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( 119 ) This subject is further discussed in the Visheshậvashyaka Sûtras. Some hold that a lion whose nature is to kill animals will be reborn a greater criminal. In his next birth he will be born a still greater criminal. In this manner he will get worse and still worse and will thus have no opportunity to be born as a man. The answer to this argument is that according to the views of the Faina Shastras such as Pragyapanâ, Bhagavati &c. man of all the forms of life can assume innumerable births according to his good or bad deeds. The action that is uppermost in one life determines the birth of a man in his next life. There is no established rule that all the previous actions good or bad will immediately be attended by their corresponding resulrs for example, a thief who commits theft sometimes gets an immediate punishment and sometimes after a long time and sometimes not at all in this life. Similarly some men reap the consequence of good or bad actions immu. diately, some later on in life, some in next life and others in remote lives to
