main wo pathar hoon jo pooja hi nahin jaa sakta
“The one who can never be set inside any temple — I am that stone, the kind that simply cannot be worshipped.”
मैं वो पत्थर हूँ जो पूजा ही नहीं जा सकता
The verse in Devanagari — it carries the authenticity of the original, and every Hindi reader can read it.
The poet casts himself as the stone too unruly to be made an idol. Every other stone can be carved, installed and bowed to; this one refuses the whole transaction of being placed in a shrine and venerated. It is a defiant image of a self that will not be tamed into something convenient for others to worship — independence stated as a refusal to be enshrined.
Not everyone is meant to be carved into a comfortable, worshippable shape. There is a kind of integrity in being the stone that will not sit on anyone's altar.
The heart of this site stays with Iqbal: explore his couplets → Or browse the whole Other Voices shelf →