Home › Glossary › Letter L

Lila

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Divine play, the concept that the universe is a spontaneous, joyful expression of the divine, not a purposeful creation but a dance of consciousness.

Detailed Definition
Lila in poetry is the universe as God’s smile—the storm, the child’s laugh, the falling star, all part of an endless, playful dance. Poets use it to dissolve the weight of suffering: if all is play, then even pain is part of the rhythm. It transforms verse from tragedy to ecstasy—making existence not burden, but delight, and the poet not seeker, but dancer.
Example
Example in poetry:
A Krishna poem: "Lila—Krishna steals butter, / breaks hearts, lifts mountains—/ God playing for joy"; A modern verse: "Child’s laughter—Lila’s echo: / universe dancing / for no reason"; A haiku: "Butterflies in garden—/ Lila: divine play / in small things"; Another: "Lila isn’t random—/ it’s love’s improvisation / on cosmic stage"; A devotional lyric: "Why suffering? Lila—/ even pain is part / of God’s dance"; A minimalist verse: "Play without purpose. Joy without cause. / Lila: universe / as divine fun."
Additional Notes
Lila as divine play reframes suffering as joy; in poetry, it turns tragedy into dance—Krishna’s theft of butter, Shiva’s dance of destruction are not random but blissful expression—this makes Indian mystical poetry resistant to theodicy, essential for interpreting suffering as sacred, not unjust.
Also Known As
Divine Play Cosmic Play Leela
Skip to main content