God Theory

'Appa, I want to discuss something with you', began Anirud very formally when he was being put to bed. I thought that it must be something to do with one of the airline destinations, the latest area of his focus. But it was something totally different.

'உம்மாச்சி எல்லாம் ரியலா இருக்காரா?' ('Are Gods real?').
I normally hate when Anirud answers a question with another question and try to set an example. But this time I had to ask him why.

When he was in India few months back, my dad had taken him to the nearby temple.
There were so many gods, but all of them were only made of stone.
Contrary to what he has heard about Lord Rama and Lord Anjaneya in stories, they were standing still. Even at our home, God is there only in pictures and that seemed to have been bothering him.

Probably he has been churning it in his mind all along, it came out today as he narrated the above. Sounding very disappointed, he was like 'அப்போ உம்மாச்சி எல்லாம் ரியல் இல்லையா? வெறும் ஸ்டோன் தானா? I am very confused.' (So, Gods are just stones. They aren't real. Are they?)

Anirud had in his mind that God is a powerful guy sitting somewhere, capable of doing some big and mighty stuff. But the main issue is that he couldn't be spotted walking or talking or being one with life. Even a powerful guy had to have some sort of life, right? That bothers him. It was tempting to say that he will get the answers when he grows up. But I thought I would confront it now, rather than pushing it back to a later date. In fact, he has made it slightly easier by accepting about God's power etc.

I explained him as simply as possible that God is present everywhere ('That was very funny' is all he said). The main thing about God is that he is invisible (that made him sit up and listen). While God can see and hear what we are doing, we can't see or hear God. Then, how do we speak to God? That is the reason why we have pictures of god at home and statues of god in temples.

Either Anirud bought this theory or he was bored, he was like 'Now, it is very clear pa'. Well, that was a relief. Does anyone publish answers for these kind of questions?