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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.”
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…