The Old Man and the Ferrari

My amazing naami aunt - Didi; my older sister and I were hanging out in the park, when we heard a car rev up and drive off angrily leaving a lot of dirt and gasoline smell in the air.

My aunt smiled and told us this story:

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Once a teenager with a hot new Ferrari was revving up the engine at a red stoplight. An old man on a bicycle squeakly came alongside and leaned into the window admiring the car. The light turned green and the impatient teenager pealed out tires squealing.

The teenager laughed as he thought of the old man eating his dust. But lo and behold, he saw the old man racing really fast on his bicycle. Unbelievably, the old man zoomed past him (while the car was doing 100+ mph). Then lo and behold, he saw the old man riding backwards and zoomed past him again at top speed. Every time the old man passed the car, he shouted "STOP!!"

"What the..." the teenager was heard to mutter as he slammed on his brakes. The old man and the bicycle still zoomed past him in both directions a few times until finally the old man stopped by the car and panted, "Please O please, don't drive off - my suspenders are tangled in your rear view mirror!!"

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We laughed and laughed until Didi asked "What's this story got to do with Guru Nanak's first stanza of Jap Ji?"

"OMG! OMG! I know this! I know this! Is this, like, a game - like, guess what the color of the car is? OMG! This is so easy - it's a red Ferrari!!" my sister happily exclaimed while I rolled my eyes into my thinking turban on and started wondering - what DID this joke have to do with Jap Ji's first stanza?

Didi asked my sister to read the stanza in gurmukhi while I translated as best (read loosely) as I possibly could...

sochai soch na hova-ee jay sochee lakh vaar.
Even if we purify our body to the zenith level, our mind is not going to become pure.


chupai chup na hova-ee jay laa-ay rahaa liv taar.
Even if we take the vow of silence, our mind is not going to shut-the-heck-up.


bhukhi-aa bhukh na utree jay bannaa puree-aa bhaar.
Remaining hungry or getting overloaded on food will not get rid of our mind's hunger.


sahas si-aanpaa lakh hohi ta ik na chalai naal.
Our intellectual capabilities (even if they do impress the beauty sitting next to us) are not of much use on the spiritual path.


kiv sachi-aaraa ho-ee-ai kiv koorhai tutai paal.
Then how can we get purified enough to merge with the True One?


hukam rajaa-ee chalnaa naanak likhi-aa naal.
Guru Nanak answers: by flowing with the True Will (hukam, Tao ...) that is written within us.

Didi smiled again, "In other words,

be here now
relax
stop and smell the roses
be cool
don't worry, be happy
just chill!

Our mind is never in the present. It's either racing into the future or the past. It zooms by the present. Guru Nanak says, bring it into the present. And Guru Nanak gives us the tool for bringing it into the present; and that wonderful tool is SatNaam. It is perhaps the easiest and definitely the most fun way of being in the present.

When we are listening to Naam, we are in the present; otherwise we are not. Only in the present can we detangle ourselves and become free."