har :taraf aa))inah-daarii me;N hai us ke ruu kii
shauq se dekhiye mu;Nh hove hai kiidhar apnaa

1a) every direction is [engaged] in mirror-holding of her/His face
1b) in every direction it is [engaged] in mirror-holding of her/His face

2) from/through ardor, look, which way your own face has turned



S. R. Faruqi:

The point in the verse is that since there are six directions (right, left, ahead, behind, above, and below), if in order to look at her our face would be turned upward, then above there's the sky; and if it would be downward, then below is the ground. Thus to turn the face in those two directions has the effect of cutting off one's relationship with the world.

The expressive style of the first line is also fine. By saying aa))inah-daarii me;N hai he has suggested that every direction is always and entirely absorbed in holding up a mirror to his face, as though the very reason for its creation was so that it should reflect the face of the True Beloved.



SRF reads the first line as having the subject 'every direction' (1a), and that indeed works well; then the second line reminds the lover that he himself is behaving similarly, and seeking her/His face as ardently as the directions seek it.

But it's also quite plausible to take har :taraf adverbially, as 'in every direction' (1b), so that the subject is deferred till the second line, and only then can we recognize it to be 'face'.

In the second line, shauq se could modify 'look', or 'has turned'. Either reading would go with either reading of the first line. For it's quite possible to imagine that the lover's face has been turning constantly in every direction, ardently seeking the sight of the beloved's face, like a sunflower seeking to track the sun, or an anthropomorphized mirror trying to find the most radiant image to savor and reflect. Thus the lover himself is enjoined to 'look' since even he doesn't realize how his face is tracking insatiably around in all directions like a radar receiver. And of course, if the verse is read mystically, then God's radiant face is indeed visible in every possible direction.