Where Is God?

Emperor Akbar loved to talk with holy men and scholars of every faith. One evening, after a long discussion, he asked three questions that nobody could answer.

“First, where is God? Second, which way does God look? Third, what does God actually do?”

The scholars argued for hours, quoting books and contradicting each other, until the Emperor grew tired and sent them away. Then he put the three questions to Birbal.

“Give me until tomorrow, Your Majesty,” said Birbal, “and I will bring you the answers.”

The next day Birbal arrived with a small boy and a bowl of milk.

“The boy will answer for me,” he said.

Akbar raised his eyebrows. “A child? Very well. Where is God?”

The boy held up the bowl of milk. “Your Majesty, is there butter in this milk?”

“Of course. Every drop of milk has butter in it.”

“Can you see it?”

“No. You would have to churn the milk to bring it out.”

“God is like the butter in the milk,” said the boy. “He is everywhere, in everything, but you have to look carefully, with patience, to find Him.”

The Emperor nodded slowly. “And which way does God look?”

The boy asked for a lamp to be lit. He set it in the middle of the room. “Your Majesty, which way is this lamp shining?”

Akbar looked. The light spread out evenly on every side, filling the room. “In every direction.”

“So does God,” said the boy. “He looks in every direction at once. There is nowhere that is outside His sight.”

“Very good. And the last question: what does God do?”

The boy turned to the Emperor. “Your Majesty, I can only answer that if you let me sit on your throne for a moment, and you sit down here where I am.”

The courtiers gasped. But Akbar, curious, stood up and sat down on the cushion where the boy had been, and the boy climbed up onto the great throne.

“That is what God does,” said the boy from the throne. “In a moment He can lift up the small and humble, and bring down the mighty from their seats.”

There was a long silence in the hall. Then the Emperor laughed softly and took his seat back, and lifted the boy down gently.

“Birbal,” he said, “where did you find such a wise child?”

“I didn’t find him, Your Majesty. I only taught him to say what any of us can see, if we look.”