Persian · phrase · Love & Longing
Dasht-e-junoon
दश्त-ए-जुनून
also written: Dasht-e-junun
Meaning
The wilderness of madness; the desert into which the love-crazed lover wanders.
Literally: the desert of frenzy
How Iqbal uses it
The Majnun-like flight from society into the wild, where the lover's madness has free range; the landscape of love pushed past all bounds.
See it in the verse
Dasht-e-junoon in Iqbal’s couplets
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur bhi hai
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur nahin
Ik junun hai ki ba-shaur nahin
There is one madness that carries clear awareness; there is another madness that carries none.
Restlessness · Self-Knowledge · Action
Qalb o nazar ki zindagi dasht mein subh ka samaan
Chashma-e-aftab se nuur ki naddiyan ravaan
Chashma-e-aftab se nuur ki naddiyan ravaan
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.
Awakening · Hope · Self-Knowledge
Kabhi jo aawara-e-junun the vo bastiyon mein phir aa basenge
Barahna-paai vahi rahegi magar naya khaarzaar hoga
Barahna-paai vahi rahegi magar naya khaarzaar hoga
Those who once wandered in the wilderness of passion will come back and settle in the towns; the bare feet will be the same, but the field of thorns will be new.
Adversity · Restlessness · Courage
Sama sakta nahin pahna-e-fitrat mein mera sauda
Ghalat tha ai junun shayad tera andaza-e-sahra
Ghalat tha ai junun shayad tera andaza-e-sahra
My passion cannot be contained even in the vastness of nature; O madness, perhaps your measure of the desert was wrong.
Restlessness · Aspiration · Selfhood