Couplets › Humility
From Bal-e-Jibril · originally composed in Urdu
Kya dabdaba-e-nadir kya shaukat-e-taimuri
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
Ho jaate hain sab daftar gharq-e-mai-e-naab aakhir
“What of Nadir's dread power, what of Timur's splendour? In the end every such record is drowned in the pure wine of time.”
Romanहिन्दी
क्या दबदबा-ए-नादिर क्या शौकत-ए-तैमूरी
हो जाते हैं सब दफ़्तर ग़रक़-ए-मय-ए-नाब आख़िर
हो जाते हैं सब दफ़्तर ग़रक़-ए-मय-ए-नाब आख़िर
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
The mightiest conquerors and their empires are eventually dissolved by time itself. Iqbal is not mocking greatness so much as warning against mistaking power and pomp for permanence. What outlasts an empire is rarely its army; it is its ideas, its character, its inner worth.
For You, Today
Titles, status and the trappings of power all fade. Build the part of your work that survives the loss of position, because the position itself is on loan.
In the same spirit
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
Dhoondne wala sitaron ki guzargahon ka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
Apne afkaar ki duniya mein safar kar na saka
He who charts the very pathways of the stars could not journey through the world of his own thoughts.
Self-Knowledge · Selfhood