Charvaka thought begins from a radical epistemological stance: only direct sensory perception is accepted as a trustworthy source of knowledge. Inference, scriptural testimony, and other indirect means are treated with deep suspicion, admitted at most in a very limited, practical sense when constantly checked by perception. This insistence on pratyaksha as the sole reliable pramana gives the system a distinctly empirical flavor, grounding all claims in what can actually be seen, heard, and touched rather than in speculation or revelation. Anything that cannot be anchored in such direct experience is regarded as conjecture rather than genuine knowledge.

From this foundation arises a strictly materialist vision of reality. Existence is said to consist only of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and air—and all phenomena, including mental states and consciousness, are understood as emergent properties of these material combinations. There is no separate, immaterial soul, no enduring self distinct from the body, and no divine beings or spiritual realms beyond the physical world. When the body disintegrates, consciousness ceases; there is no survival of a personal essence, no rebirth, and no otherworldly destination. Concepts such as karma extending beyond this life and liberation as a transcendent state are therefore rejected as unfounded.

Ethically, this worldview leads to a this‑worldly hedonism that places pleasure (sukha) and the avoidance of pain at the center of human concern. Since there is no afterlife to fear or to strive for, the focus falls on cultivating happiness in the present life, while recognizing that some pains are unavoidable. Pleasure is not necessarily portrayed as reckless indulgence, but as the natural goal of embodied beings, to be pursued with an eye to its consequences in this very world. Religious duties, ascetic practices, and self‑mortification that promise rewards in unseen realms are dismissed as irrational when they fail to yield tangible well‑being here and now.

In harmony with this, Charvaka thinkers subject religious authority to sharp critique. The Vedas are treated not as divine revelation but as human compositions, and the priestly class is viewed as sustaining its status through unverifiable claims about invisible worlds. Rituals, sacrifices, and elaborate ceremonies are judged to be without real efficacy beyond their social or psychological effects, especially when justified by appeals to heaven, hell, or future births. By stripping away these metaphysical and ritual frameworks, Charvaka philosophy invites a sober, rational appraisal of life that remains firmly anchored in the immediacy of embodied experience.