BRIGHT LIGHTS SRIKUMAR RAO BRINGS ANCIENT SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS TO BUSINESSES

When Srikumar Rao, the son of a highly spiritual mother, was growing up in India and Burma (now Myanmar), it wasn't unusual for people like the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the creator of Transcendental Meditation, to visit his home. “This was before he was discovered by the Beatles and [actor] Mia Farrow, so he was not a global celebrity,” says Rao, now 73. “He was just a guy who had wandered off the mountains. But his spiritual presence was very strong.”

- ANNIE L. SCHOLL

Many disciples of the direct disciples of the Indian Hindu mystic Ramakrishna were also regular visitors to his home. “I didn’t understand their spiritual power. They were just like uncle figures who patted me on the head and gave me sweets,” Rao says.

At a young age, Rao also discovered the book A Search in Secret India by the late Paul Brunton, a British philosopher who left his career as a journalist to live among yogis, mystics, and holy men to study Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. As it did for people in the West, Brunton’s book introduced Rao to Ramana Maharshi, the well-known Indian sage.

“I was strongly attracted to Ramana Maharshi, and I have since become more and more drawn to his teachings,” Rao says. “He has been the greatest single influence on my life. Much of what he taught has moved from intellectual understanding to visceral reality.” Those teachings, combined with the presence of the spiritual giants he met as a child, rubbed off on Rao. He brings all of what he's learned to The Rao Institute, where he helps executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals all over the world discover their true purpose, overcome obstacles, and “plug into their hardwired happiness.”

Rao works one-on-one with people, holds workshops, leads group programs, gives talks, and offers programs online.

“I’m just the messenger guy,” he says. “The teachings don’t come from me. They come through me—and I’m a damn good translator. I can translate the messages of the masters so that they’re acceptable and understandable to intelligent people in a postindustrial era.”

To learn more about Srikumar Rao, visit theraoinstitute.com.

DRIFTING THROUGH LIFE