Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami

1. 2022AdmittedPartial. The GBC says he "has admitted to some of these grave offences while under investigation"; he says he touched her three times but only after she turned 18.→
2. 2022ISKCON findingGBC resolution following the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection review panel decision of 2022-10-28 (reported by ISKCON News; the decision text is not public).

The CPO (October 2022) required an apology and USD 5,000 to the victim for counselling; barred him for three years from visiting or staying at ISKCON centres except one approved temple; and for life from Mayapur (to be left within 30 days), from residing or staying overnight at any ISKCON centre, from leadership or management "even in an advisory capacity", from giving any initiation or accepting siksa disciples, from classes, kirtan or harinama (including online), from Deity or brahminical service, and from service involving under-18s. The North American Council endorsed these and added regional restrictions. In December 2022 the GBC banned him for life from accepting disciples, serving as siksa guru or giving spiritual instruction at any ISKCON venue or online forum, declared initiations he gave after February 2007 to have "no standing in ISKCON", and noted that his sannyasa had been suspended.

1. 1991AdmittedPartial, institutional. After the July 1991 investigation of sexual abuse among Mayapur gurukula students, he wrote to the Mayapur GBC members listing the school's failures, including "our failure to properly train and protect the students of the Gurukula from succumbing to material lust and desire" and "our failure to properly affect discipline within the school", and submitted his resignation as principal.→
2. 1991Documented allegationThe ISKCON Board of Education wrote to him and the co-director of ISKCON Mayapur that, considering "ample warnings and concerns expressed over the years, the administrators involved are, at the very least, guilty of negligence", and that he "would have ample opportunity to ascertain the truth when confronted with allegations". A letter, not a formal ruling.→
3. 2000AdmittedISKCON News, quoting the 2000 CPO report, says he admitted "imposing excessive physical punishments".→
4. 2000ISKCON findingFirst CPO decision (September 2000, as dated in the GBC's 2022 resolution); the decision text itself was not obtained.→
5. 2007ISKCON findingGBC Res. 312-B restricted him from accepting disciples on the basis of the 2000 CPO decision.

In 2000 he was removed from any role connected with children and from managing or administering, and barred from initiating "for a specified time", per ISKCON News. In February 2007 the GBC barred him from accepting new disciples; the GBC said in 2022 that he had initiated devotees after that date. In June 2016 a statement approved by the GBC Executive Committee said he "is required to complete the full mandate of the previous CPO decision about him", including relocating "off, and away from any school facility within 14 days", and that the CPO decision "that Maharaja must not be engaged in any administration work must also be followed strictly"; it asked the Ministry of Education to "revisit its prior decision allowing Maharaja to teach".

1. 1998Reported allegationA former student told the Mayapur Child Protection Team that, when he was about 13 or 14, he slept in Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami's bed during a storm and was touched on his genitals. The notes record that the swami's students said the boy had imagined the incident. The complaint was not addressed in the 2000 CPO decision, and no ruling on it has been found.→
2. 2023Documented allegationNew testimony from a former student, sent to the CPO for review; the North American RGB accepted it "as factual". No CPO ruling on it has been found.