Question: What is the difference between man and God?
Sri Chinmoy: Man is tomorrow's God. Man is God yet to be supremely realised in the highest plane of consciousness, and God is man yet to be totally manifested and fulfilled here on earth. When we go deep within we see that God's manifestation, perfect manifestation, has not yet taken place. If His perfect manifestation had taken place then human beings would not remain half animal. Man has not yet realised the highest truth. Our Hindu philosophy says that there are as many gods as there are human beings or souls. This is our conception.Each individual represents God on earth. When we enter into the spiritual life and make progress, we see in our inner life infinite Peace, infinite Light and infinite Bliss. When we go to a spiritual Master, physically he may be only 5'8" or 5'10" tall. His form is limited, but spiritually he will be able to show us unlimited Peace, Joy and Love. In his inner consciousness he is infinite. Physically he is earthbound but spiritually he is not. When we say that man is God yet to be realised, this is the inner reality that we are referring to.
Sri Chinmoy, God-Life: is it a far cry?, Agni Press, 1974