Question: When that lost soul first came down, couldn't he have brought it closer to him, so that it would have been within the circle where he was?

Sri Chinmoy: But when he himself came, he still had to realise God. He still had to turn a few pages. I was realised in a previous incarnation. Yet I had to work so many years to revise the book, especially during the first three or four years. Twenty years it took me to completely revise that particular book of God-realisation. It takes many years. Ramakrishna was a liberated soul in his previous incarnation. But for him to realise Mother Kali took many years. He did not realise Kali all of a sudden. But once he realised God, then in the two other forms — the Muslim form and the Christian form — he again realised God very easily.

But when it is a matter of getting someone for manifestation on earth, it is really difficult. To get someone like Vivekananda is most difficult. If Vivekananda had not come to the West, who would have manifested Ramakrishna? Nobody! Realisation itself is so difficult, but Ramakrishna did it. He was the body; but for manifestation we also need arms and legs. It is like a tree; just a trunk is not enough. The branches are also necessary. If there are no branches, then nobody will call it a tree.