The Importance of Consequences of Action

The advice of Ajita and the later Charvaka's is to look solely to the evident and immediate consequences of what we do. The Jain author, Hema Chandra, represents their teaching with the following picturesque analogy: Abandoning pleasures in this world and striving for them in the next world are like licking the elbow. An instructive comparison may be drawn with the ancient Greek Epicurean school that was likewise excoriated for its supposed hedonist excesses.