0398 Verse 521

Original

य आनन्तर्यनियमः सैवापेक्षाभिधीयते ।
कार्योदये सदा भावो व्यापारः कारणस्य च ॥ ५२१ ॥

ya ānantaryaniyamaḥ saivāpekṣābhidhīyate |
kāryodaye sadā bhāvo vyāpāraḥ kāraṇasya ca || 521 ||

It is the necessary condition of ‘immediate sequence’ that is called ‘need’; and in the appearance of the effect, the only operation of the cause in all cases is its ‘existence’.—(521)

Kamalaśīla

The ‘need’ that the Effect has of the Cause consists only in the fact of its coming into existence immediately after the latter; and of the Came also, the only ‘operation’ towards the bringing about of the Effect is that it is always in existence at the time of the appearance of the Effect.—(521)

Further, you have to admit that the ‘causal character’ of an ‘operation’—or of a Thing with that operation,—towards a particular Effect consists entirely in the fact of the latter coming into existence only when the former is in existence; in fact, for the determining of the causal relation between a Cause and its Effect there is no ground except positive and negative concomitance. Such being the case, why is not the causal character attributed to the Thing itself (and not to its action or operation)?—specially as it cannot be said that the positive and negative concomitance of the Effect with the Thing itself is not well known. Hence it is far better to regard the Thing itself as the Cause, with which the positive and negative concomitance of the Effect is well recognised.—

This is what is explained in the following—[see verse 522 next]