Soul Research
Sila Prabhupdda writes a letter to noted cardiologist Dr. Wilfred G. Bigelow:
“The central question, you say, is ‘Where is the soul, and where does it come
from?’ That is not difficult to understand. ...”

In 1968, speaking before a gathering of students at Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology, Srila Prabhupada points out an important lag in
technological research. ‘‘Although you have so many departments of
knowledge,” he says, ‘‘there is no department aiming to find the dif-
ference between a living body and a dead body.”’

Although advanced in understanding the mechanical workings of the
physical body, modern science gives but little attention to studying the
spiritual spark that animates the body. In the Montreal Gazette article
reproduced below, we find world-famous cardiologist Wilfred G. Bigelow .
urging systematic research to determine what the soul is and where it
comes from. Reproduced next is Srila Prabhupada’s letter in response to
Dr. Bigelow’s plea. Srila Prabhupada offers substantial Vedic knowledge
on the science of the soul and suggests a practical method for scien-
tifically understanding the spiritual spark.

Gazette Headline:
Heart Surgeon Wants to Know
What a Soul Is

WINDSOR—A world-famous Canadian heart surgeon says he
believes the body has a soul which departs at death and theologians ought
to try to find out more about it.

Dr. Wilfred G. Bigelow, head of the cardiovascular surgery unit at
Toronto General Hospital, said that ‘‘as a person who believes there is a
soul,’ he thought the time had come ‘‘to take the mystery out of this and
find out what it is.”

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