The demise of a Gurubhai who was a Gurmukh leaves behind a legacy that his family and associates have the ominous duty to live by. Veer Jaspal Singh passed on that legacy to hundreds of students and some of them are already holding on to the baton. Living the Sikh way of life is easy, yet challenging. The metaphor Sikhs use is Sikhi khaneo-thikki -the Sikh way of life is like walking on a sharp metal’s edge! Jaspal Singh walked on that edge, without tripping on either side. WSN editor, Jagmohan Singh, who also hails from Mumbai and like him now settled in Ludhiana pays tribute to him, shares vignettes of his life and narrates the events at the Bhog of the gem extraordinaire.

TWO DAYS PRIOR TO HIS DEATH, WHILE ON OXYGEN-SUPPORT, Jaspal Singh told Prof. Maninder Pal Singh through a video call that the syllabi for the forthcoming Gurmat camp have been assigned to teachers, except the Gurbani Grammar part and that he should do it.  This is diligence and commitment. Virtually till his last breath, he continued online Gurmat classes started by him in 2011.

This Mumbai-wale Veerji, whose life was a typical rollercoaster ride from his birth town of Sargodha (now in Pakistan) to Rohtak to Hoshiarpur, Mumbai and terminating in Ludhiana was the beloved Sikh of the Guru who was instrumental in spreading the fragrance of Sikhism to thousands of homes

I knew him as a humble practising Sikh, who truly observed the principles of Kirt Karna, Naam Japna, Vandh Chakna in his life.

In this day and age, when tempers run high without a reason, Jaspal Singh was quiet and soft-spoken. While Sikh leaders and activists indulge in cud-chewing about serious challenges confronting the community, as many ill-baked, half-read social media warriors nowadays do, Jaspal Singh was solution-oriented.

When getting a Gutka Sahib in Mumbai was difficult in the early seventies of the last century, he started the Gurmat library and books distribution movement there. When there was no Punjabi-English book for youngsters to learn Punjabi in the Gurmukhi script, with the full involvement of his wife Harinder Kaur, he developed the courseware Gurmat Praveshka which is extensively used.

While many were ruing the fall in Sikh numbers obeying the teachings of the Gurus, he worked hard day and night, for five decades through Gurmat Camps, Gurmat classes and started a Sikh renaissance movement, which effectively continues in Mumbai and parts of Maharashtra, Ludhiana and Ropar. Sensing the needs of the Sikhs, this Sikh renaissance movement is delivering positive results.

Unable to bear the loss, hiding his tears, his loving Gurubhai Kulwant Singh said, “We have not lost an individual, but an institution. It will be a long time till we can get an organiser, manager, public speaker, adviser and leader like him again.

”Whenever I or anyone argued with Jaspal Singh over a point, he would smilingly say, “I am an uneducated person.” He did not tell the full story that he had to stay that way because, at the school-going age, he joined his father and grandfather in business to keep the family going, as was the case of many who had been made to forcibly migrate to this side of the Radcliffe line.

This formally ‘uneducated person’ painstakingly through reading and self-learning understood the nuances of Gurbani grammar as enunciated by Prof Sahib Singh.

Speaking to The World Sikh News, Rajpal Singh from California said, “He was my mentor. He taught me how to read Guru Granth Sahib, how to understand the Guru’s word and how to live the Sikh way of life, based on Guru Sahib’s teachings.”

This champion of the Sikh way of life set up the Gurmat Parchar Charitable Trust, Mumbai in 1989 and in the last decade of his life became an active adviser and sheet-anchor of curriculum revision and enhancement at the Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Gurmat Missionary College at Ropar for the benefit of trainee missionaries and chaplains.

The soft-spoken public speaker oozed the essence and beauty of Sikhism in every word that he spoke and in every act that he did. He knew when he had to uphold excellence and righteousness.

Speaking at his Bhog in Ludhiana today, Kulwant Singh said, “He was the visionary whose dream project of a Sikh Centre of Excellence and Renaissance lies unfulfilled and it will be our duty to accomplish it.”

Giani Baljit Singh, doing Katha -exposition of the Guru’s word, said “the truest tribute to Jaspal Singh would be to ensure that we should set up a second-line to carry on the work of Panthic luminaries like him.”

The gathering bestowed the Siropa on Kanwaljeet Kaur and Bhupinder Singh for following the methodology and style of propagation of Sikhism by Jaspal Singh.

Writing about him, Prof. Maninderpal Singh says, “He was Gurmat Class personified. His mannerism, talk and empathetic behaviour were purely spiritual, endearing him to one and all.”

This father figure will be missed by many for his humility and it is hoped that his family and friends will carry on his legacy.

His children -with pain in their heart, clearly visible on their faces, yet devotion of Sikhi intact, sang the six stanzas of Anand Sahib in the Sangat at the Antam Ardas -last prayer, attended by Panthic personalities and close family in limited numbers, but the program of loving Kirtan and prayer witnessed the participation of hundreds across the social media platforms and various channels, including some who had come from Mumbai for the live telecast.

Amarjit Singh, co-founder of the Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Missionary College, while speaking at the Bhog said, “It will be well-nigh difficult to get another Jaspal Singh soon.” Inderjit Singh Rana of the Gurmat Gian Missionary College said, “74-year-old Jaspal Singh was an epitome of the goodness of the Sikh way of life.”

A weeping Harinder Kaur, his daughters and daughter in law were consoled by Panthic activists Dr Pushpinder Singh, Jaspal Singh, Tejinder Singh, Amanpreet Singh, Principal Harvinder Singh and many others.

The warm and caring family man, lovingly addressed as Mumbai-wale Veerji by the young at age and the young at heart, with his trademark smile, will be remembered till eternity as a true Gurmukh -a man who lived by the Word of the Guru.

I am sure that it will not be long before one can see the smile of  Jaspal Singh on the faces of young Sikhs immersed in the love and respect of Sikhs and Sikhism.

Guru Rakha Mumbai-wale Veer Ji Jaspal Singh Ji!!