Why did God create everything?

Most religions of the world tell us how the world and all living beings were created. However, there is hardly any explanation ( from my limited knowledge) on why God created the Universe, the World and all living beings.

I have heard that according to Christianity ( I believe it is in the Genesis), there is a mention on why/ how light was born. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Apparently, the light was made before either Sun or Moon was created: therefore we must not attribute that to the creatures that are God's instruments, which only belong to God.

Hinduism takes a similar approach to explaining it. The Mandukyopanishad takes a shot at explaining the why part. According to Chapter 1 verse 7,

“As the spider sends forth and draws in its thread, as the herbs and plants sprout from the earth, as hair grows on the head and the body of a living man—so does everything in the universe arise from the Imperishable.”

The moment the word Creation is mentioned, we tend to think of God as being separate from the creation, as if He is a pot-maker, collecting mud and making pots from it. This verse above from the Mundakopanishad completely denies this scenario- that the Creator is separate from the Created. The Created, much like the web, are part and parcel of the spider ( The Brahmam).

In the above, anaology, one may argue that the spider weaves the web for it’s personal gratification ( and hence the suggestion that God’s creations too are for similar reasons). However the second analogy of the herbs and plants, to me, seeks to fortify the argument that there was, after all, no real purpose behind God’s creations, and that the act of creation itself is as a result of his “Lilas” or , crudely put, “playfulness”. The sprouting of herbs and plants on earth is without motive and devoid of any specific reasons. Now, to counter any possible argument that the Brahmam or the Supreme is inert or lifeless, perhaps the third analogy of hair growing out of the living man is given- signifying a Conscious Living, Vital personality- full of positive energy.

A better analogy, in my opinion, was given by Suki Sivam in one of his discourses. He describes how a child brings out his toy box, takes some play things to outside the house, plays till as long as he feels like, and in a manner he feels like, and the moment he thinks he has had enough, he takes them back into the house. Can anyone ascribe any reasons for the child brandishing his wares in the first place? Or the way he played? O rthe duration? Nothing but whimsical. Suki Sivam agrues that God’s creations are like the child’s play – no motives can really be ascribed.

Suki Sivam goes one step further to argue that it is pointless to delve into why God created the Universe and the living things, and in particular, mankind, as if to answer the question “why was I born?” in the first place. He mentions that instead of spending on the why part, we just need to acknowledge the fact that we all are here, along with all of God’s other creations, and , instead, focus on what we need to do till the time we all are on this earth. Makes common sense, doesn’t it?