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FUNDAMENTALS OF JAINISM
be safely laid down that the being whose habitual mental attitude is characterised by heartlessness, selfishness and thoughtlessness must necessarily be drawn to a type of life marked by these mental traits. When we look out for the appropriate type for those who are habitually cruel, unfeeling and thoughtless, we discover it to be amongst the unthinking beasts of prey-tigers, wolves, hawks, cats and the like-so that the future re-birth of him who has spent his life in developing these peculiarities of disposition must necessarily be in the tribe of some wild bird or beast, the actual type depending on the degree of cruelty evolved out in each individual case. In some cases where the soul is thoroughly steeped in himsâ it directly descends into hells, as the scriptures show. The case with the victim of sporting lust, however, stands on a different footing, since the feelings of anger horror, pain and the like are not habitual with him. Hence its future re-birth would not necessarily be amongst the worst types of living beings, though the predominant feelings of the closing moments of life might impart their tinge to the character already formed, and bear fruit in the shape of nicha gotra and inauspicious surroundings.
Thus, no one who has studied the true nature of his soul and of the causes which tend to prolong its bondage would ever find fault with ahimsa being the true path of liberation and the highest dharma.
