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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Cārvākism
105
operation of consciousness, it may be the most important and inevitable condition for the occurrence of consciousness, but that does not prove that the body is therefore, the cause of consciousness. One condition, howsoever important and indispensable out of the set of conditions that form the cause of a particular effect, cannot enjoy the privilege of being the whole cause of the corresponding effect. Body may happen to be an indispensable precedent condition of consciousness, but therefore, it cannot be the cause of the latter. The dependence of consciousness upon body for its occurrence does not, therefore, prove that the latter is exclusively the total cause of the former. It is equally absurd to conceive consciousness or the soul existing independently of body. The combination of the atoms of the four elements may be absolutely necessary to form the brain-structure of an individual and consciousness cannot operate without the suitable mechanism of the brain, this being granted as a fact, it will not be logically permisible to say that consciousness is epiphenomenon or effect of the body.
The Cárvākas also held that because there is no abiding self, naturally there did not exist virtue and vice, good and evil, merit and demerit. Because there is no responsible agent, there is no fear of reaping bad fruits of bad deeds. Because there is not a soul that acts consistently and thoughtfully, there is nothing which can be held morally responsible for good and bad acts. If the body is the doer of the actions, the body cannot be held ethi
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