Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Krishna-līlā is not peculiar to northern India, and some even say that these stories were first revealed in the south. Like Krishna, līlā is svarāṭ, totally independent, manifesting according to Krishna's sweet will, without any other consideration. This is so even if, for devotees, līlā is often edifying and instructive. Vaishnava stalwart Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev Gosvāmī (1895-1988) highlights the...
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Krishna-līlā is not peculiar to northern India, and some even say that these stories were first revealed in the south. Like Krishna, līlā is svarāṭ, totally independent, manifesting according to Krishna's sweet will, without any other consideration. This is so even if, for devotees, līlā is often edifying and instructive. Vaishnava stalwart Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev Gosvāmī (1895-1988) highlights the connection between the above verse and līlā: "This is all līlā. Aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ, svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet. We find that the movement of the serpent is naturally crooked; so līlā is like that too, like the ocean, the up and down of the taraṅga, the waves. In this way, the līlā moves. That is the nature of it. Just as a
serpent goes in a crooked way. So, līlā means that, it is dynamic, and to keep up the nature of dynamic character it will naturally be up and down." With this much as backdrop, we can begin to understand the Vaishnava tradition's view of līlā, preparing us for the pages to come. Still, a concise definition, though somewhat elusive, might be necessary. Let us try: In common parlance, līlā refers to the narrative of God, whether in his own domain or in this world--it characterizes His divine activity as "sport or play." The word can also refer to human, performative re-enactments of scriptural tales through dance and drama, acted out for the pleasure of rasikas or connoisseurs, though there will be few references to this latter definition in the present volume.

The present volume, opens with four articles that seek to define līlā while exploring several of them from within the Krishna tradition. with these four essays offering necessary introductory material, the Editor, in his essay, explores Krishna's "birth" and "death," two līlās that could, potentially, trivialize the divinity, making him seem more mundane than would his more miraculous or even glamorous activities. After all, "birth and death" seem to presuppose a material body and a life that is ensconced in matter. But, as we will see, this is just not the case--Krishna, according to the tradition, is transcendental,
and obviously so, even when "taking birth," or "dying," i.e., appearing and disappearing, in the material world. It ends with a reflection on episode of the serpent Aghāsura and Brahma's kidnapping of Krishna's friends, the cowherd boys.