Being an effect it is unreal, so the moving world is surely not a cause;
Then in that case the Absolute is existence, thus the confused-minded are deluded by non-existence.
Commentary
The sage here answers his questions in the previous verse by telling us that the effect is not real and the moving world is not a cause. Neither cause nor effect have existence, but only the Absolute. The Ganesottaratapini Upanishad (I) makes a similar affirmation: "Then the one imperishable Absolute is this totality." Only the Absolute has permanent non-dual existence, and the world is a superimposition on the Self-Absolute. This is what confuses the mind. The Devi Bhagavata Purana confirms this: "I (Sakti) Myself, am the cosmos, there is no other permanency."
Cause and effect are relative and have no permanent existence. This is why Narayana Guru insists that only the Absolute has existence, because it is constant and non-dual. The Absolute is like the sky which contains all objects but is itself not contained. In the daytime it is full of clouds or else clear and blue, and at night it shines with stars and the moon, or else it is completely void and black. Yet the sky persists both day and night, whether it is bright or dark.