Why did Krishna create the material universe?

The reasons for the soul's imprisonment in matter. The spiritual souls who have descended into the material universe have themselves made this choice.

The Lord says: If the soul is thus imprisoned, it is because it nourishes a false conception of its identity, and takes itself for the supreme beneficiary. It is this false ego in the living being that forces him to experience incarceration within the material existence. As the Supreme and Absolute Truth, I am personally beyond the living being, as well as its material envelope. The two energies, material and spiritual, act under My sovereign authority.

The spiritual being is separated from Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, because of his disobedience to the Lord, his refusal to serve Him with love and devotion, his envy of God, and his questioning of the authority and supremacy of the Sovereign Person, his real meaning is therefore lost.

In truth, the individual spiritual beings who have descended into this world of gross matter have themselves made the choice of sense pleasures, and of tasting material pleasures. It is not Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, who has sent them here. The Lord has just, in His goodness, fulfilled their desire.

God has created the material world to satisfy all those who wish to abandon the eternal service they have to offer to the Lord, and who themselves want to become the supreme masters and beneficiaries of all things. When a living being desires to satisfy his senses and forgets the service of the Lord, he is immediately placed in the material world where he then acts freely according to his own desire, and thus creates for himself the conditions of existence that will make him happy or unhappy.

It is important to know that the Lord and the living beings are eternally conscious and that neither of them knows birth or death.

In truth, the creation of the material universe is part of the Lord's entertainment, for He creates it for His own pleasure, and because it takes place when He desires it. This desire of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, is also an extreme mercy on His part, for He thus gives the opportunity to the incarnated souls conditioned by matter and illusionary energy to regain their original consciousness and return to God. No one can blame the Supreme Lord for the creation of this material world.

Verily, Krishna, God, the Supreme Person has placed us in this material world, because we have become envious of Him.

The Lord says: By your intrinsic nature, you are a living soul of pure spiritual essence. The material body cannot be equated with your true identity, nor can the mind, intelligence or false ego. Your true identity is to be the eternal servant of Krishna, the Supreme Lord. Your status is transcendental in nature. The higher energy of Krishna is of spiritual essence while the lower, external energy is of material essence. Being between these two energies, you belong to the marginal energy of Krishna, which means that you are one with Him while being distinct from Him. Being of spiritual nature, you are identical to Krishna. But because you are only a tiny fragment, you are at the same time different from Him.