One alone is in saṃsāra or liberated — while living

There are not two categories of beings — the bound and the liberated. There is one being that lives, and that being is in saṃsāra when identified or liberated when recognizing. The difference is not ontological — you do not change nature upon liberation — it is epistemological: you change what you know about what you are. Water does not become H₂O when the chemist analyzes it; it always was. You do not become Brahman upon enlightenment; you always were.