What is the meaning of lila or pastimes? Can our activities also be called lila?

From: Panca Pandava das

Prji what is the meaning of Lila or pastimes .can our activities can be called Lila, because krsna also have same human behaviour like crying, fear, happy, and so on .then what is the difference.

Transcript

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questions Question by Panchakanta Prabhu What is the meaning of the word Leela can we call our activities also Leela, because Krishna also has some human behaviour same human behaviour, like crying, fear, happiness and so on and what is the difference Leela is not just the emotions, but the purpose and the context of the emotions yes, there are emotions in the material realm and there are emotions in the spiritual realm and both are significantly different, the Bhagavad Gita chapter first verse talks about an upside down banyan tree so the roots are upward and the shoots are downward so this refers to the material world being a reflection of the spiritual world and as a reflection is very unsteady because of the movement of the water and it can often get distorted so that it only vaguely resembles the original substance so like that this material world is a distorted and perverted reflection of the spiritual world so the emotions that we experience here are based on the misconception that we are our bodies and these emotions which lead us to become attached to the things and the people of this world at a material level become the cause of bondage and in general these emotions end in misery at the time of death or even before on the other hand Krishna’s activities are eternal they are based on an understanding of the eternal identity and swaroopa of all the individuals involved so because they are in the realm of the spiritual world which is an eternal reality with everybody acting according to their eternal spiritual identity therefore they are lasting and those emotions lead to everlasting and ever-increasing fulfillment it’s an ocean of happiness that keeps expanding so this is the first difference between the material and spiritual realm in the context the context is that one is based on the false or temporary platform of misunderstanding our identity and it causes bondage and the spiritual realm is based on the eternal platform now the purpose in one sense both share a common purpose that both are seeking happiness in the activities that we do in the material realm are for happiness but because the context, the foundation is misplaced in the material realm we seek happiness separate from Krishna and because we seek happiness separate from Krishna we end in suffering and when Krishna descends to this world and displays to us the body, the activities that he is performing in the spiritual realm then his Leela is voluntarily accepted for enjoyment whereas our coming to this world, taking birth is a forcible imposition for suffering so this is the essential difference Krishna’s pastimes, Krishna’s Leela is voluntary acceptance for suffering for enjoyment, sorry if Krishna becomes a small boy who is being chased by his mother or is being tied up by his mother, that is something which is voluntarily accepted even when he is tied up as a small boy, he can suddenly if he wants get the strength to break down giant trees and not only break down the trees but liberate the souls who are trapped therein from their illusions and reinstate them in their celestial enlightened positions so when Krishna is accepting even a role in which he gets bound he is voluntarily accepting that for pleasure whereas when we come to this world and we do our activities actually we are given a body that grows old, that becomes sick and that breaks down at the time of death and all this happens against our will so old age, disease and death are imposed on us forcibly even though we don’t want it and they give us suffering so that we can redirect our desires towards Krishna so our activities in the material realm are forcible impositions for suffering and reformation thereby so if somebody sees the reflected mango in a river and somebody else is looking at the original mango in the tree so Krishna’s activities Krishna’s leelas are like the original mango in the tree and our activities, our relationships are like the reflection in the river so when we see Krishna performing fast times and doing his leelas rather than imagining that Krishna has also become material as the imperfuralist do what we need to do is we have to understand, oh actually this is what I was trying to imitate, this is what I was trying to seek so instead of seeking this in the material realm let me redirect myself to the spiritual realm, instead of trying to imitate Krishna over here let me participate in Krishna’s fast times so we redirect ourselves to the spiritual realm so as when we observe Krishna’s fast times, there are two kinds of misconceptions that may come up one is that Krishna’s activities are also material like ours and these are the materialistic people who think that the material realm is real and Krishna is also materialistic so they are mistaking the reflection to be the reality these are the materialistic people and they think that, ok, Krishna also does his activities so what’s wrong with we doing it no, but what Krishna is doing with the gopis, his fast times are entirely different they are in a higher realm of existence and they bring purification and liberation as described in the Shubhadbhagavatam by Dharashtra whereas when we meet Krishna, it brings bondage and suffering for us so one misconception is to think that the reflection is the actual reality and to think that the reality is also part of the reflection this is the materialistic people’s misconception and the monistics monistic people, that means the impersonalists, the mayavadis the monist’s misconception is they understand that the reflection is false but they think that the reality is also false so they think that the reality is a transitional transitional existence for one to go from reflection towards the towards the equanimity towards the silence of Brahman so they have a they also think that the reality of Krishna is actually a higher level reflection but it is not a higher level reflection it is an eternal reality that is higher than Brahman several times in the Srimad Bhagavatam for example in Vajendra’s prayers he is referring to Supreme Lord as paratparaha, so para is transcendental so beyond the material world that means beyond the reflection is the Brahman which is transcendental but Krishna is paratparaha, he is transcendental to transcendence in that sense he is higher than Brahman so when we can become free from these two misconceptions the materialistic misconception and the monistic misconception, then when we observe Krishna’s pastimes then our heart becomes attracted to those pastimes, we fall in love in Krishna and we long to enter into those pastimes and then what Krishna promises in Bhagavad Gita 4.9 that once you understand me and my activities and my appearance in truth, then you will come back to me, to reside with me eternally, that we will see happening in our own lives, thank you