Regarding the presence of the soul, it is experienced by everyone as the living force or consciousness which gives the body life. When at the last stage of a man's life the doctor is feeling the pulse and then the beating stops, he says, "He is gone now.'' Who is gone? The complete bodily machinery remains, but the living soul has left it and the machinery stops working. Just as a machine is working so long the current is introduced into it and as soon as the electricity is removed the machine stops functioning. We know that there is electricity in the machine and that is making the machine run and we also perceive that the electric force is absent when the machine has stopped running. In this way the presence of the soul may be perceived directly by any thoughtful man.
Letter to Syamasundara, 15 April 1970