Dhanurdhara Swami

1. 1995Reported allegationFormer students confronted him in Los Angeles, as recorded in the 1999 CPO decision.→
2. 1996ISKCON findingA GBC committee stopped him accepting new disciples (an administrative action before the CPO existed, recorded in the 1999 decision).→
3. 1999AdmittedThe decision records that he "admits that he sometimes punished with hostility and sometimes with excess" and "acknowledges his unwarranted use of force and intimidation".→
4. 1999ISKCON findingOfficial Decision of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection.→
5. 2007ISKCON findingGBC Res. 312 (Part B) made CPO leadership restrictions include initiating guru; the CPO Director confirmed this applies to him.

Before the CPO case, according to the 1999 decision: in December 1995 he resigned and wrote apology letters, which the GBC "held … in abeyance"; a few weeks after a GBC committee meeting on 3 July 1996 the GBC Chairman wrote that he must relocate "out of the USA entirely for the next five years", though a committee member later told him to stay in the US and preach; and "in mid-1997 the Chairman of the North American GBC told Dhanurdhara Maharaja that he should not reside in ISKCON centers, he should cease preaching in ISKCON, and he should submit to a forensic psychological evaluation", with which he cooperated. The 1999 decision restricted him for five years to preaching in one of four named regions, limited his initiations, required every disciple to read the decision, barred him for life from any management position in ISKCON, required him to give at least 50% of donations received to youth projects for five years, and required counselling. In July 2006 the GBC Executive Committee decided on an interim basis that he would not give initiation in ISKCON. In 2007 GBC Res. 312 extended CPO leadership restrictions to initiating guru, and the CPO Director wrote that he "may not act as initiating spiritual masters in ISKCON"; in the same resolution the GBC apologised to him for "long and cumbersome procedures" while supporting the CPO decision. A 2016 statement approved by the GBC Executive Committee said "the apology was based on concerns that procedures in the investigation violated norms of fair process. The GBC did not apologize for disciplining Dhanurdhara Swami, nor did the GBC or CPO condone his abusive behavior in the past." In February 2020 the ISKCON Child Protection Office stated that the North American GBC had voted to uphold his 2006 resignation, that he "remains outside of ISKCON North America" and may visit ISKCON centres that allow him, and that the CPO guideline barring anyone found to have severely maltreated children from leading kirtan, giving class or speaking publicly at ISKCON events applies; the North American GBC Council's chair wrote that a "strong majority" had voted to keep that status (both statements seen only as reproduced on third-party blogs). In March 2020 the GBC Executive Committee said pursuing his reinstatement was "not appropriate".