Shayri 101 - Faiz - Dono jahaan teri mohabbat mein

A ghazal from Ustaad Faiz this time. 

दोनों जहान तेरी मोहब्बत में हार के

वो जा रहा है कोई शबे-ग़म गुज़ार के

[शब्-ए-ग़म = दुःख की रात]

Dono jahaan of course refers to this world and the world of heaven and hell. When a man is in love, he cares nothing for the pleasures of the Earth or Heaven, other than the love of his beloved nothing else matters to him. And this man, poet says has lost both the worlds in one night, a night of sorrow. The lover knows only one sorrow - of not having his love returned by the object of his affections. So, he gives up Earth and Heaven in order to gain the love of his life but as the reference to the night of sorrow indicates, he doesn't receive that love from his beloved. 

इक फुर्सते-ए-गुनाह मिली वो भी चार दिन

देखे हैं हम ने हौंसले परवरदिगार के

This one literally amounts to blasphemy. The poet says that the God gave us life to enjoy, he calls it a leisure to commit sins (anything and everything that's considered pleasure by the people is usually classified as "sin" by a majority of the religions). But, according to the poet, this window of opportunity is so short like 4 days. That's a popular expression to call the human life four days long. I am reminded of another sher:

मेरे महबूब ने वादा किया है पांचवें दिन का, 

किसी से सुन लिया होगा कि दुनिया चार दिन की है 

Back to Faiz's sher. The poet says that God gave us time to enjoy ourself but only such a brief one and that in the poet's view shows the God's courage in entrusting the world to Man. God was afraid of what chaos Man might create on Earth if he had more time, so he gave him only a short lifespan. The synonym used here for God is "parvardigaar" which means the one who provides everything, think about the word "Parvarish" and you'll see what I mean. One of my favourite shers even though the whole ghazal is my favourite. 

वीरां है मैकदा खुम-ओ-सागर उदास है 

तुम क्या गए कि रूठ गए दिन बहार के

[मैकदा = शराबखाना, खुम =घड़ा, सागर=गिलास]

The bar is deserted, the pitcher and the glass are sad. Ever since you left the Spring has left. Pretty simple once you know the difficult words. 

दुनिया ने तेरी याद से बेगाना कर दिया

तुझ से भी दिल-फरेब हैं ग़म रोज़गार के

Another one of my favourites. Even though I love you dearly, the work of the world must be done and such absorbing and distracting is this work in fact that it has made me forget even you. 

भूले से मुस्कुरा तो दिए थे वो आज 'फैज़' 

मत पूछ वलवले दिल-ए-नाकर्दाकार के 

Faiz says that today she smiled by mistake and I cannot describe how many desires and passions that one smile stirred up in my useless heart. Why is the heart useless? Because its one job is to attract and entice the one I love and it's not able to do that. Hence dil-e-nakardakaar or useless heart. 

Well, that concludes the second lesson in Shayri :). Your comments and questions are welcome as always.