Zindagi Ka Safar English Translation

Zindagi Ka Safar, translates to English as Life’s Journey, or The Journey of Life. It is a Hindi song from the 1970 film Safar (Journey), and best sung by Kishor Kumar. The best version of this song will also be found in the record LP Kishor Kumar: Live at Los Angeles. This is a serious song with profoundly deep and meaningful lyrics that can leave you in tears if you understood it properly.

As a child, I remember listening to this song and feeling a profound sense reverence in the meaning of the words, after all, what is more important than your life and your journey. This song explores many important and serious concepts, that even as a child, made a huge impact on me. One important meaning I take from this song is that love conquers all including death. This is expressed in the lyrics where he says that life gave him so much love, that he could endure even death with great affection. If your heart is full of love, then there is nothing to be afraid of, including the unknown such as death. However, the question then begs whether any one person can receive so much love from life that it gives them so much confidence that they are afraid of nothing.

We all come into this world perhaps not in the best of times (rote-rote zamaane), however what we leave behind, and the state we leave it in, is worth considering. When decent people leave this world, they leave behind a world that is enriched, full of laughter and happiness (hanste-hanste zamaane), and perhaps this is something to strive for whilst we are here.

There is so much war and poverty and this song reminds me that there are children in this world who have never had a chance to live, and death (maut) came to them before their time. The writer juxtaposes this idea with an example of a type of flower that dies early, because for it, autumn (khiza) comes early.

If you lost a loved one, then you will relate to it well. In my family, we all died too early before we even had a chance to live. Unfortunately, very selfish and bad people won, and there was nothing we could do. It was a lesson for me in life that one could lose without making any mistakes.

Meaning and Context

The words are extremely simple and straightforward to understand, however there are some parts that have subtle meanings that could be lost in the translation if one is not careful. Here are the meanings for some words that you may have difficulty with understanding.

Pareshan approximates to bewildered or puzzled or mystified

Khiza in Hindi means autumn, which is a time when the leaves fall off and plants die

Nibhayengee approximates to enduring or maintaining

Zamaane approximates to a long duration of time

English Translation

Zindagi ka safar, hai ye kaisa safar,

A life’s journey, (is) what kind of journey?

koi samjha nahi, koi jana nahi.

(which) no one understands, (and) no one knows.

Hai yeh kaisi dagar, chalte hain sab magar...

(And) what kind of path is it that everyone walks upon, however...

koi samjha nahi, koi jana nahi.

no one understands, (and) no one knows.

Zindagi ko bahut, pyar humne diya,

Life has given me so much love,

maut se bhi, mohabbat nibhayenge hum.

(that) even (my) death too, I will endure with love.

Rote-rote zamaane mein aaye magaar,

I came in a time of great sadness (crying), however,

hanste-hanste zamaane se jayenge hum.

I will leave in a time of great happiness (laughter).

Jayenge par kidhar, hai kise ye khabar

Where will I go from here? That, who knows,

Aise jeevan bhi hain, jo jiya hi nahi,

There are also such lives, that have never lived,

jinko jeene se pehle hi maut aa gayi.

for whom death came, before they lived.

Phool aise bhi hai, jo khile hi nahi,

(Such) flowers also exits, that do not bloom,

jinko khilne se pehle khiza aa gayi.

for whom autumn (death) comes before blossoming.

Hai pareshan nazar, thak gaye, chaa aagar...

With bewildered gaze, tired, but still...

koi samjha nahi, koi jana nahi.

no one understands, no one knows.