Ki apni se nahin
“Cultivate vision, O heedless one, for radiance is the very nature of things; a river cannot stay a stranger to its own wave.”
कि अपनी से नहीं
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
کہ اپنی موج سے بیگانہ رہ سکتا نہیں دریا
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal tells the inattentive person that the light is not hidden; it is built into reality itself. What is missing is the eye to see it. The river and its wave are one, so the self cannot truly be cut off from its own deepest power. The estrangement is only inattention.
If life feels flat and dull, the problem may be your seeing, not the world. Train your attention. The power you feel separated from is not somewhere far off; it is your own wave, waiting to be recognised.
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Nek jo raah ho us rah pe chalana mujh ko