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Bhagavati Sutra Bk. 1 Ch. 8
Q. 260. Bhante! Does a being who is wholly prudent/ renounced acquire an infernal life...till by acquiring the life of a god, he is born among the celestial beings?
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not.
A. 260. Gautama! A being who is wholly prudent/renounced153 sometimes acquires life and sometimes he does When he acquires life, he acquires the life not of an infernal being, nor of an animal, nor of a human being but of a celestial being. As he acquires not life in hells, he is not born among the infernal beings; as he acquires not the life of the sub-human beings, he is not born among the animals; as he acquires not the life of the human being, he is not born among men; but as he acquires the life of a celestial being, he is born among gods.
Q. 261. Why is it so...till by acquiring the life of a celestial being he is born among gods ?
A. 261. Gautama! It has been stated that a wholly renounced being acquires either of the two states, viz., liberation in the same life and birth in the kalpas (as the Vaimānikas). It is for this reason, oh Gautama,...till he is born among gods.
Q. 262. Bhante! Does a being who is partly foolish/ unrenounced and partly prudent/renounced acquire life among the infernal beings,...till he is born among gods?
A. 262. Gautama! He does not acquire life among the infernal beings, ...till by acquiring the life of a celestial being, he is born among gods.
Q. 263. Why is it so,...till by acquiring the life of a celestial being, he is born among gods?
A. 263. A being who is partly foolish/unrenounced and partly prudent/renounced154 hears even a single spiritual Aryan word from a framana or mahana and accepts it, and then he partly abstains and partly abstains not, partly renounces and partly renounces not. For that reason, due to part absti
