That is the first fundamental. Remember, by “reflect” he does not mean contemplate, think. No, by reflect he actually means reflect – like a mirror. The mirror reflects; whatsoever comes in front of the mirror, it reflects it. It does not think about it, it does not contemplate it; it simply reflects. When it has moved, the reflection disappears.

This should be the fundamental: reflect things, and when they have disappeared, let them disappear. Don’t go on carrying the past. Don’t become a photo-plate; remember to remain a mirror. The photo-plate also reflects, but it becomes attached to the reflection, it becomes obsessed with the reflection. It clings to it, it becomes imprinted with it. The mirror remains clean; it is not imprinted by what it reflects. It does not become beautiful when a beautiful face is reflected; it does not become ugly.

So should be the seeker. When success comes, reflect; don’t become attached to it. When failure comes, reflect; don’t be disturbed by it. When you are in a palace, reflect the palace, and when you are in a hut, reflect the hut. Don’t become attached either to the palace or to the hut. Let everything come and pass, and you simply be a mirror.

If you are a mirror you cannot carry the past with you, and if you don’t carry the past you will remain fresh, you will remain young, you will remain in a continuous process of birth. Each moment you will be born anew. We become old…. I am not talking about physiological age, I am talking about psychological age. We become very old for the simple reason that we collect the past.

You are still carrying something that happened thirty years ago. Somebody had insulted you and that wound is still there; you still hanker to take revenge. You were rich fifty years ago, you cannot forget that yet; or you were poor and you are still carrying that with you.

That’s how you find the world full of miserly people. From where do they come? These are poor people who have become rich, but they are still clinging to their poverty. Only on the surface they have possessions, but deep down they are poor, very poor. They can’t leave their poverty – they can’t depart from their past. They are carrying it; it has become a habit, it has become second nature to them. Hence the clinging to the money. They cannot spend, they cannot use their money.

I know a person who has at least ten buildings and earns a lot of money but lives in such a dirty house. All his buildings are beautiful, but those beautiful buildings have been rented and he lives in a dirty black hole. He has no wife, no children; he is alone.

The reason I became acquainted with him, was that whenever he would pass through the street where I used to live, at least from one furlong I would know that he was coming, because he used a bicycle so old that it must have been used by Adam and Eve! It made so much noise that I became interested in the man.