1687 Verse 2663

Original

तथाहि व्यवहारोऽयं न दृष्टः समयं विना ।
तस्मात्सम्बन्धसिद्धिश्चेत्यनर्थेयं परम्परा ॥ २६६३ ॥

tathāhi vyavahāro’yaṃ na dṛṣṭaḥ samayaṃ vinā |
tasmātsambandhasiddhiścetyanartheyaṃ paramparā || 2663 ||

Any functioning (of the relationship) has never been perceived, in the absence of convention.—If it be asserted that the relationship proceeds from the convention,—then disastrous indeed would such a regress be.—(2663)

Kamalaśīla

In the following text, the author points out again the impossibility of the functioning of the Relationship in question:—[see verse 2663 above]

‘Tasmāt’—stands for the Convention.

‘Disastrous, etc. etc.’;—as there would be an infinite regress involved in the assumption of something as the ‘cause’, whose capacity has never been perceived. For instance, having assumed the Relationship, wherefore could you not go on assuming other causes with unknown potencies? ‘Unseen Potency’ would be common to both cases. And so on and on, there would be a disastrous regress.—(2663)