Lila (Hinduism)
Template:Short description Lila (Template:Langx Template:IAST) or leela (Template:IPAc-en) can be loosely translated as "divine play". The concept of lila asserts that creation, instead of being an objective for achieving any purpose, is rather an outcome of the playful nature of the divine. As the divine is perfect, it could have no want fulfilled, thereby signifying freedom, instead of necessity, behind the creation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The concept of lila is common to both non-dualist and dualist philosophical schools of Indian philosophy, but has a markedly different significance in each. Within non-dualism, lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman). In Vaishnavism, lila refers to the activities of God and devotee, as well as the macrocosmic actions of the manifest universe.
Translation
There are multiple theories about the derivation of lila. It may be derived from the Sanskrit root lal, which suggests playfulness of children or someone delicate.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
According to Edwin Bryant, lila cannot be translated as "sport" or "game," since those words suggest a motivation of competition. In contrast, lila is "pure play, or spontaneous pastime,” which has no purpose other than experiencing joy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Appearance in texts
Lila first appears in the Brahmasūtra 2.1.33 as "lokavat tu līlākaivalyam" "लोकवत्तु, लीलाकैवल्यम्", (However, [it is] but līlā, as [occurs] in daily experience.) This sutra responds to the objection that Brahman is not the cause of the world because causation requires motive. The reason given is that Brahman's act of creation is lila, in the same way lila takes place in the world. Shankara, in his commentary, likens Brahman to a king whose needs have been fulfilled, but engages in recreational activity. In another comparison, he says that it is Brahman's nature to create freely as it is our nature to inhale and exhale. Further, lila is not a necessary attribute of Brahman i.e. Brahman does not have to engage in lila.<ref name=":1" />
In Vaishnavism, lila refers to the activities of God and his devotee, as well as the macrocosmic actions of the manifest universe,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> as seen in Srimad Bhagavatam, verse 3.26.4:<ref>Vedabase entry SB 3.26.4 Template:Webarchive</ref>
sa eṣa prakṛtiḿ sūkṣmāḿ
daivīḿ guṇamayīḿ vibhuḥ
yadṛcchayaivopagatām
abhyapadyata līlayā
"As his pastimes, that Supreme Divine Personality, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy which is invested with three material modes of nature."
Per the Bhagavata, the highest form of liberation is participation in Krishna's lila.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Interpretations
Samkara argues that Brahman does not create with a self-serving motivation because it is lila, like naturally breathing in and out. Samkara uses the analogy of a king engaged in a game. While the act is conscious and premeditated, it does not have an ulterior motive. However, an act that is lila still involves responsibility, for which God implements the principle of karma.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Samkara sees Brahman's lila through individual souls as only containing imagined suffering.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:BlockquoteFor Ramanuja, while lila does not entail an ulterior motive, it is not a necessary to Brahman. Lila includes God manifesting as an avatara for the benefit of individuals, and so is premeditated.<ref name=":1" />Template:Blockquote
Practices
During raslila plays, human actors re-enact Krishna and Rama's divine play to remember the deities and experience their presence.<ref name=":0" />
In Pushtimarga worship, devotees experience the sentiments of lila through practices such as adorning the image of Krishna, singing devotional songs, and offering food.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
According to a Gaudiya interpretation of the Bhagavat Purana, Krishna's lilas on earth are a manifest counterpart to his unmanifest eternal lila in his abode.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gaudiya Vaisnavas practice lilasmarana, or visualization of Krishna's lilas.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Other uses
Lila is comparable to the Western theological position of Pandeism, which describes the Universe as God taking a physical form in order to experience the interplay between the elements of the Universe.<ref>James B. Glattfelder, Information—Consciousness—Reality: How a New Understanding of the Universe Can Help Answer Age-Old Questions of Existence (2019), p. 534: "Within the set of ideas related to panpsychism, one can find variations which too have found a place in the history of human thought. For instance, in Hinduism, the notion of lila is akin to the concept of pandeism".</ref>
"The Lila Solution" is a proposed answer to the problem of evil. It suggests that God cannot be blamed for sufferings because God is simply playing without any motivation. Lipner argues that since God is not "playful" by nature, but effortlessly acts as such, God maintains the law of karma and rebirth even while playing.<ref name=":1" />
See also
- Avatar
- Ludus amoris, western mystical conception of divine play
- The Mysterious Pastimes of Mohini Murti
- Radha Ramana
- Ramlila
- Rasa lila
- Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
References
Further reading
- Philosophies of India, Heinrich Zimmer and Joseph Campbell, Princeton University Press, 1969.
- The Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo, Ram Shanker Misra, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt Ltd, Delhi, 1998.
- The Domain of Constant Excess: Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples in Sri Lanka, Rohan Bastin, Berghahn Books, 2002.
- Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu Indi, Lance E. Nelson, State University of New York Press, 1998.
- The Gods at Play: Lila in South Asia, William Sturman Sax, ed., Oxford University Press, 1995, Template:ISBN.
- "Playing", Richard Schechner, Play & Culture, 1988, Vol. 1, pp. 3–19.
- The Gods at Play: Lila in South Asia, David Mason, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.