The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c8.241

c8.241

§98. Together with the infinite variety of actions it is also its resplendence that changes continually,³ just as the soul is accompanied into the beginning of its new existence by those *lessā* only that it had in its hour of death (Viy. 188 a). But it is in the nature of the grades and classes of the beings that their behaviour is limited, and correspondingly their *lessā* moves within certain ranges (Pannav. 343 b; Thāṇ. 115a, 237b), so that beings of hell, fire, wind and lower animals will not reach beyond the third (grey) *lessā* and all remaining one-sensed beings not beyond the fourth (yellow). It may be noted that even female gods will not reach farther, whereas their male partners have all six and those of the highest standing but the last three. Also humans and five-sensed animals are capable of all *lessā*.¹ The way how a *lessā* passes over into another one (*pariṇamai*) is explained by comparisons in Pannav. 358 b.