Do the sins of a child below 12 years of age go to the parents?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on November 01, 2020, in which several devotees participated. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Reply to a question by Smt. Ramasundari] Swāmi replied: A child does sins in ignorance, due to the lack of proper knowledge. In such a case, the intention to commit the sin is absent. A sage in his childhood killed a butterfly with the help of a thorn. Later on, the sage was killed by the king on false grounds by piercing with him a spear. After death, the sage also went to hell. The sage was told about his sin committed in his childhood. Then, the sage said that no soul should be punished for any sin done in the childhood up to 12 years of age because a child does sins in ignorance since it lacks the knowledge of sin and merit. The moral of this story is that in the absence of a sinful intention (Saṅkalpaprabhavān kāmān…—Gītā) the sin may be excused. But the counter-argument is that if a child commits sinful actions continuously during childhood, that repeated practice develops a sinful nature (Karmānusāriṇī buddiḥ…), by which the child may continue to commit sins even afterwards. Hence, we should not neglect the sins done by children, thinking that they will not be punished for the sins done by them during childhood. We should teach them that all sins have inevitable punishments, so that the child will correct itself during childhood itself.

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