55. My name is Erika. What is the difference between a liberated soul and a realised soul?
Yogi: A liberated soul usually does not care for God-manifestation on earth. He feels that once he is liberated, his role in the cosmic drama is ended. A realised soul cries for God-manifestation. He feels that once he is realised, his role in the cosmic drama has properly begun. A liberated soul is freed from the meshes of ignorance and at the same time is extremely careful of wild ignorance. A realised soul has discovered his own inner divinity which is flooded with God's all-seeing vision and all-fulfilling reality. A liberated soul usually uses God according to his own capacity. A realised soul uses God only when asked by God Himself. The human and the unreal in us cease in liberation. The divine and the real in us begin in realisation.
Sri Chinmoy, AUM — Vol. 6, No. 6, 27 Jan. 1971, AUM Centre Press, 1971