lila

lila, in Hinduism, a term that has several different meanings, most focusing in one way or another on the effortless or playful relation between the Absolute, or brahman, and the contingent world. For the monistic philosophical tradition of Vedanta, lila refers to the way that brahman is expressed in every aspect of the empirical world. Some philosophers argue that lila springs from the abundance of divine bliss, which provides a motive for creation.

In the devotional sects, lila has other and more particular meanings. In the Shakta traditions, lila is generally understood as a certain sweet and playful goodness that characterizes a universe whose essential nature is Shakti (the powerful, energetic principle). It is associated with the goddesses Lakshmi and Lalita. The concept takes on other shadings and plays a central role in Vaishnavism. In North India, the adventures of the god Rama, depicted in the epic Ramayana, are regarded as his “play,” implying he entered the action as an actor might engage a drama—deeply involved, but with an element of freedom that prevents his being constrained by the “play” of life as lesser beings must be.

Among the worshipers of the god Krishna, lila refers to the playful and erotic activities in which he sports with the gopis, or young milkmaids, of Braj—especially his favourite, Radha. His interactions with others who surround him in this pastoral setting—whether heroic, playful, or deeply sad—also qualify as lila. One of the most powerful images associated with this tradition is that of the circle (ras) dance, in which Krishna multiplies his form so that each gopi thinks that she is his partner. It provides the touchstone for a series of staged dramas called ras lilas that replicate Krishna’s paradigmatic “sports” so as to draw the devotees into an appropriate “mood” or emotion of love and lila so that they experience the world itself in its true form as divine play. Similarly, the dramatic reenactment of the events of the Ramayana are known as Ram Lila, celebrating the deeds of the god Rama in such a way as to draw his devotees into his cosmic play.