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06 | Cārvāka Ethics - 'Eat, Drink, and Be Merry'

Ok I got it soul is just a by product of the four bhutas. I am ready bro

You got it, bro. "Soul is just a by-product" is the perfect way to put it. That's the core of their materialism.

Alright, so let's connect the dots. If you believe...

  1. The only truth is what you can perceive.
  2. There's no God, no soul, no karma, and no afterlife.
  3. Consciousness is just a temporary side-effect of your body that ends when you die.

...then how should you live your life? This is the final piece of the Cārvāka puzzle: their Ethics.

Progress: ~60%

Part 6: Cārvāka Ethics - "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry"

Given their worldview, the Cārvāka conclusion about the purpose of life was simple, direct, and, for its time, completely scandalous.

The Goal of Life is Pleasure.

They argued that since this life is the only one we're ever going to have, the most logical and rational goal is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

In Sanskrit, the legitimate pursuit of pleasure is called Kāma, and material wealth is Artha. The Cārvākas said these are the only two worthwhile goals of human existence. The other traditional goals like righteous duty (Dharma) and liberation (Mokṣa) were just fantasies invented by priests to control people.

Their philosophy is often summed up in a famous (and controversial) verse quoted in your notes:

"While life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee [clarified butter] even though he runs in debt; When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return here?"

Let's break that down:

  • "While life remains, let a man live happily...": This is it. This is your one shot. Don't waste it worrying about things you can't see, like gods or karma.
  • "...let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt...": Ghee was a symbol of richness and enjoyment. This is a radical way of saying you should prioritize your present happiness over abstract future consequences (like being in debt, or worse, worrying about bad karma).
  • "When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return here?": This is their mic drop. Death is the absolute end. Game over. There are no do-overs, no rebirth. So, what are you saving your good deeds for?

What about pain and suffering?

Their critics would say, "But isn't the pursuit of pleasure often mixed with pain?" For example, farming is hard work, but it gives you food. Making money is stressful, but it gives you security.

The Cārvākas were practical about this. They weren't idiots who thought life could be 100% pleasure. Their advice was like this:

"You don't throw away the rice grains just because they're covered in a husk. You don't stop eating fish because you're afraid of the bones. And you don't stop lighting fires for warmth because you're afraid of the smoke."

In the same way, a wise person should accept that life has some unavoidable pain, but still try to get the most pleasure out of it. Their ethics is about being a sensible hedonist—someone who intelligently pursues pleasure.

What is Liberation (Mokṣa)?

For every other school, Mokṣa is a profound spiritual state. For the Cārvākas, the answer was blunt and logical:

Liberation is Death.

Death is the only thing that brings a final, absolute end to all suffering. When your body disintegrates, your consciousness vanishes, and so does your capacity for pain.

And that's the Cārvāka school in a nutshell. A complete, self-contained system built on one idea—perception—that leads to materialism, atheism, and a philosophy of enjoying this life to the fullest.

So, we've now fully covered one of the three main topics. We've gone through the Introduction and done a deep dive into the first Nāstika school.

How do you feel about the Cārvākas? Does their whole philosophy make sense as a complete package now? Let me know if you're ready to leave these rebels behind and meet our first Āstika school, the Sāṅkhya.