FWP:
Undoubtedly the commentators are right to place this verse in the context of the experience of Hazrat Musa, the Islamic counterpart of Moses, on Mount Tur. And Arshi sets it within an equally appropriate group of verses that depict the beloved's radiance itself as a form of veil, since it blinds everyone who tries to look; {214,7} is especially apt here. Arshi's chosen verses too can be seen as evoking Hazrat Musa's ordeal, when he rashly aspires to look upon the glory of the Beloved, and is almost destroyed for his foolhardiness. The situation of Hazrat Musa is evoked only by implication-- yet how clearly it emerges in the reader's mind!
But also enjoyable is the celebration of the perfect word, taab , placed in a perfect setting, right in the conspicuous middle of the second line. Among its meanings are 'endurance' (the quality the lover so desperately needs), and 'radiance' (the quality the beloved so eminently has). Both meanings are well-established and current; it's almost impossible to use one without evoking a ghost of the other. At their common core is the idea of heat as a sign of radiance, glory, passion, strength, power. For more on taab , see {60,1}.
The idiom taab laanaa means 'to endure', which is clearly the dominant sense. The lover should curb his ardor because its results will be so deadly: if the beloved actually comes, who can bear to look? And what we are reading as a negative rhetorical question ('Who can bear...?') can perfectly well be read also as a straightforward question, to which one answer is 'not Hazrat Musa'. Is there another answer? A verse like {60,11} says so. And think of {231,7} as well.
Ghalib's love of inshaa))iyah
speech is once again on display-- in both lines.
Nazm:
The phrase 'thoughtless of consequences' suggests the events of Mount Tur. (48)
== Nazm page 48