Question: How to Inculcate Love of God in my Child?
I would like to inculcate God lovingness in my daughter who is 2 1/2 years old. In my childhood I had respect for God, but I was a God fearing person. It was told to me that if I misbehaved, God would be annoyed with me and so on. But I want my daughter to love God, and feel satisfied that God is our real savior and supreme well-wisher. We do take her to satsangas (spiritual gatherings) and narrate Krishna's pastimes to her, but still sometimes fail to fully do justice in inculcating Krishna prema (love of God) in her. Please guide me.
The servant of your servants,
Sini
Answer: Be a Pure Devotee and Engage Her in Bhakti
This first thing is that you should not keep a television in your home. There is nothing more polluting for a child, or for anyone else for that matter, than to watch mundane television.
There is only way to inculcate love of God in your child. You must be the perfect example of a soul fully surrendered to God by engaging yourself 24 hours daily in the service of God and by engaging your child in doing bhakti along with you. In this way your child will follow in your footsteps and become a great devotee. When you go the satsangas make sure that the child sits peacefully with you and hears the lectures and the kirtans. Keep your child in your lap. Do not let the child wander here and there and become distracted by other things. If the child will learn how to hear and appreciate the transcendental teachings of Lord Sri Krishna, she will naturally become a great devotee.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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