Bhakti Vikasa Swami

The 2000 decision on Kripa Kara Das bars him for life from any ISKCON service that involves association with children under 18. It also states that any violation bars him from ISKCON property until his case is reviewed. Dharmasanga says a video and photographs show the January 2025 trip. These have not been reviewed for this record. No ISKCON or Child Protection Office statement about the matter and no news reporting of it have been found, and no public response from Bhakti Vikasa Swami to this allegation has been found.

2000. In a letter of 6 April 2000 to him and to GBC members, Dhira Govinda dasa, the director of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection, quoted him as having written: “BVP Maharaja’s being removed from his role in the Mayapur ‘older student’s’ gurukul and forbidding him from lecturing in Iskcon centers in no way benefits either those who have been abused or anybody else.” He also quoted him: “Why single him out for punishment? Why not punish the local GBC, i.e. Jayapataka Maharaja, in the same way? Is he not equally responsible?” The director replied that, from his experience with well over a hundred cases, the first statement was “not accurate”.

2016, Brno. According to the published transcript, he spoke about a recent film that had highlighted that Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami was “known to be or certified by the ISKCON Child Protection Office (CPO) to be a child abuser” for things that happened “twenty five – thirty years ago”. Asked why he was still allowed to be involved with children, he said: “Well, there is the answer, go and see.” Answering a question, he said: “Yes, there is a record that he is a child abuser inasmuch as he severely beat some of the boys.” He said that much of what the CPO recommends “is based on recommendations from karmis” (non-devotees), and argued that treating ear-twisting and rape alike as child abuse “is extremely unbalanced and unfair”. He also said: “Maybe it is best to take advice from people who have experience in this, even if their background is in mundane psychology.” In October 2022 the CPO found Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami responsible for the sexual abuse and grooming of a child between 2005 and 2010 (ISKCON News).

2017. In an essay on his website he wrote: “I generally do not recommend [corporal punishment], although in some form it might sometimes be employed.”

2024 and 2025. His website lists a lecture called “Perspectives On Child Abuse”, given on 5 April 2024 at Karumandurai, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Its audio file can no longer be downloaded, and no transcript has been found. Light of Dharma reported that in an August 2025 lecture in Croatia he urged people who keep complaining about past mistreatment to move on and described some critics as conducting lifelong campaigns. No recording of that lecture has been found.