Demystifying the idea of God

Demystifying the idea of God

How do you explain the concept of God to a five-year-old? Especially as, in my son’s high-energy, testosterone-driven world, God’s greatness is measured by Herculean displays of strength. Can God lift this building? Is God stronger than Daddy? Who is bigger, Hanuman Bhagwan or Ben 10? (The answers vary based on who the question is directed at. Yes, Yes and Hanuman, when I answer it. Yes, No and Hanuman, when my husband does.) Trying to make God a part of his life has often resulted in hilarious conversations where I have struggled to keep a straight face. When our golden retriever died, we explained that Pasha had gone to God and was happy there as God would look after him and give him all his favourite things. After a long silence he carefully satisfied his curiosity. “What is God’s house called?” he asked. “Heaven,” I said. A wave of comprehension swept his face as he broke out into a big smile. “So Pasha is playing golf there?” Confused, I asked him what he meant. Turns out, he was referring to a statement my golf-loving father had made months earlier, when he had come home after a round of golf and said, “Wow, what a great game, it was heaven.” So it can be a real struggle to move away from frivolities and instill in him a deeper understanding of the Divine. If, like me, you’re raised in a secular home (my father is Christian, my mother Hindu), in urban India where religion isn’t the bedrock of society anymore, and your friends tend to be a wonderful smattering of faiths and cultures, it is both amusing and challenging to deal with statements like, “Daddy, Viraaj said Sai Baba can do more magic than Ganpati, is that true?” Instilling equal respect for all Gods often seems like a pipe dream. We managed to breakdown the somewhat abstract notion that there is only one God but he has many names. I must say, I’m inclined to pat myself on the back about how I got that particular idea across. I told him, “Your name is Ayaan but we call you Ayaanu, Ayu, Baby... all those names are for the same person right? In the same way, Krishna, Ganesh, Jesus and Shiva are all different names for the same God.” I think he actually got it. Having said that, I have also learned that five-year-old boys are completely unimpressed by pacifist notions of equality. They want to hear about flagrant displays of muscle-power before they draw their own conclusions about the divine power hierarchy. So Hanuman rules the roost because he can fly while carrying mountains. We have also used God to extend the concept of equality and respect for all his fellow creatures. My son was crazy about bugs. While I was fine with him wanting to examine insects, his need to capture them often at their own peril bothered me. God was the route we chose to rectify the problem. After months of explaining how it makes God sad if you hurt the insects he creates, we despaired that it fell on deaf ears. We had explained that God was like air, invisible. So just like we can’t see air but it’s everywhere, we can’t see God, but he’s everywhere and he can see you capturing his insects. But I think, in his mind he told himself that if we can’t see God, maybe, just maybe sometimes God can’t see us either. Much to our amazement, we realised on a recent trip to Lonavala, that our message had actually sunk in when I caught him staring at a butterfly, but making no attempt to catch it. I mistakenly assumed that it was because he had forgotten to carry his bug jar. Turns out he wasn’t catching it because, “God made the butterfly and he will be sad if I hurt it.” My husband and I couldn’t resist giving each other high-fives.