If I am happy now why do I need to learn about reincarnation?

Podcast:

Why Learn About Reincarnation?

Even happiness itself comes in different degrees. If I were to ask how many of you enjoy humor, most would likely say yes. Many of you probably enjoy watching comedy shows; they’re fun and enjoyable. But imagine if, from tomorrow, all academic and financial pressures vanished. All your needs for the rest of your life were taken care of. Your only task would be to sit in front of a TV and watch comedies from morning till night, every single day, for the rest of your life.

Initially, it might seem enjoyable. If you’ve been through a particularly rough patch, you might even want to binge-watch comedies for a few days to forget everything. But soon, we’d yearn to do something else. Comedy offers pleasure, but we don’t just want pleasure; we crave meaningful pleasure. Ultimately, constant, undiluted comedy becomes meaningless pleasure—just someone telling jokes while we laugh. We want our lives to count for something, to have inherent meaning.

So, yes, you might be happy right now, and if so, that’s fortunate. But consider: death can strike at any moment. A tiny microbe entering our body, a sudden impact from a vehicle, and it can all be over. The COVID-19 pandemic vividly demonstrated not just the fragility of our individual bodies, but the fragility of the entire edifice of “progress” we’ve built. One minuscule microbe, so small even bacteria couldn’t see it, brought the world’s economy to a near standstill. Our lives are incredibly fragile and can end without warning.

So, what does it all matter? All your studying, your career ambitions, your pursuit of a better future, your desire to contribute to society—what does it truly signify if it can all vanish in an instant? Doesn’t life have a deeper meaning?

This is where reincarnation becomes crucial; it provides the long-term, ultimate meaning for our lives. While we can find some meaning in achieving certain things or making contributions, is there an ultimate meaning that transcends this single existence? Reincarnation isn’t merely an esoteric or philosophical inquiry; it’s essential if we wish to find meaningful fulfillment.

In youth, strong hormones make sensual pleasures seem highly gratifying. But over time, as hormones subside, those pleasures lose their allure. Eventually, even the things we currently enjoy for pleasure will feel meaningless. We desire meaningful happiness, and to achieve that, we need to understand how life itself is meaningful. Without comprehending that life extends beyond death, which reincarnation explains, life might ultimately lack meaning.

Therefore, it’s vital for all of us: if you are happy now, that’s wonderful. But a sign of wisdom is to use your present happiness and fortunate circumstances to create a future of sustained happiness and meaning, one that extends not just ten, twenty, or forty years down the line, but far beyond this present life.

This is how we can integrate our current happiness with our inquiry into deeper truths.