Posted on: 27 Jun 2016
Shri PVNM Sharma asked: You said that God created this universe for His entertainment, which is common to all ordinary people. God is extraordinary and does He need entertainment?
Swami replied: An ordinary man is entertained by several useless and cheap items. The entertainment of God is not for such cheap items just to kill the time. God is beyond time and need not kill it. If you observe this creation carefully, every soul is giving highest value for the concept of love. The enjoyment of pure love proved by various tests is the climax of entertainment and nothing is equal to this. Every soul obtains the maximum climax of happiness only in love. When such love is real as proved by severe tests, the happiness of the soul reaches its climax and this is called as a specific bliss. Hence, the sole purpose of this creation is to enjoy this specific bliss. God has already this variety of bliss. But, when this type of bliss comes in a scene showing devotees proving their real love to God, the bliss is really enjoyable. For such scene, God alone is not sufficient. Something and somebody other than God also must exist. God is not entertained because of not having such bliss expressed in a scene containing multiplicity of items like various entities of creation and various souls. A soul like Radha is required to prove such real and extraordinary love to God. Such proof comes only when other souls opposing Radha also exist as the required components of the scene. In such multiple creation only, the proof of the real love can be expressed causing the unique bliss. Bliss without creation exists in God before this creation. Same bliss in the light of the scene of creation looks as a different bliss. It is another variety of bliss. Hence, we can say that God was fond of this specific variety of bliss for entertainment. Such bliss is not possible if God is alone. Apart from souls, inert materials are also required. For example, Gopikas are the several souls and the inert materials are milk, curd and butter. Both inert and non-inert items are required for this entire drama. Therefore, God wished for a second thing, which at once is materialized (sa dvitiyamaichchat... Veda). This second item is the cosmic energy that took various forms like matter, awareness etc., resulting in various inert materials and living beings. This second item itself is multiplied into various forms. Hence, second item means the cosmic energy that transformed into multiple items only, which form this creation. Awareness also is a specific work form of the inert cosmic energy only. All this stage with various materials like drama dress, various actors were arranged only to express the unique and top most concept of love. Entertainment with such highest concept should not be taken as cheap entertainment. A scientist gets entertainment in his research work. A philosopher gets entertainment with the study of various theories in the spiritual knowledge. A devotee is entertained with the most pious worship. All these are not cheap entertainments, though they are basically entertainments. Entertainment by playing cards, drinking wine etc., can be treated as cheap and bad entertainments.
Entertainment is like eating food. Eating precious food can’t be equated with eating some bad food. Even though, eating is common in both, the process of eating becomes good in the case of good food and becomes bad in the case of bad food. Mere process of eating should not be always linked to bad food only. It is not the point of entertainment, but, it is the point of the way in which one is entertained. When some soul loves you above everything, everybody and even above self-prestige and at last even above the self-life, can you imagine the intensity of bliss you get? It is for this bliss of enjoying the purest and highest love from a blessed soul, God created this world and also enters it in a role called as human incarnation (Tadevaanupraavishat— Veda, Maanushim tanumaashritam— Gita). Lord Krishna was so much pleased with Gopikas, who have sacrificed everything and everybody for His sake that He created Goloka above His abode (Brahma loka) and the pacification of His love by that is beyond words. All this is not possible if Krishna alone exists without creation. This does not mean that Krishna was not pleased and was unhappy before the creation. He was perfectly happy since there is nothing that was not attained by Him or remains to be attained by Him. There is no point of lack of satisfaction resulting in unhappiness even before creation. We can say that though He was fully happy, He wanted enjoy this variety of happiness. Same point is explained in the Brahma Sutra (Lokavattu lilaakaivalyam). The entire world acts like filling material only and the real spark is that single blessed divine soul only. If you understand the value of this variety of bliss, you will not misunderstand God and the purpose of His creation. You can analyze this topic from your side also. If creation is not done by God, can you enjoy such bliss from another soul? Why don’t you think the importance of this creation from your side also? When suffering comes, you say that you have to suffer in this creation, which was created by God for His entertainment. You say “Shall I suffer for the sake of the entertainment of God?” Suffering in the punishment is certainly horrible, but, you are responsible for such situation. There are several other souls, who are happy without doing sins. Hence, in this type of suffering you cannot and should not blame God. But, the suffering in the path of love is very very sweet and one really enjoys it as seen in the case of the suffering of soul for the sake of happiness of his family. If it is the divine path, apart from such enjoyment in the path, you are going to benefit in the end in infinite way. You enjoy the suffering for the sake of your family and at the end you realize your illusion when the soul is leaving this body. There is no place for such repentance in the case of God.