magar ye kya ki zamiinon se duur ho jaana
“To awaken to the very limits of the sky — but what use is that, if it means drifting away from the earth?”
मगर ये क्या कि ज़मीनों से दूर हो जाना
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
The couplet holds two goods in tension. To know the sky's far boundaries is a real achievement of the spirit — and then the poet catches himself: an ascent that costs you the ground is no ascent at all. Height that forgets the earth is only exile with a better view.
Chase the horizon, but keep your feet on the ground that made you. The climb that cuts you off from your people and your place is not a rise — it is a drift. Altitude and roots are not opposites; losing the second is how you spoil the first.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →