Sanaka Sanatana Das

The interview (The Namarasa Podcast, “Ep. #087 | Lokanath Swami’s Representation Speaks Out”, streamed on YouTube on 16 October 2021; times below are positions in the recording). The host introduced him as coming “from the team of Lokanath Maharaj’s servants and disciples”, said that until then “Maharaj’s team has not said anything regarding this issue”, and that “now we are hearing from Lokanath Maharaj’s team led by” him (0:00:55–0:01:30). He said he had long felt that Lokanath Swami “must have done something very wrong” (0:06:15). When the issue came up again, ISKCON India “formed a committee and made me the representative of the disciples” (0:06:50); after reading the 1993 material he decided “that I had a doubt that was a mistake” (0:07:45). He named the ICC (the council of India’s temples), the IIAC and the India Bureau: “we all came together, and I was put into the committee to deal with the GBC” (0:08:05–0:08:25).

On the incident he said: “It is an accidental, inappropriate touch” (0:32:15), adding that for it to be abuse there had to be intention. “I don’t want to say [she] is not a victim. She’s obviously a victim. Okay, and she obviously got violated. That’s not the point here. But the point is: in order to make it abuse, there has to be intent” (0:32:30). “He’s not a child abuser” (0:33:00). He described the hand, while holding a book, touching what the girl “calls a secret area or private area” (0:33:20). Asked what he would say to those asking for justice in 2021: “it was an indecent and inappropriate touch, an accidental incident. It was not on intention” (0:34:33). Later: “It was an inappropriate, accidental, inappropriate touch. There wasn’t any bad intent on Maharaj” (0:47:51), and, of the campaigners, that they were going after somebody who had made “a wrong move 31 years back”: “he has never done anything bad before or after” (0:50:02).

Of the apology letter attributed to Lokanath Swami, he said “That was written in 2011”, that “It was done by the GBC together with some legal expert”, and that “Maharaj has never, never, never written that letter” (0:55:37–0:56:45). He also said that ISKCON India’s Bureau “has made a very strong statement in favor of Lokanath Maharaj and saying that we want this case to be closed and that whatever you decide will not be applicable in India” (0:44:56). When the host noted that his account was also one perspective, he said that as Lokanath Swami’s disciple, “I have to advocate for him” (1:00:00).

What the official record says. Lokanath Swami’s own 1993 account to the GBC committee described his hand moving “towards the upper thigh, including the private area”. On the apology letter, the GBC’s panel report of March 2022 says that he “actively participated in an iterative process”, “sending an original draft and responding to comments and edits from various individuals”, but that “some of the final word choice … was decided upon by editors”; at the GBC’s 2011 mid-term meeting he asked to be released from his restriction on initiating, “particularly in light of the final version of the letter, which he believed gave the impression that his acts were more serious than they were and some of the wording of which was not his”. The panel majority concluded that he “was found in the prior adjudications to have committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse (as defined by the CPO)”, while describing the acts as “relatively less severe”. See Lokanath Swami’s record for the full history.

What this record does not say. The interview is a public defence by a disciple who said he represented Lokanath Swami’s disciples. No source reviewed shows that he concealed evidence or obstructed an investigation.

No public response from him about this record has been found.