum einen. Mein Meister hat mal gesagt, lebe dein Leben so, dass du keinen Bedauern hast, wenn du heute den Körper verlässt oder wenn du 128 Jahre alt wirst und dann auf den heutigen Tag zurückschaust. Also so können wir unser Leben, Lebens kommen Dinge in Perspektive. Können wir wirklich heute Abend diesen Körper verlassen? Oder in der Stunde, wären wir bereit dafür? Wenn wir sagen, wir haben dann unser Leben so gelebt ohne Bedauern, haben wir unsere Pflicht getan oder haben wir einiges in die Zukunft verschoben, sodass wir sagen, wenn wir nochmal neues Leben leben müssen, um das weiterzuführen. So können wir schauen, Füben, tue deine Pflicht so gut wie du kannst. Denn nicht nur geht es darum jetzt Adana zu üben, sondern mein Meister hat auch mal gesagt, hat keine Angst vorm Tod, aber hat Angst vor der Wiedergeburt. Denn Tod kommt in jedem Fall, aber die Wiedergeburt können wir vielleicht vermeiden. Wie es neue Leben ist, wissen wir nicht. Deshalb, besser tun, alles was zu tun ist, so gut wir können, so ethisch wie wir können und so, dass wir loslassen können. Und auf der anderen Seite auch an Gott denken. Mindestens, wenn wir morgens aufwachen, als erstes an Gott denken. Und bevor wir zu Bett gehen, nochmal an Gott denken, das ist einfach, oder? Und so können wir den Tod denken und an Gott denken und diese beiden Dinge bringen unser Leben in Perspektive. Ah, wie auf der Seite.