Portrait of Param Gati Swami — via Flickr (cropped)

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Initiating guruRecord TKF-053

Param Gati Swami

Sexual misconduct with disciples
Alleged spiritual / psychological abuse

Legal name not yet confirmed

Param Gati DasParamgati SwamiParam Gati PrabhuParamgati PrabhuParamgati Das

Resigned as gbc member — February 2009

Sannyasi from 1983; stepped down indefinitely in 2010 (GBC 2010 Res. 305): 1983–2010
Assistant GBC member, co-assistant to Hridayananda Goswami for Central and Southern Brazil (resignation accepted 1990): 1988–1990
Assistant GBC (1994), acting GBC (1995), full GBC member (1996) until his resignation in 2009; zones over the years included France, Spain, Portugal and Brazil, including Nova Gokula: 1994–2009
Member, Latin American Regional Governing Body (GBC 2008): 2008
Stopped accepting disciples in 2009
Head of the ISKCON temple in Lisbon (so described in a December 2013 interview): 2013
Founder of the Mantra Yoga Lounge, Lisbon (described by ISKCON News in 2017 as "leader and guru"): 2014

Record summary

2 entries — 1 admission, 1 allegation.

Last reviewed Oct 2, 2026

Admitted2009 · sexual advances Reported allegation2009 · sexual advances

Bio

Param Gati Swami (Param Gati Das since 2010) was born in 1953 in Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil, according to a published biography, which says he was initiated in July 1976 and took sannyasa (the renounced order) in 1983, aged 28. The GBC, ISKCON’s governing body, made him an assistant GBC member in 1988 for Central and Southern Brazil and accepted his resignation in 1990. It appointed him again in 1994, and confirmed him as a full GBC member in 1996. Over the following years he was the GBC member for France, Spain and Portugal, and later for Brazil, including the Nova Gokula farm community. He was an ISKCON initiating guru with disciples in several countries.

In February 2009 the GBC accepted his resignation as a GBC member, and he stopped accepting disciples (see the accusation below). In February 2010 the GBC recorded that he had decided, in consultation with its Sannyasa Ministry, to “step down indefinitely as a sannyasi”, and that he would “revert to his brahmacari name, Param Gati Das”. His situation was to be reviewed after three years; no later GBC resolution on him has been found.

He stayed active in ISKCON. In March 2010 ISKCON Brazil’s Executive Committee told his disciples that they could keep reciting his pranama (prayer of obeisance) and keep his photo on their altars. Disciples raised money for him in 2009 and 2011. An academic study quotes him as “head of the Temple of Lisbon” in December 2013, and in 2017 ISKCON News described him as the “leader and guru” who had founded the Mantra Yoga Lounge in Lisbon in 2014. He is not on the GBC’s current list of initiating gurus. His legal name is not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Sources (16)

Record

2 entries · most established first

Admitted2009

TKF-053-A

Unwelcome sexual advances to a young man at Nova Gokula, Brazil

ConductSexual misconduct with disciplesPeriod 2009

The GBC's Executive Committee determined in 2009, after an investigation, that Param Gati Swami, then a GBC member, initiating guru and sannyasi, had made sexual advances to a male devotee which the man did not welcome. In a letter to his disciples he admitted embracing a 19-year-old man for more than five minutes and kissing him during a visit to the Nova Gokula farm community in São Paulo state in January 2009. He resigned from the GBC and stopped accepting disciples. In 2010 he stepped down from sannyasa.

The young man’s own statement, dated 17 January 2009 and republished with his name removed by Radha.name, says that he had first come into contact with the devotees at Nova Gokula a few months earlier. He said that, the day after he attended one of Param Gati’s classes, Param Gati summoned him to his room, hugged him for five to ten minutes, caressed his back and kissed him on the mouth. He also said that Param Gati then repeatedly asked him to travel with him. He called the kiss mutual, said he had never had such an experience and had pulled away, and said that he now had “no faith in gurus”. He did not travel with Param Gati.

Status history

2009ISKCON findingStatement of the GBC Executive Committee: "The GBC has determined, following a careful investigation, that Param Gati Swami recently made sexual advances to a male devotee. The man did not welcome these advances and matters advanced no further." The GBC's annual meeting (12–23 February 2009) accepted his resignation as a GBC member.
2009AdmittedIn a letter to his disciples he wrote that he "embraced a 19 year old man for more than 5 minutes, and this act developed to more intimate gesture, namely a kiss", in January 2009, and that "the GBC statement is accurate".

Outcome

He resigned from the GBC (accepted at the GBC's February 2009 meeting) and agreed not to initiate disciples "for an indefinite period"; his disciples were told they could seek shelter with other gurus and, with their regional authorities' approval, be re-initiated. The Executive Committee statement said he would spend the next year in Mayapur "for a directed course of counseling and spiritual restoration under GBC supervision". In February 2010 the GBC accepted his decision to "step down indefinitely as a sannyasi", which it described as "favorable for rectifying problems he faced in the sannyasa asrama in the past", with a review after three years (GBC 2010 Res. 305). In March 2010 ISKCON Brazil's Executive Committee told his disciples that they could continue their relationship with him, "including reciting his pranama and maintaining his photo on the altar". No criminal complaint is known.

His response

He wrote to his disciples that the incident "did not materialize in a break of principles", that it was "a moment of weakness, which is not the normal pattern of my character", and that he accepted "full responsibility". He said he had at first been "too embarrassed to admit" the details to his disciples. [2]

Param Gati Swami: GBC Executive Committee statement (2009), GBC resolution 305 (2010) and ISKCON Brazil Executive Committee communications (2009–2010), as republished by Radha.namePDF · 2 pp Param Gati Swami: four letters to his disciples (2009), as republished by Radha.namePDF · 2 pp

Sources (5)

[1]Param Gati Swami: GBC Executive Committee statement (2009), GBC resolution 305 (2010) and ISKCON Brazil Executive Committee communications (2009–2010), as republished by Radha.name, 2010 (document) original
[2]Param Gati Swami: four letters to his disciples (2009), as republished by Radha.name, 2009 (document) original
[3]ISKCON GBC, GBC Resolutions 2009 — Res. 101.12: resignation of Paramgati Swami as GBC member accepted, February 2009 original copy on this site
[4]ISKCON GBC, GBC Resolutions 2010 — Res. 305, Param Gati Das, February 2010 original copy on this site
[5]Radha.name, Param Gati Case Documents — compilation including the complainant's statement of 17 January 2009 original copy on this site

Reported allegation2009

TKF-053-B

Sexual advances to an aspiring disciple in Brazil

ConductSexual misconduct with disciples, Spiritual / psychological abusePeriod c. 2008

An aspiring disciple told ISKCON Brazil's Executive Committee that, about six months before the January 2009 incident at Nova Gokula, Param Gati Swami, then a GBC member and sannyasi, made repeated and escalating sexual advances to him while he served as his secretary. The committee sent his statement to the GBC Executive Committee and the Sannyasa Ministry. No GBC ruling on this second complaint has been found.

According to the transcript, the young man met Param Gati at Sunday programs. Param Gati asked him to travel with him and to help him on his next visit, and the young man then stayed with him as his secretary three times. He said that during these stays Param Gati embraced him at length when they were alone, asked him early on how he dealt with masturbation, removed his own shirt and lifted the young man’s, rubbed his body against him, tried to get him to kiss him and to touch his buttocks, and touched his genitals over his clothes. On one occasion, he said, Param Gati lay down with him on his mattress, turned him onto his side and pressed against him “like to really make sex”, and he withdrew. He said Param Gati described the embraces as passing on “spiritual energy” and told him the intimacy was exclusive to him. He said he had seen Param Gati as “a self realized person” and did not know how to respond. His account has not been tested, and Param Gati’s response to it has not been found.

Param Gati Swami: GBC Executive Committee statement (2009), GBC resolution 305 (2010) and ISKCON Brazil Executive Committee communications (2009–2010), as republished by Radha.namePDF · 2 pp

Sources (2)

[6]Param Gati Swami: GBC Executive Committee statement (2009), GBC resolution 305 (2010) and ISKCON Brazil Executive Committee communications (2009–2010), as republished by Radha.name, 2010 (document) original
[7]Radha.name, Param Gati Case Documents — "Testimony of Second Complainant" (transcript of an interview by ISKCON Brazil, translated from Portuguese, names removed) original copy on this site

People affected

2 people affected · 0 died

An aspiring disciple, Brazil, 2008He told ISKCON Brazil's Executive Committee that Param Gati Swami made repeated and escalating sexual advances to him while he served as his secretary, about six months before January 2009. No GBC ruling on his complaint has been found Harmed.
ConnectionReported allegation
A young man aged 19, Nova Gokula, Brazil, 2009The GBC's Executive Committee determined in 2009 that Param Gati Swami made sexual advances to him that he did not welcome; Param Gati admitted embracing and kissing him. In his own statement he said he now had "no faith in gurus" Harmed.
ConnectionAdmitted

Timeline

Each status change in this record, on one axis, with the periods of the cases Param Gati Swami is involved in.

Showing 3 of 3

Reported allegation 2009 Sexual advances to an aspiring disciple in Brazil ISKCON finding 2009 Unwelcome sexual advances to a young man at Nova Gokula, Brazil Admitted 2009 Unwelcome sexual advances to a young man at Nova Gokula, Brazil

20082010

2009
- Reported allegation2009 Sexual advances to an aspiring disciple in Brazil ISKCON Brazil's Executive Committee told its Governing Council that it had received "another accusation involving Param Gati Swami and a aspirant disciple", about events six months before the Nova Gokula incident, and had sent his transcribed statement to the GBC Executive Committee and the Sannyasa Ministry. The transcript was later republished, with names removed, by Radha.name.
- ISKCON finding2009 Unwelcome sexual advances to a young man at Nova Gokula, Brazil Statement of the GBC Executive Committee: "The GBC has determined, following a careful investigation, that Param Gati Swami recently made sexual advances to a male devotee. The man did not welcome these advances and matters advanced no further." The GBC's annual meeting (12–23 February 2009) accepted his resignation as a GBC member.
- Admitted2009 Unwelcome sexual advances to a young man at Nova Gokula, Brazil In a letter to his disciples he wrote that he "embraced a 19 year old man for more than 5 minutes, and this act developed to more intimate gesture, namely a kiss", in January 2009, and that "the GBC statement is accurate".