((aalam jahaa;N bah ((ar.z-e bisaa:t-e vujuud
thaa
juu;N .sub;h chaak-e jeb mujhe taar-o-puud thaa
1) where the world had the breadth/expanse of the
carpet/spread of existence
2) like dawn, the tearing/fissure of the collar was to me a warp and woof
bisaa:t : 'Anything that is spread out; surface, expanse, expansion; carpet; bedding; chess-cloth or chess-board, dice-board; --goods, wares, &c.'. (Platts p.154)
jeb : 'The opening at the neck and bosom (of a shirt, &c.); the breast-collar (of a garment); the heart; the bosom (the Arabs often carry things within the bosom of the shirt, &c.; and hence the word is now applied by them to) 'a pocket'.' (Platts p.412)
Raza p. 221. S. R. Faruqi's choices. This is the first verse in the ghazal as Ghalib originally composed it; then come the next two verses after this one, then come the six verses from the published divan. For more on Ghalib's unpublished verses, see the discussion in {4,8x}.
Apparently the vision is of a primal world spread out in darkness, like a carpet or floor-spread of some kind. The 'crack' or fine white line of dawn then appears on the horizon, tearing apart this darkness, giving the world definition, opening out the prospect of light and day. For discussion of the motif of the tearing of the collar, and more examples, see {17,9}.
In a similar way, the speaker's tearing open of his 'collar' (really a long narrow neck-opening) is the 'warp and woof', the basic weaving threads, of which the lover's own life is primally made. The act of tearing the neck-opening of course destroys many threads of the very 'warp and woof' of which the kurta fabric; it makes a long narrow rip that reveals not the whiteness of dawn, but the lover's vulnerable, palpitating, much-wounded breast. The claim that this 'tearing open' is the 'weaving' of the speaker's life is of course paradoxical-- but it's still no stranger than many other aspects of the lover's existence.
The wordplay between ((aalam , 'world', and jahaa;N , which besides being the relative pronoun also means 'world', is also elegant and enjoyable.
Gyan Chand:
chaak-e jeb is chaak-e garebaa;N , which is a sign of madness. In the field of the eternity-before-creation, where the whole world was waiting for the coming of the carpet/spread of existence, for me only the tearing of the collar was a garment. The way they say that with the coming of the crack/fissure of dawn, the collar of the night becomes torn, and on the horizon the whiteness of dawn becomes visible. Thus they call the dawn the 'tearing of the collar'. The gist is that even before the creation of the world I was absorbed in madness. (p.65)