Question: At what age can you get a child to start meditating?

Sri Chinmoy: Anytime, at the age of six months, even. Perhaps the child cannot utter a word, but if you are Christian, you can show him a picture of the Christ or something beautiful. God is expressing Himself through beauty. A child can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At that time, the flower itself is God for the child. Then, when the child can speak, let him say, “God” a few times as his prayer. As he advances in years, he can be taught higher meditations. We give our children the only real freedom when we give them the truth, the reality. Real freedom is not just to go and strike someone and move around like a vagabond. No. Real freedom is not to do anything we like. Real freedom is to do everything the way God wants us to do it. That is our freedom. God is all-Light, all-Freedom, and if we listen to Him, only then do we enjoy freedom.