{"id":24839,"date":"2021-01-27T11:24:41","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T15:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=24839"},"modified":"2021-02-05T15:41:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T19:41:43","slug":"wise-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wise-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Wise Action: Breaking Free and Seeking Divine Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is wise action? How does wise action relate to the teachings in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise action is the idea that you can act deliberately using the ideas of karma<\/a> and enlightenment learned over time by the great sages. Reincarnation and karma<\/a> are factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about wise action in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Wise Action<\/strong> and What It Means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Krishna mentions that he taught the secrets of karma and enlightenment to great sages many years ago. Arjuna asks how that\u2019s possible when Krishna was born so long after the sages lived\u2014remember that Arjuna thinks of Krishna as his childhood friend, not an incarnation of the immortal Vishnu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krishna replies that, like Arjuna, he\u2019s reincarnated many times throughout history. However, unlike Arjuna, Krishna does so willingly and remembers his past lives. Through his maya<\/em>\u2014a word which means magic or illusion\u2014Vishnu manifests in a mortal body when he needs to protect the world and restore the rule of dharma. In other words, he comes when people have forgotten their destinies and are acting against the laws of the universe, like the Kauravas are doing by trying to seize the throne that\u2019s meant for <\/strong>Yudhishthira<\/strong>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While on the subject of reincarnation, Krishna reiterates that people who aren\u2019t fooled by the bodies they temporarily inhabit\u2014who recognize that their true selves are divine and unchangeable, and are part of Brahman, the ultimate universal truth\u2014are able to break free of karma and be rejoined with the divine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for this is that people who act from a place of self-interest become karmically bound by their actions. People who think of themselves as the ones taking action, and do so for personal reasons, incur karma. That\u2019s why knowledge and wise action, done in the spirit of selfless service, are the keys to breaking free of reincarnation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is wise action? How does wise action relate to the teachings in The Bhagavad Gita? Wise action is the idea that you can act deliberately using the ideas of karma and enlightenment learned over time by the great sages. Reincarnation and karma are factors. Read more about wise action in The Bhagavad Gita.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,6],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-24839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-improvement","category-spiritual","tag-the-bhagavad-gita","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWise Action: Breaking Free and Seeking Divine Truth - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why is wise action so important? 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