Gururaj Rao graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Naval Architecture from IIT Kharagpur, and a post-graduate degree in Engineering from the University of Tokyo. He has worked as a Naval Architect in India, designing fiberglass boats, and later moved to Japan for his Master's degree in Naval Architecture from the University of Tokyo. He subsequently worked as a technical translator between Japanese and English for 34 years. He is now retired.

He has cleared the Level 1 Japanese Language Proficiency Course in 1988 in Tokyo. He has also completed the Google IT Support Professional Course, Financial Accounting Course (Univ. of Pennsylvania), and the Scientific Writing Course (Stanford University) - all online courses through Coursera.

Gururaj completed his 200-hour Yoga teacher training course in 2016 at Shrimath Yoga. He presently teaches Shrimath-style Ashtanga Yoga through both onsite and online classes in Japanese and English. He completed the 10-day Vipassana Meditation Course in Mumbai in 2019, and practices meditation daily.

Gururaj grows 16 different varieties of vegetables organically in his home garden in Japan at any time of the year. He is also an avid swimmer, and swims 1.2 km on an average every day. He presently lives in Kimitsu City, Japan, with his wife, two dogs, two cats and two ducks.