In the yogic scriptures, creation is often referred to as leela, or divine play. Yogananda tells us that this play is for our “evolution, education and entertainment.” God does not play with us and all of creation in order to be entertained. Rather, God wants to teach us how to play and experience the joy of life in all its fullness. Furthermore, our spiritual evolution progresses to the degree that we know to play within God’s play. Perhaps Jesus was thinking of play when he told us that we “must become like children if we want to enter the Kingdom of God.” Children inherently know how to play for hours and hours at a time. As we age, we humans tend to forget the joy of play. What are we to do?
As a starting point, play involves not taking ourselves or our predicaments too seriously in the sense that we do not allow them to destabilize us. The ability to laugh at ourselves is actually a sign of mental and spiritual health. When I was a kid, my friends and I often played army. We would inevitably kill each other, but we never took it too seriously. Now, you might say, “Death is serious,” but is it completely? In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said, “For the soul, there is neither birth nor death.” On the night before Jesus died, he used the word “joy” six different times. To the degree that we have learned to play within God’s play, we can understand that death is not to be feared at all; it is a matter of getting off one train and getting on another, as the play continues.
Additionally, remember that the spiritual life is about turning work into play. We do this, according to Valentin Tomberg, “as a consequence of the presence of the ‘zone of perpetual silence,’ where one draws from a sort of secret and intimate respiration, where sweetness and freshness accomplishes the anointing of work and transforms it into play.” No matter if we appear to be winning or losing in the game of life, we always have a reservoir of wisdom, strength, joy, and love to draw from, assuming we are cultivating prayer and interior silence. Every game has rules. The rules of the spiritual game include the Yamas and Niyamas, the Ten Commandments, and prayer and meditation. In following these rules of the game, we will be victorious! What is victory? Blissful union with God and the realization of our divine nature.
Beloved God,
When I am taking myself and life
Too seriously,
Remind me to lighten up
And find ways to play.
