Here is the full passage.
‘Immortal eyes approached and looked in his,
And beings of many kingdoms neared and spoke:
The ever-living whom we name as dead
Could leave their glory beyond death and birth
To utter the wisdom which exceeds all phrase:’
This passage is describing ‘beings of many kingdoms’ which implies beings of the typal worlds who sometimes incarnate upon earth, for example Bhisma, who is one of the Vasus was cursed to be born. In our own times we had Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekanada, whom Sri Ramakrishna describes as a sage, possibly Angiras, whom he called down. Some of the gopa and gopis who came with Sri Krishna live always with him in the eternal Vrindavan. The Scriptures also describe these ever living, Chiranjeevis, such as Hanuman, Parashuram, Sugriva, Narad etc. There are number of such beings, some of them even among Sri Aurobindo’s disciples, who are ever-living, though they took a human body for the sake of the Work and withdrew back to their worlds or else became part of the New Creation. These are the ever-living whom we call as dead.
As far as human beings are concerned they are not called as ever-living since they follow the evolutionary journey through life, death and rebirth of the immortal soul until it grown one with the Divine or is free and conscious enough to establish itself in one of the higher planes and join the group of ever-living beings. They are free or have arrived at liberation and hence can chose their plane and their station.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
