Lila (pronounced leela) is the play of creation. To awakened consciousness, the entire universe, with all its joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, appears as a divine game, sport or drama. It is a play in which the one Consciousness performs all the roles. Alluding to this lila of the Divine Mother, Ramakrishna called the physical universe a "mansion of mirth."
— Kendra Crossen Burroughs, Selections from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna