'Rich Dad Poor Dad' Robert Kiyosaki says Indian guru helped him realise making money isn’t life's mission

Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, has urged people to look beyond the pursuit of money, saying financial success should follow a deeper sense of purpose rather than become life's ultimate goal.

In a post on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, Kiyosaki reflected on a lesson he said he learned years ago from an Indian guru: "Your body's mission is to fulfill your spirit's mission." He wrote that at the time, his body was "busy making money," but it took him years to understand what his spirit's mission truly was.

Kiyosaki said he eventually realised his purpose was to teach, even though becoming a teacher was the last profession he had imagined for himself because he had struggled in school and disliked formal education.


He wrote that he believed schools were "lying" to people about money. That conviction led him to stop being a manufacturer more than 50 years ago and begin teaching the financial lessons he had learned from his "rich dad." According to Kiyosaki, that decision changed his life.

Looking back, Kiyosaki said many people fail to discover their life's mission because they are too busy surviving and working for money. Instead, he encouraged readers to ask themselves, "What does my heart want to do to serve humanity?" and begin pursuing that calling without expecting financial reward.

He said he started teaching those lessons for free and was ridiculed for ideas such as "Savers are losers" and "Debt can make you rich." Over time, he wrote, that free education grew into a multimillion-dollar business with a global reach.

Drawing a parallel with Martin Luther King Jr., Kiyosaki cited King's statement about wanting to do "God's will" and his acknowledgement that he "may not get to the promised land" with others. He said King continued pursuing his mission despite knowing many were threatened by his work.

Kiyosaki ended the post by asking readers to reflect on a question he considers fundamental: "What is your spirit's mission?"

Robert Toru Kiyosaki, born on April 8, 1947, is an American entrepreneur, businessman and author best known for the Rich Dad Poor Dad series on personal finance. Born in Hilo, Hawaii, Kiyosaki is the eldest of four children in a family of Japanese descent. His father, Ralph Kiyosaki, was an educator, while his mother, Marjorie Kiyosaki, was a nurse. One of his sisters, Tenzin Kacho, was ordained as a Buddhist nun by the Dalai Lama and served at a Buddhist centre in Long Beach, California.

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