Laxmimoni Dasi
Legal name Linda Hickey
Laxmimoni devi dasiLaksmimoni dasiLaxmi Moni
Suspended — Apr 27, 2018
- Ashram teacher in an ISKCON gurukula, later asked to run the school (school and years not stated)
- Member, GBC Child Protection Task Force (report of January 1998)
- 1998
- Judge, ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection panel in the case of Dhanurdhara Swami (decision of October 1999)
- 1999
- Head of the Hare Krishna school in Alachua, Florida (as of 1999)
- Member, ISKCON Ministry of Educational Development
- 2011
- Member, GBC Appointment Committee
- 2011
Protected by · 1
Hridayananda Das GoswamiAs a GBC member in 2018, wrote publicly that the child-protection ruling on her needed judicial review for lack of fair process; said he never claimed she was innocent.
Record summary
1 entry — 1 ISKCON finding.
Last reviewedBio
Laxmimoni Dasi (legal name Linda Hickey), born in 1948, was an ashram teacher in an ISKCON gurukula and was later asked to run the school; which school, and in which years, is not stated in the sources reviewed. In 1999 the Santa Maria Times described her as head of the Hare Krishna school in Alachua, Florida.
She was a member of the GBC-appointed Child Protection Task Force, whose January 1998 report proposed ISKCON’s child-protection system, including a central office and panels of judges (reproduced as Appendix O to the 2022 report of the Lokanath Swami case panel). In a 1998 email to Dhira Govinda dasa of the new Child Protection Office about the Lokanath Swami case, known from a transcription on the critic site lokanath.net, she wrote that “someone should immediately be assigned as an investigator and interview the girl, as well as the parents”, that the case should be handled “quietly, at least until we KNOW that he is quilty [sic]”, and referred to “my other two cases”. In October 1999 she was one of the six judges of the office’s panel in the case of Dhanurdhara Swami; she was among those who favoured a five-year restriction on his preaching, and among the four who voted to cut his restriction on accepting disciples from five years to two (decision, p.12).
In 2011 the GBC listed her as a member of ISKCON’s Ministry of Educational Development and of the GBC Appointment Committee. In 2018 she was living in Alachua.
Sources (6)
- [1]Official Decision of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection on the case of Laxmimoni devi dasi, concluded 27 April 2018, Apr 27, 2018 (document)
- [2]Santa Maria Times, KRISHNA: Members of religious sect accuse devotees of child abuse in the past (Julia Lieblich) — Associated Press feature "Hare Krishnas Threatened by Lawsuit"; continued from p.A-1 on p.F-4, Jun 13, 1999
- [3]Appendices to the Report of the Lokanath Swami Case Panel (A–Y), Mar 1, 2022 (document)
- [4]Official Decision of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection on the case of Dhanurdhara Maharaja, 28 October 1999, Oct 28, 1999 (document)
- [5]lokanath.net, Emails Showing GBC Members Blocked CPO Investigation of Lokanath in 1998 — critic website; emails of 1998 on the Lokanath Swami case, including one from Laxmimoni dasi to Dhira Govinda dasa of the Child Protection Office; transcriptions reproduced by the critic site lokanath.net, 2022, 1998
- [6]ISKCON GBC, GBC Resolutions 2011 — Annual General Meeting, Sri Mayapur Dham, 20 February – 3 March 2011: ministries and committees, 2011
Record
1 entry · most established firstAbuse of girls as a gurukula ashram teacher
ISKCON's child-protection office received statements from ten women, all former pupils, about historical abuse when she was an ashram teacher in a gurukula. In April 2018 a review panel found it "more likely than not" that she was responsible "for child negligence, as well as emotional, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse". It said that although her situation while running the gurukula "was very difficult", those circumstances "do not mitigate the abuse she inflicted on the girls". The decision does not describe the acts or state where and when they took place.
In November 2022 two senior ISKCON figures questioned the case in letters seen only as copies posted by a critics’ Facebook group. Sivarama Swami asked the GBC to review “Laksmimoni dd’s case, a ruling with which I and many other GBC members did not agree”. Hridayananda das Goswami wrote that the child-protection director had “grossly violated basic principles of justice” in the case, while stating that he had never “advocated” that she was innocent and would “accept the verdict of a fair trial”. Whether any review took place, and with what result, has not been found.
She was required to write individual letters of apology to the victims, sent through the office. For ten years: no staying overnight at ISKCON centres (with exceptions for two temples of her choice in the USA or Canada, ISKCON Mayapur, and one night each way at the Delhi temple); no leadership, management, committee or advisory positions; no classes, kirtan or teaching of any kind; no public worship; and she must show the decision to temple presidents. For life: no service involving anyone under 18, and she may not be present where victims or their families object. The decision could be appealed within 60 days; whether she appealed is not known.
The decision lists her "lack of acceptance of the allegations" among the panel's considerations. No public statement by her has been found. [1]
Sources (3)
- [1]Official Decision of the ISKCON Central Office of Child Protection on the case of Laxmimoni devi dasi, concluded 27 April 2018, Apr 27, 2018 (document) original
- [2]Letter "Dear Devotees" by Sivarama Swami, 6 November 2022 (copy posted by the Facebook group Vedic Inquirer – Advancing Child Protection, 10 November 2022), Nov 6, 2022
- [3]Letters of Hridayananda das Goswami, 7 and 8 November 2022, and his reply of December 2022 (copies posted by the Facebook group Vedic Inquirer – Advancing Child Protection, December 2022), November 2022
People affected
1 people affected · 0 died- Girls in a gurukula ashram (ten former pupils)ISKCON's child-protection office received statements from ten women, all former pupils, and found in 2018 that Laxmimoni Dasi was more likely than not responsible "for child negligence, as well as emotional, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse" of the girls. The decision does not say where or when Abused.ConnectionISKCON finding
Timeline
Each status change in this record, on one axis, with the periods of the cases Laxmimoni Dasi is involved in.
- 2018
- ISKCON findingApr 27, 2018 Abuse of girls as a gurukula ashram teacher Official Decision of ISKCON's child-protection office (review panel of three); marked confidential and not published by the office. The panel applied a "more likely than not" standard and called it "an ecclesiastic decision".