| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Kotamraju Narayana Rao |
| Profession | Astrologer |
| Physical Stats | |
| Height (approx.) | 5' 7" (170 cm) |
| Eye Colour | Dark Brown |
| Hair Colour | White |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 12 October 1931 (Monday) |
| Age (as of 2024) | 93 Years |
| Birthplace | Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh |
| Zodiac sign | Libra |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Hometown | Machilipatnam |
| Educational Qualification | Masters in English Literature |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Family | |
| Parents | Father- Sri K. Rama Rao (Deceased) (Journalist) Mother- K. Saraswati Devi (Deceased) |
| Siblings | Brothers- K. Pratap Rao (Retired ambassador of the Indian Foreign service), K. Vikram Rao (Retired President of the All India working Journalists association) |
Some Lesser Known Facts About K. N. Rao
- K. N. Rao was raised by his parents in an Andhra Brahmin family.
- K. N. Rao’s father, Sri K. Rama Rao, was the founder editor of the Indian English-language newspaper named ‘National Herald’ and editor of more than thirty journals in his long journalistic career.
- At the age of eleven, he had an attack of typhoid, which was considered a deadly killer in those days. One day, because of his extreme weakness, he was lying on his bed, and his mother put a painting of Goddess Saraswati in front of him and initiated him into numerology, palmistry, graphology, and astrology.
- He was introduced to astrology by his late mother, Srimati K. Saraswati Devi, at the age of twelve in 1943. He considers her the best astrologer he has ever known, especially in the areas of marriage, children, and Prashna (horary astrology).
- In his younger days, K. N. Rao was more passionate about games and sports than astrology. He won brilliancy prizes in chess and claimed two state championships in bridge. He also played ten other sports, which is why references to games often appear in his astrological writings.
- He has never been married. In 1960, he came close to getting married, but in the end, the wedding got cancelled.
- Belonging to a high-ranking position in the government, a stable job/salary, and also an Andhra Niyogi Brahmin family, he received many marriage proposals and some of these marriage proposals from the families of two former presidents of India, Sri S.Radhakrishnan and Sri V.V.Giri.
- K. N. Rao earned a Master’s degree in English Literature and worked as an English lecturer at a college in Lucknow.
- Soon after working as a lecturer, he joined the Indian Audit and Accounts Service in 1957, which is a group ‘A’ central civil service under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, where he eventually retired as Director General in November 1990.
- Initially, he used to do astrology without charging a single penny for his services.
- Rao’s mantra guru, Swami Paramananda Saraswati, was the first to tell him not to give up astrology, saying it should be a key part of his spiritual journey.
- Later, in 1982, a respected yogi named Swami Moorkhanandji predicted that Rao would play a major role in bringing new life to astrology. A lot about his astrology journey has been seen from the many important studies and findings Rao has shared in his writings.
Swami Moorkhanandji with K. N. Rao
- Doing astrology as a selfless mission without taking any fees became so exhausting at one point that he thought about quitting many times. However, in December 1981, he was persuaded to step out and take part in a three-day astrology seminar in Delhi.
- After his powerful speech at the three-day astrology seminar in Delhi, people began constantly requesting his astrology articles. Since then, he has been regularly sharing his original research, which has earned him praise from around the world.
- K. N. Rao is the founder of the Institute of Astrology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, which was established in 1987.
- Between 1993 and 1995, K. N. Rao visited the United States of America on five lecture tours. He was the Chief Guest at the Second Conference of the American Council of Vedic Astrology in 1993.
- He was invited to attend the Third Conference of the American Council of Vedic Astrology in 1994 on the opening day because his presence attracted large crowds. Although he had clearly stated that he would no longer take part in the American conferences, his name was still promoted for the Fourth Conference until November 1995.
- As a result of his academic approach, K. N. Rao, as of 2025, has over a thousand students in India and more than two hundred in the USA.
- He played a key role in launching the Vedic Astrology course at Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan in New Delhi and continues to guide it as an advisor and senior teacher.
- As of 2025, with K. N. Rao’s leadership and support, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan is considered the top place to learn Vedic Astrology and trains around 4,000 students every year.
- All of this success of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan was predicted by his astrology teacher, Yogi Bhaskarananda from Gujarat, whom Rao calls the last true sage-like astrologer in the traditional style.
- His guru had told him that he would travel to many countries to help bring respect, recognition, and honour to Hindu astrology, which was not widely appreciated at the time.
- An American once described the impact of Rao’s first visit to the USA in 1993 by saying, “There’s Vedic astrology before Rao, and then there’s Vedic astrology after Rao.”
- K. N. Rao’s choice to never become a professional astrologer earned him thousands of admirers, but it also drew criticism from some professional astrologers who saw him as a threat.
- During his career at the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, he planned, organised, and taught three international courses on Audit of Receipts, once as a Joint Director and twice as a Director.
- For over two decades, he has interacted with foreigners on both professional and astrological levels, which has helped him build a wide international circle of friends as an astrologer.
- Throughout his service career, K. N. Rao continued conducting in-depth research in astrology and systematically collected thousands of horoscopes.
- He has collected over 1,00,000 horoscopes, each with details of ten major life events of the person. This is likely the biggest personal collection of horoscope data any astrologer has.
- It is believed that the information he has is highly accurate and trustworthy, and far more reliable than what anyone would typically find on Google for astrology.
- Both K. N. Rao’s mantra guru, Swami Paramananda Saraswati, and his astrology guru, Yogi Bhaskarananda, shared with him rare secrets of spiritual astrology that are not usually found in any astrology book. K. N. Rao later revealed some of these insights in his book titled ‘Yogis, Destiny and the Wheel of Time.’
- His own mother, who was his first astrology teacher, knew many traditional secrets. K. N. Rao has shared some of these in his three books titled ‘Ups and Downs in Careers,’ ‘Astrology, Destiny and the Wheel of Time,’ and ‘Planets and Children.’
- K. N. Rao has written 27 books and has also guided and edited around a dozen more written by others. As of 2025, he serves as the chief editor of the well-known ‘Journal of Astrology.’
- One of his greatest achievements is the introduction of Vedic Astrology as a University Grants Commission (UGC) course in the Indian Universities and later defending it in the Supreme Court of India.
- Among his regular visitors and followers were former Indian President K. R. Narayanan and former Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. His influence on them played a key role in the BJP government’s decision to introduce Vedic Astrology as a course in Indian universities.
- Some scientists and journalists criticised the move, calling astrology unscientific and a waste of public money, even accusing it of ‘saffronizing’ education.
- A case was filed in the Hyderabad High Court, which ruled against introducing Vedic Astrology as a UGC-approved course. When the case went to the Supreme Court, the UGC and HRD Ministry barely put up a defence. That is when K. N. Rao got into action.
- It was the early 2000s, and K. N. Rao stepped in. He was over 70 at that time and was struggling with severe diabetes, which had left both his legs nearly paralysed. He could barely move around with crutches.
- He carefully selected senior teachers and research students from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan group and helped prepare a solid defence. They gathered quotes from many ancient scriptures and even old Mughal records like the Akbarnama and Jahangirnama, showing that Muslim rulers also trusted and rewarded astrologers.
- They also made a list of accurate predictions by various astrologers. With all this strong proof, K.N. Rao personally went to court and argued the case himself. As a result, the Supreme Court of India reversed the ruling of the Hyderabad High Court and permitted UGC to introduce Vedic Astrology as a course in the Indian Universities.
- K. N. Rao appeared on several Indian TV channels to clear up common myths and misunderstandings about Vedic Astrology, like Kala Sarpa Dosha, Mangala Dosha, and Sadesati. He often warns people not to fall for fake astrologers who use fear to make money.
- As of 2025, he has authored more than 40 books on Vedic astrology.
- As of 2025, K. N. Rao serves as the Advisor and senior teacher of Astrology Courses at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi.
- He created new astrology methods like PAC-DARES and the Composite Approach, which are now used by students around the world. His work has played a big role in moving Vedic astrology forward.
- K. N. Rao used to travel a lot with his father, who was moving from one place to another due to his job. K. N. Rao at one time, also volunteered for Mahatma Gandhi. Describing his experience, he was quoted as saying in one of his interviews that
I was the personal volunteer of Mahatma Gandhi during my vacations in Wardha. I saw, from closest quarters, the future famous men of India. Fellow volunteers and I, who had come from different parts of India, got disenchanted with almost all of them, except Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.”
