And a whole man will be a scientist, a poet and a mystic. Pythagoras was a whole man, a holy man.

When I say this, that the whole man will be all the three together, please don’t take me literally. One need not be literally a scientist and yet one can be whole – but his approach will be scientific. He may not be an Albert Einstein, or a Newton, or an Edison. Buddha is not an Albert Einstein, but still his scientific approach is there: he is utterly scientific in his approach. He will not allow any superstition. He will not allow any illogical approaches. He will be very logical – although he will lead you beyond logic! but he will lead you very logically, step by step, with a method.

Buddha is as much a scientist as Albert Einstein; you can look into his words. He says, “Don’t believe what I say unless you have experienced it. Unless it has become your own understanding, don’t believe in me.” This can be said only by an utterly scientific mind. He says, “Don’t believe anything because it is written in the scriptures. The scriptures may be wrong – who knows? Unless you have become a witness to it there is no guarantee of its truth.” It may be in the Vedas, in the Upanishads – there is no need to believe or disbelieve. Experiment, experience! Become a lab – your own lab. And unless you have concluded, all beliefs are just prejudices, superstitious, illogical, unfounded. And truth believed is a lie. Truth experienced is a totally different phenomenon. Truth believed is a lie.

This is the approach of a scientific mind.

Buddha is not a poet either in the ordinary sense – he never composed poetry. But he is a poet! The way he walks is poetry, the way he looks at life is poetry. The way he showers his compassion is poetry. He may not be a poet in the ordinary, literal sense, but he is sheer poetry. His very existence is poetic. The tremendous grace that surrounds him, the infinite beauty that he lives, and the splendor that he has brought to the earth – the earth has never been the same again. It was something else before Buddha, it is totally something else after Buddha.

What difference has Buddha made to the world? He walked on the earth, and he belonged to the beyond. He was embodied just like you and me, but he had come from the ultimate source. He lived here and now, but AS the ultimate source. His fragrance is still there in the winds. Those who are alert will still feel his presence. That presence is eternal.