How lyrics of this song made me think about love, longing, and the ego
I got to know about this song, “Javeda Zindagi,” through a discussion I came across, and since then I’ve been hooked.
I might have ignored it earlier, thinking of it as just another romantic song. But after listening to it now, some of its lines hit very differently, especially in light of what I’ve been learning:
शमा को पिघलने का अरमान क्यों है?
पतंगे को जलने का अरमान क्यों है?
इसी शौक़ का इम्तिहान ज़िंदगी है।
Why does the candle long to melt?
Why does the moth long to burn?
Is life the test of this very longing?
The more I listened, the more I thought about something I’ve repeatedly encountered in sessions about self-inquiry: reduction/dissolution ,the loosening of the identity we are constantly trying to protect.
How love is the willingness to be reduced.🍃
We usually think of love as getting something: attention, affection, security, companionship, validation. The “I” wants more and more: more importance, more control, more certainty, more of my way.
But what if love moves in the opposite direction?
What if love means becoming willing to let some of that “I” go?
Not self-destruction, and not sacrificing yourself for someone else. Rather, seeing that the very identity we keep trying to protect can itself become a burden.
And maybe this is where life becomes a matter of choosing.
Again and again, we get to choose:
Do I choose what strengthens the old me, or what reduces it?
Comfort or truth?
My image or honest seeing?
Immediate pleasure or something deeper?
There is no final choice after which the work is over. The ego can understand something today and return with the same demands tomorrow.
And perhaps that is also why the song feels so different to me now.
Because love isn’t simply a feeling that happens to us.
It can also mean choosing not to make everything about “me.”
The real question life keeps putting before us is simply:
What will you choose this time?