Tu jab ke na tera na
“The wandering sage's words washed over me with shame: the moment you bow before another, neither your mind nor your body is your own.”
तू झुका जब के न तेरा न
The couplet in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
تو جھکا جب غیر کے آگے نہ من تیرا نہ تن
The couplet as Iqbal wrote it, in Urdu (Nastaliq).
Iqbal closes this ghazal with a hard verdict on dignity. Bowing here is not courtesy but surrender of the self, the giving away of Khudi to someone or something outside you. The instant you let another own your judgement, you forfeit ownership of everything, inner and outer.
Notice the small surrenders: the opinion you swallow, the principle you trade for approval. Each one quietly transfers ownership of your life to someone else. Keep your spine, and you keep yourself.
Khuda bande se khud pooche, bata teri raza kya hai
Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chattanon mein
Tu agar mera nahin banta na ban, apna to ban