It is obvious that god in this story represents the Existence, Consciousness & Bliss (sat-chit-ananda), but in somewhat degraded sense. He didn't exist all of the time, because he evolved from some primordial universe; he is represented as disinterested for the everyday struggle even though he went through it himself (when he was evolving) - i.e. lacks compassion; and generally there is not much love in him (he mentions it only once as a concept), which is weird for someone who is in constant ecstasy. This simply doesn't compute, because we know that drug addicts love everyone as soon as they get "high"; how much more must God love us if He is constantly "high" in the "ecstatic whole". And here we come to the possible driving force behind the creation - Love, it always seeks sharing.
So guys, if you don't mind, I would like to continue with this thought train. This "ecstatic whole" produced this universe, right? Being the cause of everything created it is rightly to assume that all forces, concepts, energies etc. come from it, yes? What would be the attributes of this "ecstatic whole", would it be everything that makes it ecstatic, for example: Love, Knowledge, Power and Joy (Bliss)? To produce our universe, what kind of substance does It have available besides this "ecstatic stuff"?
Or do you think that It causes the Big Crunch in the original universe in order to obtain the material for this one (how would it then survive if that original matter supports its existence)? I'm in favor of "mind over matter" principle - this "ecstatic whole" is using Itself (Consciousness; "Mind") to create matter. Thus, in effect, we are made of Love (Knowledge, Power & Joy) and implicitly look for it (everywhere), crave for it (all of the time); and we want to have it forever (go back to It), which causes us to evolve in consciousness until we become one with that Love (Knowledge, Power & Joy; the "ecstatic whole" - the Universal Consciousness) we seek. If interested, you can read more