This is the Maqta (final, signature couplet) of one of Ghalib's most celebrated ghazals, and it represents his genius for self-directed irony at its sharpest. The couplet is an act of self-examination — Ghalib is addressing himself, asking how he could possibly go on pilgrimage to Mecca when his life has been marked by wine, irreverence, and deviation from orthodox religious practice.

The phrase 'kis munh se' — literally 'with what face/mouth' — is a powerful Urdu idiom that means 'with what audacity' or 'how dare you.' It implies a gap between who you are and who you would need to be to deserve the thing you seek. Ghalib is acknowledging that gap with complete honesty: he is not the kind of man who should be walking into the Kaaba.

But the punchline — 'Sharm tum ko magar nahi aati' (yet you feel no shame) — is the master stroke. Rather than completing the self-indictment with resolution or remorse, Ghalib notes his own shamelessness with amused detachment. There is pride in this: he has refused to perform a piety he does not feel. His 'shamelessness' is the dignity of authenticity — the courage to be exactly what he is, even when standing at the gates of the sacred.