se ki
“The life of the heart and the eye is like daybreak in the desert; from the spring of the sun, rivers of light flow out.”
-ए-आफ़्ताब से की नद्दियाँ रवाँ
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
چشمۂ آفتاب سے نور کی ندیاں رواں!
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal sets a fully alive inner life against the bare desert and finds it radiant, a sunrise pouring streams of light across the emptiness. The heart and the seeing eye, when awake, are their own source of brightness. Vitality is something a person carries within and sheds outward, not something the surroundings supply.
When your circumstances feel barren, remember that an awake heart brings its own light. Tend your inner life, and it will illuminate even the empty stretches.
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban
Zindagi shama ki surat ho khudaya meri
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala ho jaye