Question: Does a person who has not practiced Yoga have the same grade of unity with God after death as one who practices Yoga?
Sri Chinmoy: No. One who has practiced Yoga will alone have eventually the conscious oneness with God. He will see God here on earth and there in heaven. My dear friend, just by leaving the body, one does not immediately go to God. For God-Realisation, one has to be here on earth. It is mere foolishness to think that when we leave the body, we immediately fly to God. No! It is not like that. One has to realise Him here on earth. It is by listening to the dictates of the soul that one realises God here on earth. Otherwise people only need commit suicide in order to realise God after death. Anyone would be able to leave the world and fly to God. It is, as I said, through conscious aspiration that we can realise God here on earth. When we realise Him here, then we realise Him everywhere.
Sri Chinmoy, AUM — Vol. 4, No. 2,3, Sep. — 27 Oct. 1968, AUM Centre Press, 1968