viśva-pālanārthaṁ parameśvaro na kiñcit karoti, kintu svena sahaivāvatīrṇān vaikuṇṭha-pārṣadān tathādhikārika-devādy-antargatān tathā taṭasthān anyāṁś ca bhaktān ānandayituṁ svarūpa-śakty-āviṣkāreṇaiva nānāvatārān līlāś cāsau prakāśayati | … tad evaṁ bhaktānandārtham eva tān prakaṭayatas tasyānanusaṁhitam api sura-pakṣapātādi-viśva-pālana-rūpaṁ tan-māyā-kāryaṁ svata eva bhavati | loke yathā kecid bhaktāḥ parasparaṁ bhagavat-prema-sukhollāsāya militāḥ, tad-anabhijñān api kāṁścin mārdaṅgikādīn saṅgṛhya tad-guṇa-gānānandenonmattavan nṛtyanto viśveṣām evāmaṅgalaṁ ghnanti, maṅgalam api vardhayantīti | … evam evoktam—sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harer naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu | kurute kevalānandād yathā martyasya nartanam || iti |
(Excerpt from Paramātma Sandarbha: 93)
“Parameśvara does not do anything to sustain the universe, but he manifests various avatāras and līlās purely by revelation of his svarūpa-śakti (inherent potency) to delight his associates from Vaikuṇṭha who descend along with him as well as those amongst the authorities, devas, and so forth [who see to the administration of the universe], and other peripheral bhaktas [i.e., those bhaktas on the periphery of matters of universal administration and his līlās with his descended associates]. … Thus, in this way, while manifesting them [i.e., his various avatāras] solely for the sake of the bliss of [his] bhaktas, the work of his māyā, in the form of his sustaining the universe by favoring the suras and so forth, occurs of its own accord [i.e., automatically] even though unsought [out by him specifically], just as in the world when some bhaktas are assembled together to increase the joy of [their] prema for Bhagavān and have gathered some mṛdaṅga players who are even unacquainted with that [i.e., the joy of prema for Bhagavān], they [i.e., those bhaktas] become maddened by the bliss of singing of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] qualities and dance, and so dispel the inauspiciousness of the world and increase the auspiciousness as well [i.e., the bhaktas primary purpose is satisfying Bhagavān with acts of bhakti but concomitantly as they do this they also happen, secondarily, to dispel auspiciousness and create auspiciousness in their midst within the world]. … In this way, it is said [in the Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā], ‘Hari does not require any motive for emanation and so forth [i.e., for emanating, sustaining, and dissolving the material universes]. He acts purely out of bliss, like the dancing of an intoxicated person.’”
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