Questioner (Q): My question is about parenting. What can we do as parents to raise a child in a way that the child has an understanding of the illusory nature of the world, and at the same time nurture her urge to know the Truth? My four-year-old daughter asks me, “Daddy, why do we need God? Why?” I can’t give her ready-made answers but would also not want her to cast it away as rubbish just because she did not get an answer. What can we do in front of such questions as parents?
Acharya Prashant (AP): So, the daughter is asking “Daddy, why do we need God?” Don’t answer her. She will again ask you. If she is really a four-year-old, she will keep asking, “Daddy, why do we need God? Why?” Don’t answer. And she will again ask, “Daddy, why do we need God? Why?” Then ask her, “Why do you need an answer to this question?” That is why we need God.
“Sweety, why do we need an answer to this question?” Let her answer you. Why does she need an answer to this question? She will say, “Because if I do not get an answer, I feel dissatisfied.” Ask her, “How did you feel when you asked me thrice and I still did not answer?” She would say, “I felt bad.” And that’s the answer for why man needs God: man needs God because if he doesn’t get God, he feels bad and dissatisfied.
God is another name for realization: Prajñānam Brahm. God is the reason why a child is full of questions. Just ask the child, “Why do you have so many questions?” He will say, “Because I want to know.” Then ask him, “How do you feel when you get an answer to your questions?” He will say, “I feel good.” Tell him, tell her rather, “God is the one who makes you ask questions, and God is the one who makes you feel joyful.”
