Ghazal 15, Verse 6

Nazm:

That is, in our gathering the candle of sighs was lit; and in the company there, there was a carpet of flowers. By 'friends' the beloved's friends are meant. (16)

== Nazm page 16

Vajid:

Urdu text: Vajid 1902 {15}

Bekhud Dihlavi:

Here, my hot sighs, like a candle, had become illumined. From my lips flames were emerging together with breath, and those flames kept augmenting my self-lessness of passion. (32)

Bekhud Mohani:

Here, our breath was lighting the candle in the gathering of self-lessness; that is, here we were always on the verge of fainting. And there, there was a gathering of companions, and there were so many flowers that it was as if a carpet of flowers had been spread. (35)

FWP:

SETS == HERE/THERE
BEKHUDI: {21,6}
CANDLE: {39,1}
GATHERINGS: {6,3}
JALVAH: {7,4}

This verse is another part of a sort of quasi-'verse-set' that begins with {15,2}.

While the beloved has a party and companions, the lover, in his state of devoid-of-self-ness or self-transcendance, doesn't even have himself. But he still has a 'gathering' [bazm] of some kind, and in mystical or Sufistic terms it may be greatly superior to hers.

The breath lighting the candle is in one sense a paradox, since breath normally extinguishes a candle. But for the sufistically inclined, fanaa or oblivion may be a truer 'illumination' than life in this transitory and unstable world. Since I am not only alone but even my 'self' is absent, an extinguished candle may in fact be the most appropriate light for my 'gathering'.

Also, as Bekhud Dihlavi points out, my sighs are hot from the flames in my heart, so they are fiery; a candle melts as it burns down, and so do I. In the beloved's world radiance and luxury are so exquisite that the rose itself is a mere carpet; in my world the redness and radiance come only from my own burning, so that through my breath I am my own candle.

It's all in the past tense-- is it over? Have both lover and beloved now moved on?

A note on nafas : People are often tripped up by the word nafas versus the word nafs . Casual students of the ghazal may be confused between the two, but meter-knowers realize instantly which is intended, since the different scansions ( - = versus = - ) tell us clearly and reliably. (It's just one of the countless rewards we get for our attention to meter.) The two words are spelled in the same way, but differ considerably in meaning: nafas is basically 'breath' with some extended meanings (see the definition above) and some well-developed metaphorical possibilities, including fieriness and spark-shedding. Some other examples of nafas : {24,6}; {28,1}; {29,9x}; {76,2}; {81,1}; {91,8}; {114,4}; {143,2}; {173,9}; {175,4}.

By contrast, nafs often, in practice, has associations of lust and sensuality: it means 'Breath (of life), animal life; --soul; spirit, self, person; substance, essence, individual thing itself; a person, an individual; --mind, thought; will, pleasure, desire; --body; flesh; blood; --fact, truth, reality; --text (of a work); --concupiscence, carnal or inordinate desire, sensuality, lust, sexual passion; --sperm; --penis; --pride; grandeur, magnificence, pomp; --envy; vice, fault, blemish' (Platts p.1144). Ghalib doesn't use it anywhere in his Urdu divan.