Charvaka, often referred to as Lokayata, presents a rigorously this‑worldly vision in which only the material realm is affirmed as real. Reality is understood as composed of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and air—and consciousness is seen as an emergent property of their particular combination in the living body, comparable to the way intoxication arises from fermented ingredients. No separate, immaterial soul or transcendent realm is acknowledged, and with the dissolution of the body, consciousness is held to cease entirely. From this standpoint, notions of heaven, hell, rebirth, or any continuing existence after death are set aside as unfounded.

This materialist outlook is matched by a strict epistemology that grants authority only to direct perception (pratyaksha). Sense experience is treated as the sole reliable means of knowing, while inference and testimony are viewed with deep suspicion and allowed, if at all, only in a very limited and practical way. Scriptural revelation, mystical insight, and religious texts are rejected as trustworthy sources of truth, and the Vedas in particular are regarded as human compositions rather than divine disclosures. Religious rituals and ceremonies, especially those aimed at unseen worlds or future lives, are thus considered meaningless from this perspective.

Flowing from these commitments is a thorough rejection of the central religious concepts that shape much of Indian thought. There is no acceptance of a personal God, no enduring atman, no karmic law guaranteeing moral recompense beyond observable consequences, and no cycle of rebirth binding beings to future existences. Ideas of sin, merit, and dharma in a metaphysical sense are dismissed, and priestly claims about invisible rewards and punishments are treated as deceptive devices that exploit fear and hope. Social institutions grounded in such religious authority are therefore approached with skepticism, and rational, empirical reflection is given pride of place.

Within this framework, the ethical orientation of Charvaka is unmistakably this‑worldly and centered on pleasure. The aim of life is articulated as the pursuit of sukha—happiness or pleasure—and the avoidance of duhkha, or pain, in the here and now. Pleasure is not simply unrestrained indulgence, but is to be sought with an awareness of tangible physical and social consequences, since no higher spiritual liberation beyond embodied life is envisioned. Asceticism and self‑denial, when justified by appeals to otherworldly rewards, are dismissed as needless suffering, whereas a life that “eats, drinks, and is merry” within the bounds of practical wisdom is upheld as the most reasonable path available to embodied beings.