— from the ghazal beginning “duniya mein hoon duniya ka talabgaar nahin hoon”, Akbar Allahabadi (1846–1921)
About this quote
देवनागरी
दुनिया में हूँ दुनिया का तलबगार नहीं हूँ
बाज़ार से गुज़रा हूँ ख़रीदार नहीं हूँ
اردو
دنیا میں ہوں دنیا کا طلب گار نہیں ہوں
بازار سے گزرا ہوں خریدار نہیں ہوں
English
I am in the world but I am not a seeker of it. I have passed through the marketplace; I am not a buyer.
What it means
Akbar spent his life as a colonial-era judge while writing verse against the values of that world, and the couplet is the position he worked out for himself. The market image is doing precise work — he does not claim to have avoided the bazaar, only to have declined to shop.
What it teaches you
The practical point is that refusal does not require exit. Akbar does not say he stayed out of the bazaar; he says he walked through it and did not buy. So the question to ask yourself is not whether you are inside a system — an office, a market, a family hierarchy, a timeline full of other people’s purchases — but whether you are actively bidding in it. Run the test on something specific this week: a promotion you want mostly because a peer got one, a purchase you are making to be seen making it, a rivalry you did not choose but have started keeping score in. Presence is unavoidable; the wanting is where you still have a vote. Keep your job, attend the market, and know exactly what you have declined to take home.
अर्थ और सीख
दुनिया में हूँ मगर दुनिया का तलबगार नहीं — बाज़ार से गुज़रा ज़रूर हूँ, ख़रीदार नहीं हूँ। अकबर ख़ुद अंग्रेज़ी अदालत में जज थे; यह शेर उसी सवाल का जवाब है।
दुनिया से भागना ज़रूरी नहीं — बस ख़रीदार बनना ज़रूरी नहीं। इस हफ़्ते एक चीज़ पर परखिए: यह इच्छा मेरी है, या केवल इसलिए है कि दूसरे उसे ख़रीद रहे हैं?
Where it comes from
Verified against the collected work of Akbar Allahabadi (1846–1921) on Urdu Wikisource, in the poem beginning دنیا میں ہوں دنیا کا طلب گار نہیں ہوں (source). Devanagari transliteration and English rendering are our own.
