Couplets › Selfhood
From Bal-e-Jibril, 1935 · originally composed in Urdu
Ho agar khudnigar-o-khudgar-o-khudgir khudi
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
Ye bhi mumkin hai ki tu maut se bhi mar na sake
“If your selfhood becomes self-seeing, self-making and self-possessed, it is even possible that not even death can make you die.”
Romanहिन्दी
हो अगर ख़ुदनिगर-ओ-ख़ुदगर-ओ-ख़ुदगीर ख़ुदी
ये भी मुमकिन है कि तू मौत से भी मर न सके
ये भी मुमकिन है कि तू मौत से भी मर न सके
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
♪ Hear the coupletA recitation in a synthesized voice.
The Interpretation
Iqbal pushes Khudi to its furthest edge. A self that truly sees itself, makes itself and belongs to itself has gathered a kind of permanence. Such a self is not erased by death — it has become too real to simply vanish.
For You, Today
What survives you is not what you owned but what you became. Iqbal's wager is that a fully-built self outlasts the body that carried it.
In the same spirit
Khudi ko kar buland itna ki har taqdeer se pehle
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Raise your selfhood so high that, before issuing every decree of destiny, God Himself asks you: tell me, what is your wish?
Selfhood · Courage
Apne mann mein doob kar pa ja suragh-e-zindagi
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Dive into your own self and find the trace of life. If you will not be mine, then do not — but at least become your own.
Selfhood · Self-Knowledge
Parwaz hai dono ki isi ek faza mein
Kargas ka jahan aur hai, shaheen ka jahan aur
Kargas ka jahan aur hai, shaheen ka jahan aur
Both take flight in this very same sky — yet the vulture's world is one thing, and the falcon's another.
The Falcon · Self-Knowledge