भारतीय धर्म-दर्शन की स्थापना है कि परब्रह्म अपने परिकरों के साथ नित्य लीला में संलग्न रहते हैं। जीवों का उद्धार करने के सदुद्देश्य से, अवतरित हो भगवान अपनी पार्थिव लीला से विश्वोपयोगी ऐश्वर्यगुणों को प्रस्तुत करते हैं। राम और कृष्ण के अनन्य उपासकों ने अपने आराध्य को परब्रह्म या उसका अवतार मानकर उनकी समस्त क्रिया-क्रीड़ाओं का मुक्त कंठ से गान किया है।

Lila or leela can be loosely translated as "divine play". The concept of lila is common to both non-dualist and dualist philosophical schools of Indian philosophy, but has a markedly different significance in each. Within non-dualism, lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman). In the dualistic schools of Vaishnavism, lila refers to the activities of God and his devotee, as well as the macrocosmic actions of the manifest universe, as seen in the Vaishnava scripture Srimad Bhagavatam, verse 3.26.4:

sa eṣa prakṛtiḿ sūkṣmāḿ
daivīḿ guṇamayīḿ vibhuḥ
yadṛcchayaivopagatām
abhyapadyata līlayā

"As his pastimes, that Supreme Divine Personality, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy which is invested with three material modes of nature."