Question:

At what age does a person starts creating karma? When a child is born, he does not have this attachment to action and he naturally does what comes to him, but again the child does not have any understanding of awareness and knowledge. so both these thoughts are conflicting because one who does not have awareness and knowledge does end up creating Karma and a child is naive without any knowledge but the Child is natural too and is guided by nature as well. He eats, sleeps, plays naturally and stays in present without worrying about past and present. Can you throw some light here?

Answer:

Even a new born baby will have Sanchita karma that it is born with. That’s why it is born to a certain parent. Now with that certain parent and family there will be a trigger from the past Sanchita that propels a baby to be a quiet baby or be a happy baby or a cranky baby etc. The baby might not create agami karma immediately but soon the mental conditioning starts.

How mental conditioning creates agami karma for the infant?

Raagas(likes) and Dveshas(dislikes) have very silent and subtle feet but they definitely start leaving their impressions from a very early age. Physically a baby may seem extremely dependent but the mind is collecting impressions from its environment. Let’s take examples:

1. 1. A baby learns that when it screams and cries, it will be fed milk. This is among the first mental conditionings that we all went through. Some of us did not stick to it but some of us are still like that, we feel that when we scream and shout, whatever we ask for, will be given to us.
   2. Some impressions are collected from Parents and their style of upbringing.

• • If a child observes that mom takes the toy away from the older sibling and gives it to me when I cry, this creates a subtle impression of competition and jealousy in the little child.
  • If parents compare between two children about looks, skills, talent, etc [even at a tender at of 2 or 3], there can be impressions ingrained which lead to sibling rivalry and jealousy and possessiveness.

These are just a few common examples. You will see several such examples if you observe a child carefully.

What can be done about it?

Nothing to worry about. If you have young children, do not do or say anything that can lead to impressions in the young minds. That is the best parenting skill.

If you have impressions since childhood, recognize that it is all a game of karma. Just let go! Let past be past! Live in the present!