How does the story of the tiger connect to ideas about karma and past lives?

The account in Chapter 31 heavily implies a connection to karma and past lives. The text speculates that the tiger may have been a debtor from a previous life, and its death at Sai's feet was the final payment that made it debt-free. It also posits a more detailed backstory: that the creature was once a meritorious person who, due to pride, insulted a devotee and was cursed into this 'cruel birth.' The darshan of Sai Baba is said to have burned away its sins and broken the karmic bonds of suffering, allowing it to achieve salvation, demonstrating how a saint's grace can alter the course of destiny.