Bhai Gurmej Singh, the well-known blind Ragi from Punjab who also served for nearly three decades at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, is in New Zealand these days.
Interestingly, he has a strong connection with New Zealand that goes back almost exactly a hundred years. In 1906, his maternal grandfather migrated from India to Fiji and then on to New Zealand in 1909. His family still lives in Auckland.
Bhai Gurmej Singh was born in Village Bajidpur in Punjab in the year 1940 and at a tender age of 8 years the dreaded disease small pox rendered him blind. A village elder convinced Bhai Gurmej’s father Parsa Singh to send his son to the Central Khalsa Orphanage in Amritsar which also operated a wing for blind students and imparted them vocational training in Kirtan, cane weaving and also taught them to read Braille.
This was the turning point in Bhai Gurmej’s life where he was trained under the guidance of the legendary Bhai Vir Singh, a famous Sikh personality who ran the Central Khalsa Orphanage. Bhai Gurmej was exceptionally good in Kirtan and aspired to be a Ragi.
Unfortunately Bhai Vir Singh died when Bhai Gurmej was only 17 years – but he left a deep impression on Bhai Gurmej – who performed Kirtan at the bhog ceremony of Bhai Vir Singh.
Because of his extraordinary accomplishments even at the young age of 18, Bhai Gurmej was appointed as a Ragi in Nanaksar Gurudwara in Verka, where he further perfected his skills for another two years before landing a job in the Gurudwara at Dehradun where he worked for the next 11 years.
In 1971, Bhai Gurmej was hand picked and invited to be the Ragi at the Golden Temple – the highest seat of the Sikh religion. This was a rare honour for Bhai Gurmej who was installed as the “Hazuri Ragi” at the Golden Temple. Bhai Gurmej dedicated the next 27 years of his life in the service of God at the Golden Temple from where he retired in 1998.
He has travelled the world spreading the message of Gurbani and mesmerised the faithful in the United States, Canada, Dubai, Thailand and New Zealand with his soul stirring hymns and kirtan.
Bhai Gurmej is highly accomplished in Braille – which is the written language for the blind and is a combination of 6 dots. He has worked tirelessly throughout his life to publish the various Sikh scriptures in Braille – so that blind people can also read and benefit from the teachings of the Sikh Gurus.
He translated the Holy Sukhmani Sahib in Braille in the year 1969. In 1975 he completed translation of the verses of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur and by 1979 he completed Guru Amar Das’s verses along with the Nit Nem.
Currently he is working on a project to translate the entire Sri Guru Granth Sahib into Braille. Jagjit Singh, who is the son of Avtar Singh Andrew, a senior community leader and social worker of Auckland, is assisting him in this exemplary task.
Bhai Gurmej Singh has been awarded the Shiromani Ragi Award by the Chief Khalsa Diwan in 1988; by Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee in 1991; by the Bhasha Vibhag of the Punjab Government in the year 1997. He was also conferred the Ujagar Singh Sekhwan Shiromani Ragi Award in 1998.
This is Bhai Gurmej Singh’s second visit to New Zealand and he has performed Kirtan in most Gurudwaras in the country.