Nasthika Darshanas - 1

Charvaka 

Darshana is the name given to ancient systems of Indian philosophy as they were the visions of Self acquired by Indian mystics searching within rather than outside. Darshanas are divided into two categories; namely Asthika (believer in the Vedas) and Nasthika (non-believer in the Vedas).  Astika systems, that were also referred to as orthodox systems are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta.  Nastika Systems which are also referred to as heterodox or non-orthodox systems are Charvaka, Jainism and Buddhism. Others are a mixture of the ideas of these systems.  The Asthika systems were briefly explained in the two blogs; on Six Darshanas; Six Darshanas - 1 & Six Darshanas - 2. We shall briefly see the Nasthika systems starting from Charvaka, 

Charvaka school is the school of Indian materialism.  Swami Vivekananda says “Charvakas, a very ancient sect in India, were rank materialists.”  It is also known as Lokayata school, Lokayata meaning philosophy of the people. Charvaka is said to have established Indian Materialism as a formal philosophical system, but some still hold that Brhaspati was its original founder and Brhaspati seems to be more of a legendary figure than an actual person.  Even the work allegedly authored by Brahaspati, the Brhaspati Sutras is not available now.  

The Charvaka school of philosophy held perception (Prathyaksha) only, as the valid and reliable source of knowledge, rejecting all other Pramanas including inference (Anumana) as not valid Pramanas. It has the least number of Pramanas of all the Darshanas. Yet another point of radical difference with other systems is its rejection of the doctrine of Karma and rebirth, which even the other two Nasthika schools subscribe to.  Along with its rejection of the doctrine of Karma is rejected the belief in the existence of God, in soul (Athma), in hell and heaven.  Religion, they said, is nothing but a fraud devised by clever men who want to take advantage of others. Soul or consciousness they explained as a side effect of having a healthy body.  When the body dies, consciousness simply disappears.  Followers of Charvaka were concerned only with truths that could be verified.  Charvakas considered paradise as "the state in which man lives as he chooses, without control of another", while hell as "the state in which he lives subject to another's rule".

For them world and objects of the world that can be experienced by the senses only are real.  They held all existence can be reduced to the four elements: air, water, fire and earth. All things come into existence through a mixture of these elements and will perish with their separation. Even human consciousness is no exception and it is also a material construct. There is also no doctrine of Creation in Charvaka.  To speculate as to why the universe exists would be an exercise in futility for them.  The purpose and origin of existence is not discoverable through scientific means.  Furthermore, the speculation about such matters leads to anxiety and frustration, which reduces pleasure and overall contentment. Their position is that the universe itself probably came into existence by chance.  Although there can be no certainty about the origin of the universe, the most probable explanation is that it evolved as a result of a series of random events.

The attitude towards human conduct in the Charvaka school was a very flexible one: Right or wrong were seen as merely human conventions. The cosmos, they believed, was indifferent to human behaviour. If this life is all there is, if there is no afterlife whatsoever, then we should live enjoying the physical life the best we can.  Charvakas believed that there was nothing wrong with sensual pleasure. Since it is impossible to have pleasure without pain, Charvakas thought that wisdom lay in enjoying pleasure and avoiding pain as far as possible. Unlike many of the Indian philosophies of the time, Charvakas did not believe in austerities or rejecting pleasure out of fear of pain and held such reasoning to be foolish. They are critical of other ethical systems for being tied to notions of duty or virtue that are derived from false, supernaturalist cosmologies.  Charvaka school regards pleasure, in itself and for itself, as the only good.  It rejects the utilitarian approach to pleasure.  Utilitarianism holds that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.  The Charvaka doctrine suggests that individuals have no obligation to promote the welfare of society and would only tend to do so if it were to ultimately benefit them as well.  It adopts the perspective that an individual's ends take priority over the ends of others.  Their main concern is how to survive in the present or in a beautiful world.  Charvaka ethics urged each individual to seek his or her pleasure here and now. "As long as you live, live life to the fullest," said Charvaka. "After death, the body is turned to ashes. There is no re-birth."  So ‘eat, drink and be merry treating it as liberation here and now’, is their philosophy. 

The following famous lines describe well Charvaka philosophy:

यावत् जीवेत् सुखम् जीवेत्।      So long as you live, Live well happily

ऋणम् क्रित्वा घ्रितम् पिबेत्॥   Don’t  mind using ghee,even if you have to borrow for it

भस्मिभूतस्य देहस्य।            When the body is burnt and reduced to ashes

पुनार्गमनम् कुतः?॥              How are you going to come back again?    

The following quotations from Sarvasiddhanta Samgraha as well illustrate their philosophy well:

1. There is no other world other than this;
 There is no heaven and no hell;
 The realm of Shiva and like regions,
  Are inventions of stupid impostors.

2. The enjoyment of heaven lies in eating delicious food,  keeping company of young women, using fine clothes, perfumes, garlands, sandal paste... while Moksha is death which is cessation of life-breath... the wise therefore ought not to take pains to attain Moksha.

So the salient points of Charvaka philosophy can be briefly summed up as:

·         That which cannot be perceived does not exist; to exist implies to be perceivable.

·         Heaven and hell, God and Athma, are nothing but inventions.

·         The only goal of humans is to enjoy pleasures and avoid pain.

·         All things are matter only, made of earth, air, fire and water.

·         Religion is a clever scheme for providing good living for the priests.

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