As we come, so we go – in faithful deference to the eternal law of impermanence. Yet, some goings are written over with a sense of loss and anguish too deep for comfort…
Even as the festive celebrations of Vijaya Dashami were going on in different parts of the country to mark the symbolic victory of good, a precious life was losing its battle against an unrelenting enemy in the Intensive Care Unit of Bhutan’s National Referral Hospital in Thimphu.
Dasho Megh Raj Gurung left for his heavenly abode in the late afternoon of October 2, 2025, aged 82, having lived an extraordinary life defined by all-embracing humanity, exceptional wisdom, and outstanding service to the Tsawa-Sum throughout his long and passionate engagement with the outer as well as inner life of our precious Druk Yul.
On completion of his studies, this exceptionally intelligent, confident and graceful scion of the legendary family, was ready to launch his public career and make his own contributions to the important task of nation-building. A man of many gifts and multiple talents, Dasho Megh Raj Gurung served in a wide variety of organisations and institutions and in many capacities and left his distinctive mark wherever he worked.
According to family sources, Dasho Gurung joined government service in 1968 as an Accounts Officer in the erstwhile Development Ministry, was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and posted to the Permanent Mission of Bhutan in New York in 1971 as an Attache, and promoted as Second Secretary later. He was transferred back to Thimphu as Deputy Director in the same ministry in 1976.
In December of the same year, His Majesty Drukgyal Zhipa Jigme Singye Wangchuck granted the Red Scarf to Dasho Megh Raj Gurung in recognition of his outstanding service to the nation.
With the establishment of the National Council for Social and Cultural Promotion (NCSCP) Dasho Gurung was appointed as its founding Director given his broad outlook, socially and culturally enlightened attitude, and his warm and welcoming approach – precisely the qualities that the nascent institution needed as it sought to build an inclusive, harmonious and well-integrated society.
It was in his role as the head of the NCSCP that I was able to obtain a deeper insight into the person that Dasho Gurung was – his warm presence and positive outlook immediately catching the attention and earning the admiration of the fresh university graduates gathered to undergo the Graduates’ Orientation and National Service Programme under the auspices of the new agency.
That was when I heard Dasho invite the young men and women to look deeper into the important questions of our national identity, cultural imperatives, sovereignty, our vital institutions, and the relationship between citizens and the nation, among other themes.
Nation-building assumed a chastening new image encompassing the most vital elements beyond the obvious and the objective. And, the concept of National Service was in effect the internalisation of the country within the self.
In the same spirit, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board, Dasho Gurung made relentless efforts to align the aims and activities of the Hindu Dharma Samudaya of Bhutan with the enlightened cultural and social ethos of the country befitting her long-term interests and sovereign goals.
An indefatigable pioneer, Dasho Megh Raj Gurung was the first Managing Director of the Royal Institute of Management which he led and nurtured during its critical formative stages to serve the vital need of human resource development as the country’s veritable staff college.
Towards the later years of his long public career, Dasho Megh Raj Gurung was tasked to lead the corporatisation of the erstwhile Department of Post and Telegraph which he transformed into a robust, efficient and progressive organisation through various innovative, entrepreneurial, and bold initiatives to build the culture and spirit of a public enterprise that carries the brand Bhutan Post. Some retired officers recall Dasho Gurung’s tenure in Bhutan Post as path-breaking and transformative in every sense of the term.
During his extensive and distinguished public service career of close to four decades, Dasho was involved in most of the important national conversations and endeavours, including serving as a member of the Constitution drafting committee, heading the committee tasked to draft the Education Policy of Bhutan, promoting the country’s development vision of Gross National Happiness, and representing the country at several international and regional fora, and chairing important boards and committees. Even after retirement, Dasho continued to provide wise counsel and guidance to all who sought to benefit from his deep wisdom and wide experience.
A true gentleman of great learning, exemplary humility, endearing good cheer, inspiring leadership, and endowed with loving care and infinite generosity of spirit, Dasho Megh Raj Gurung was a wise elder and a genuine role model who will be dearly missed by everybody who knew him and whose lives were touched by Dasho’s boundless goodwill and uplifting presence.
Through my many interactions with him, it was my impression that Dasho Megh Raj Gurung discovered the best of Bhutan, lived out the best of Bhutan and championed the best of Bhutan. Here was a Dasho in the true sense of the term – the best – in thought, speech, and action. For Dasho Megh Raj Gurung, the Red Scarf was not a symbol of privilege or source of pride but an essential call to service, a potent reminder of the need for humility and integrity, a vital medium to rise to a higher self and a better self.
I will always remember with deep gratitude the many sessions and conversations that I had with the amazing scholar, profound thinker, deep spiritualist, voracious reader and noble human being that late Dasho Gurung was. I am forever grateful that Bhutan had such a wise elder who I could also call my mentor.
This, though, is the supreme irony of our life… The ever cheer-filled, all-embracing, and ever spirited, vibrant life lay motionless on an ICU-bed and could only half open one eye to respond to my call. Many in contemporary Bhutan may not even have known that there ever lived a man who gave his all to the noble cause of nation-building and was one of its noblest sons.
Bhutan, like Rome, wasn’t built in a day!
As the mortal remains of this extraordinary servant of the Tsawa-Sum were wheeled through the sombre corridors of the hospital, a regular Bolero pick-up truck waited outside to collect Dasho Gurung’s lifeless frame to make the lone, night-long, homeward journey to Gurung Busty in Samtse for the final goodbye.
May we continue the inspiring examples of Dasho Megh Raj Gurung’s life and work while we wish for the eternal peace of the noble soul as it joins his virtuous ancestors in Zhingkham and take a swift rebirth in our midst.
May the bereaved family receive divine courage to tide over this painful loss and move on…
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A personal tribute by Thakur S Powdyel, former Minister of Education.
