Sri Padambhuja Das
Legal name Ángel Pérez
Bhakti Abhay Caran SwamiBhakti Abhay Charan SwamiPadambhuja DasSri Padambuja DasBACS
Suspended as initiating guru — 2000
- Sannyasi
- Initiating guru
- Regional secretary for Costa Rica
Record summary
1 entry — 1 allegation.
Last reviewedBio
Sri Padambhuja Das (legal name Ángel Pérez), known as Bhakti Abhay Caran Swami while he was a sannyasi, was born in Spain and moved to South America in the late 1970s, according to a 1999 report by a former ISKCON sannyasi. A 2009 letter by another devotee says that in 1980 devotees in Bolivia complained to ISKCON’s leaders that he had relationships with women while living as a celibate student, and that he was told to either marry or take sannyasa; he took sannyasa.
He later made his home in Costa Rica, where, according to ISKCON Costa Rica, he received a farm near Cartago as a donation around 1987 and led a community of about 40 people there. He became one of ISKCON’s initiating gurus and its regional secretary for Costa Rica.
In 1999 he reportedly acknowledged to the GBC that he had had relationships with women, including two of his disciples (see the record below). In 2000 the GBC suspended him indefinitely as a guru, barred him from wearing saffron and told his disciples to take shelter of Prabhupada’s other followers. He later married and moved to Uruguay. A devotee from Argentina has written that he initiated him in Montevideo in 2008, while the suspension was in force.
Sources (5)
- [1]GBC resolutions 2000 (minutes of the annual meeting), 2000 (document)
- [2]El Tambor Rugiente, Otro guru a la lona (Radha Krsna dasa) — report dated 17 November 1999, first posted on ISKCON's COM conference system; republished on the blog El Tambor Rugiente on 25 October 2011 (Spanish), Oct 25, 2011 · copy on this site
- [3]El Tambor Rugiente, Aquel que olvida el pasado está condenado a vivirlo nuevamente (Mahabahu Das) — open letter dated 21 March 2009, published on the blog El Tambor Rugiente (Spanish), March 2009 · copy on this site
- [4]El Tambor Rugiente, Más sobre Sri Padambuja (Jagadananda das) — first-person account by a devotee from Argentina, published on the blog El Tambor Rugiente (Spanish), Oct 26, 2011 · copy on this site
- [5]ISKCON Costa Rica, La problemática en Costa Rica — undated statement on the ISKCON Costa Rica blog (Spanish)
Record
1 entry · most established firstRelationships with women, including two of his disciples, while a sannyasi and guru (1996–1999)
A report dated 17 November 1999 says that Bhakti Abhay Caran Swami, then a sannyasi, initiating guru and ISKCON's regional secretary for Costa Rica, had told the GBC in its private online conference that he had had "un amorío desde 1996" with a woman and "amoríos con dos discípulas desde 1997" (affairs with two of his female disciples). He offered to give up the sannyasi's robes and title, said he was sorry and asked to go on guiding as a guru those who wished it. In 2000 the GBC suspended him indefinitely as a guru and barred him from wearing saffron; its resolution gives no reason.
What is reported. According to the 1999 report, he acknowledged the relationships only after devotees in Costa Rica who had had enough of him confronted him. He then travelled to Mexico to negotiate his future with the GBC chairman, Bir Krishna Goswami, still dressed as a sannyasi, and was reportedly asking to be allowed to present himself as a vanaprastha (retired householder) and to stop initiating for five years. The author notes that he was in his fifties and that the disciples were young women.
The women are not named in this record.
GBC resolution 613 (2000): he may not wear saffron cloth, is to be called by the name Prabhupada gave him, and is "indefinitely suspended as a spiritual master", so "he cannot initiate". His disciples were told to take shelter of Prabhupada and his other followers, and a rectification programme was to be set by Jayapataka Swami, Guru Prasad Swami and Virabahu Das. The resolution states no reason.
Sources (2)
- [1]El Tambor Rugiente, Otro guru a la lona (Radha Krsna dasa) — report dated 17 November 1999, first posted on ISKCON's COM conference system; republished on the blog El Tambor Rugiente on 25 October 2011 (Spanish), Oct 25, 2011 originalcopy on this site
- [2]GBC resolutions 2000 (minutes of the annual meeting), 2000 (document) original
Timeline
Each status change in this record, on one axis, with the periods of the cases Sri Padambhuja Das is involved in.
- 1999
- Reported allegationNov 17, 1999 Relationships with women, including two of his disciples, while a sannyasi and guru (1996–1999) A report written in November 1999 by a former ISKCON sannyasi says he had acknowledged the relationships to the GBC in its private online conference. His own message has not been found.