On Thoughts and Aphorisms

"Look upon everything with a benevolent smile. Take all the things which irritate you as a lesson for yourself and your life will be more peaceful and more effective as well...

You stop short at the perfection that others should realise and you are seldom conscious of the goal you should be pursuing yourself. If you are conscious of it, well then, begin with the work which is given to you, that is to say, realise what you have to do and do not concern yourself with what others do, because, after all, it is not your business. And the best way to the true attitude is simply to say, 'All those around me, all the circumstances of my life, all the people near me, are a mirror held up to me by the Divine Consciousness to show me the progress I must make. Everything that shocks me in others means a work I have to do in myself.' And perhaps if one carried true perfection in oneself, one would discover it more often in others."

On Thoughts and Aphorisms contains the Mother's comments on 541 aphorisms of Sri Aurobindo. These aphorisms (which are included in the book) are spirited leaps of intuitive thought, and the Mother's comments on them help to free the mind from too narrow an outlook on life. A careful reading of these aphorisms and comments should widen one's horizons considerably.