Ghazal 40, Verse 4x

{40,4x}

ai vaa))e ;Gaflat-e nigah-e shauq varnah yaa;N
har paarah sang la;xt-e dil-e koh-e :tuur thaa

1) alas, woe, the heedlessness/carelessness of the gaze of ardor! -- otherwise, here

1) alas, woe, the heedlessness/carelessness of the gaze of ardor! -- otherwise, here
2) every piece of stone {was / would have been} a fragment of the heart of Mount Tur

Notes:

;Gaflat : 'Unmindfulness, forgetfulness, neglectfulness, negligence, neglect, inattention, heedlessness, inadvertence, remissness, carelessness; --soundness (of sleep), unconsciousness, drowsiness, stupor, insensibility, a swoon'. (Platts p.771)

*Platts Dictionary Online*

Asi:

The gaze of ardor showed heedlessness, which is regrettable; otherwise, the truth/reality is that in the world every stony heart was a fragment of Mount Tur-- that is, in every sand-grain the light of mystical-knowledge was gleaming.

== Asi, p. 66

Zamin:

That is, our gaze of ardor is itself heedless; if it had been a seeker of [divine] glory/splendor, then every fragment of rock would have appeared as a piece of the liver of Mount Tur and a glory-place of lights.

== Zamin, p. 61

Gyan Chand:

Every stone of Mount Tur must have remained illumined. Thus the fragment of its heart must be very radiant, very precious/valuable. It's the heedlessness of the gaze of ardor-- otherwise, in the world every fragment of stone, like the fragment of the heart of Tur, is illumined with the Divine Light.

== Gyan Chand, p. 99

FWP:

SETS == IZAFAT; VARNAH
GAZE: {10,12}

For background see S. R. Faruqi's choices. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.

The obvious reading is certainly the one that Gyan Chand proposes: it's only our inattention or heedlessness that makes us blind to the radiance of every fragment of stone around us. Why are we so heedless? Often the term is used for the stupor of narrow, day-to-day preoccupation in which the 'people of the world' habitually live.

Here, however, the situation seems to be much more complex-- thanks largely to the i.zaafat after ;Gaflat . When the verse speaks of the 'heedlessness of the gaze of ardor', is the meaning a heedlessness 'of' something else, as displayed by the gaze of ardor (the gaze of ardor is heedless of X)? Or is it a heedlessness 'of' the gaze of ardor itself, as displayed by someone else (X is heedless of the gaze of ardor)? And then, who has the 'gaze of ardor'? Here are some of the possible permutations:

=People with the 'gaze of ardor' are heedless through weakness, worldliness, fickleness, etc., so they ignore chances for further conversation with God.

=People with the 'gaze of ardor' are heedless because their gaze is focused on conversation with a worldly beloved, not a divine Beloved.

=Every fragment of stone is heedless of the 'gaze of ardor'-- otherwise it would have responded to the deep human need for more conversation with God.

=People are heedless of the 'gaze of ardor' that is present in every fragment of stone, and that has been so since the time of Mount Tur.

=People are heedless of the 'gaze of ardor' that would have been present in every fragment of stone, if they had had eyes to see it.

Compare {13,1} (of course), and {45,1} as well.

On the possibilities of varnah , see {3,14x}.

 

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