Reflections on the Man, the Mind and the Mission

This volume is a Festschrift on the occasion of Prof K. Ramakrishna Rao's 85th birthday – Rao has had an extraordinary and distinguished career in philosophy, psychology and parapsychology, as well as Gandhian studies, yoga, politics and education. The book covers all these fields, outlining his very considerable body of work and theoretical contributions. As such, it serves as an excellent introduction, and reprints one of my reviews from this journal. His bibliography of books and papers runs to 24 pages from 1955 to 2017. Rao himself contributes a memoir recalling key episodes in his life, and it is interesting to learn how sometimes conflicting opportunities came up and what he did to resolve these situations, including being called back from the US, where he was working with JB Rhine, to become Vice Chancellor of Andhra University – one also learns about his experience of the politics of parapsychology in relation to university orthodoxy. In his concluding thoughts, he comes across as more active than contemplative, making plans for next year's 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and a new inspirational centre. And as an educator, he is concerned to help foster a mindset of truth, nonviolence and altruism alongside our prodigious technological development.