The Pleasure of Awareness — A Philosophical Reflection on Iqbal’s Verse

 Title: The Pleasure of Awareness — A Philosophical Reflection on Iqbal’s Verse

Introduction

Allama Iqbal’s verse —

“Do aalam se karti hai begana dil ko, ajab cheez hai lazzat-e-aashnai”

(“It makes the heart forget both worlds — how strange is the joy of awareness!”)

— is not just poetry; it is a deep philosophical insight about the nature of human experience, love, and spiritual awakening.

Here, Iqbal speaks about a kind of awareness or aashnai that transforms the heart so completely that it becomes detached from both worlds — the material and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen, this world and the next. It is not the cold detachment of despair, but the warm detachment of discovery — the joy that comes when the soul meets its true reality.

1. The Meaning of “Lazzat-e-Aashnai” (The Pleasure of Awareness)

In ordinary language, “aashnai” means acquaintance or familiarity. But for Iqbal, it means something far higher — the realization of Truth itself.
It is the moment when the soul recognizes its connection with the Divine, when the veils of illusion are lifted, and the heart tastes the sweetness of knowing what truly is.

Iqbal often contrasts this spiritual awareness with the limitations of reason. He says:

“Aql aayar hai, so bheis bana leti hai,
Ishq bechara na mulla hai na zaahid na hakeem.”

Reason wears many masks, but love is simple and pure — it sees directly.
The pleasure of awareness, therefore, arises not from logic or thinking but from love — from the heart’s direct contact with the Real.

2. “Begana from Two Worlds” — The Meaning of Detachment

When Iqbal says that the heart becomes “begana” (a stranger) to both worlds, he is not preaching escape from life.
He is speaking about a state of spiritual freedom — where the soul is no longer chained by desires, fears, or illusions of gain and loss.

To be “begana” is to be free.
It is the same idea that Sufis express as “fana fi Allah” — the state where the self melts into the Divine Presence.

Iqbal’s idea is not about rejecting the world but transcending it.
When a person reaches the joy of awareness, the world no longer controls him; instead, he becomes its creator, its shaper.

As Iqbal says:

“Nigah-e-mard-e-momin se badal jaati hain taqdeerein,
Jo ho yaqeen paida to kat jaati hain zanjeerein.”

The gaze of a true believer changes destiny —
When faith is born, all chains are broken.

Those chains are the “two worlds” — and breaking them is the real joy of awareness.

3. The Link Between Awareness and “Khudi” (Selfhood)

At the heart of Iqbal’s philosophy is the idea of Khudi — the inner self that must grow, rise, and discover its divine potential.
When the self becomes aware of its true nature, when it experiences aashnai with the Infinite, it gains both humility and power.

Iqbal describes this transformation beautifully:

“Apni duniya aap paida kar agar zindon mein hai,
Sir-e-Aadam hai, zameer-e-kaainaat-e-aafreen.”

Create your own world if you are truly alive —
For the secret of Adam lies in the creative soul of man.

The “pleasure of awareness” is exactly this — the self realizing its hidden power, the spark of divinity within. It is the joy of knowing, “I am not dust; I am the spirit that breathes through dust.”

4. The Role of Love (Ishq) in Spiritual Awareness

For Iqbal, love is not mere emotion. It is the force that moves the universe, the energy that gives life meaning.
Through love, man transcends his limitations and comes face to face with the Divine Reality.

He says:

“Ishq se paida nava-e-zindagi mein zer-o-bam,
Ishq se mitti ki tasveeron mein soz-e-dam-ba-dam.”

It is love that gives rhythm to the song of life,
It is love that fills lifeless clay with a burning soul.

When a person loves the Truth, he experiences the “lazzat-e-aashnai” — the pleasure of truly knowing.
This love makes the heart independent of both worlds — not because it despises them, but because it sees beyond them.

5. The Symbolism of “Two Worlds”

In Iqbal’s poetry, the “two worlds” are not just the earthly life and the afterlife. They also symbolize appearance and reality, body and spirit, time and eternity.

The human being stands at the meeting point of these two worlds.
To be aware — truly aware — is to realize that both are expressions of the same truth.
The one who experiences this awareness no longer fears death or loss, because he knows that everything flows from the same Divine Source.

Iqbal expresses this unity elsewhere:

“Dil-e-baidar Farooqi, dil-e-baidar Haidari,
Zinda dil se nahin khauf-e-sepehr-e-nau ke jabr.”

The awakened heart of the believer fears no new heavens, no new fates.
It lives freely in both worlds, yet belongs fully to none.

6. Transcendence — Man’s Highest Potential

The pleasure of awareness is not an ending but a beginning.
It marks the point where man transcends limitation and becomes co-creator with God — shaping meaning, giving life to ideals, and building new worlds.

Iqbal captures this in his famous line:

“Sitaaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain,
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain.”

Beyond the stars lie more worlds,
And love still has many tests to face.

This awareness pushes the soul to evolve endlessly. The “lazzat-e-aashnai” is not a final rest — it is a door opening into infinite discovery.

Iqbal’s idea of lazzat-e-aashnai is a vision of human awakening — the moment when the soul becomes aware of its divine origin and purpose.
It is the highest pleasure, because it frees us from fear, illusion, and dependency on the world.

It is the joy of being aware, the peace of knowing, the fire of becoming.
When this awareness enters the heart, it transforms ordinary life into a sacred journey.

In Iqbal’s universe, to be truly human is to experience this awareness —
to be a soul that knows its Creator not by logic, but by love.

 Iqbal Verses Reflecting the Same Philosophy:

“Dil-e-mard-e-momin mein phir zinda kar de,
Woh bijli ke thi naara-e-la ilah mein.”
(Reawaken in the believer’s heart that lightning that once flashed in “La ilaha illa Allah.”)

“Khudi ko kar buland itna ke har taqdeer se pehle,
Khuda bande se khud pooche — bata, teri raza kya hai.”
(Raise yourself so high that before destiny is written, God Himself asks you what you desire.)