Tharakan was born in
Kerala, India and was raised as a
Roman Catholic. After completing high school at the age of 15 he joined the
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. In 1989 he graduated from
Delhi University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, Politics, English and Malayalam. He then attended Calvary Philosophical College where he studied Philosophy and Psychology, graduating in 1991 and then theology at the Capuchin Vidyabhavan in
Kerala. He was ordained a priest on December 30, 1994, and was appointed to serve in the North Indian Missions of the Capuchins. He later served as a chaplain to the
Missionaries of Charity of Mother Theresa in Delhi. he also held posts as assistant director of the Media House Publication Center, itinerant preacher, spiritual director, Theology Professor, music composer, and interim High School Principal for St Paul's and Holy Angels in
Uttar Pradesh. In 1997 he moved to the United States and served in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock until 2001. After that he moved to
Chester, Arkansas where he worked on a farm while also undertaking studies in Clinical Pastoral Education in San Antonio and Pine Bluff. ==Episcopal Church==