Vedabase.io and the BBT quietly cut “expert at rape” paragraph from Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 4.25.41
The closing paragraph of Srila Prabhupada’s purport, which the BBT trustees promised in 2008 never to subtract, is missing from the 2024 printing of the BBT’s eighteen-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam and from the English text at vedabase.io. The person in charge of vedabase.io has told Akincana Gocara that he removed it in July 2026 on written instructions from the BBT’s copyrights office, followed by a BBT directive to remove the purport from all of its publications, print and digital. Of the six language editions on the site, only the Portuguese, Russian and Spanish still carry it. No notice of the change has been published.
The final paragraph of the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.41, in which Srila Prabhupada writes that “a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape,” has been removed from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s English Srimad-Bhagavatam, in print and online. The paragraph has been one of the most frequently debated passages in his books for two decades. It is absent from the 2024 printing of the BBT International eighteen-volume set, and from the English edition at vedabase.io, the online library of Srila Prabhupada’s books maintained with the permission of the BBT and the Bhaktivedanta Archives.
What was removed
As of 1 October 2026, the English page for the verse ends the purport with the sentence “In this way the woman is the center of all material enjoyment.” A Wayback Machine capture of the same page from 30 March 2024 shows an additional paragraph that followed it: [1] [2]
“In this regard, the word vikhyātam is very significant. A man is always famous for his aggression toward a beautiful woman, and such aggression is sometimes considered rape. Although rape is not legally allowed, it is a fact that a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape.”
The paragraph is part of the purport as printed in earlier editions of the Fourth Canto and remains in the original-edition text published at prabhupadabooks.com. [7]
When vedabase.io dropped it
The vedabase.io administrator has told Akincana Gocara that the removal was done around 9 July 2026, the date of the BBT’s written request to him (see below). The verse page carries no editorial note, and no announcement of the edit was found on vedabase.io, on the BBT’s website or on the Bhaktivedanta Archives blog. [3] [15]
Removed on the BBT’s instructions
In a reply to Akincana Gocara dated 2 October 2026, the person in charge of vedabase.io said that he removed the paragraph on the basis of an email he received from the BBT’s copyrights office on 9 July 2026, and that the removal was done around that date. He forwarded the email, which is reproduced here in full with the names and email addresses omitted: [15]
Dear [name withheld] Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Please remove the following paragraph of the purport to verse SB 4.25.41 from https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/4/25/41/ immediately:
_____begin excerpt_____
In this regard, the word vikhyätam is very significant. A man is always famous for his aggression toward a beautiful woman, and such aggression is sometimes considered rape. Although rape is not legally allowed, it is a fact that a woman likes a man who is very expert at rape.
_____end excerpt_____Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Your servant,
[name withheld]
On 27 July 2026 he received a follow-up from the same office: [15]
Hare Krishna! I hope you’re well.
Could you please also remove it from the Czech, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian translations (as well as any others that still contain it)?
Thank you in advance!
As of 1 October 2026 the Spanish, Portuguese and Russian editions on vedabase.io still carried the paragraph (see the table below). [5] He also received the following message from the Bhaktivedanta Archives, the owner of the VedaBase: [15]
The BBT has issued a directive, effective immediately, to remove the “Purport” of SB 4.25.41 from all its publications, both print and digital.
So please remove this “purport” only from all places it may appear on VedaBase.io.
Please confirm this action back to me. Thank you.
The paragraph has also been removed from the Srimad-Bhagavatam on bbtmedia.com, the BBT’s own online library. None of the three messages gives a reason for the removal. [15]
Six editions, three still intact
Vedabase.io offers this verse in six languages. All six editions were checked on 1 October 2026. [1] [5]
| Edition | Final “vikhyātam” paragraph | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| English | Absent | Present in the Wayback Machine capture of 30 March 2024 |
| Czech | Absent | No archive capture of the page exists, so its earlier state is unknown |
| Bulgarian | Absent | Already absent in the side-by-side capture of 30 March 2024 |
| Spanish | Present, softened | Last sentence says women like men who are “muy atrevidos” (very bold) |
| Portuguese | Present | Full paragraph |
| Russian | Present | Full paragraph |
The Bulgarian omission appears to be older than the English one. In the Wayback Machine capture of 30 March 2024, the site’s side-by-side view shows the English purport with the final paragraph but no Bulgarian counterpart for it. The Czech page has never been captured by the Wayback Machine, so it is not known whether the Czech text carried the paragraph before. [4] [5]
Neighbouring passages untouched
Two neighbouring passages that have drawn similar criticism, in the purports to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.42 (“When a husbandless woman is attacked by an aggressive man, she takes his action to be mercy”) and 4.26.26 (“Generally when a woman is attacked by a man — whether her husband or some other man — she enjoys the attack, being too lusty”), were still present on vedabase.io on 1 October 2026. [6]
Missing from the 2024 printing
Photographs of the printed set, supplied to Akincana Gocara by an editor who owns a copy, show page 478 of the Fourth Canto volume with the purport to text 41 ending at “In this way the woman is the center of all material enjoyment,” followed directly by Text 42. The volume’s copyright page reads “Text © 1974 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.”, gives ISBN 978-91-7769-300-0 for the eighteen-volume set, and states “2024 Printing: 3,000 copies. Printed in China.” [8]
The same ISBN has been used for the BBT’s standard eighteen-volume set since at least 2017, according to booksellers’ listings, so the paragraph may have been dropped in an earlier printing under the same number. Akincana Gocara has not yet compared a pre-2024 printing. [9]
From the 2008 promise not to subtract to the 2026 removal
2007 to 2020: a defence, but no annotation
The three purports have a history. In 2008 the GBC recommended to the BBT trustees that endnotes or appendices be added to Srila Prabhupada’s books to explain the statements in 4.25.41, 4.25.42 and 4.26.26, noting that “some ISKCON devotees may have used these statements out of context as an excuse to offend, neglect and abuse women.” The BBT trustees turned the recommendation down. [10] [11]
In a statement published in June 2008, they wrote: “We do not intend to add anything to Srila Prabhupada’s books, or subtract anything, or change anything Srila Prabhupada says, to make his controversial or potentially controversial statements more acceptable to readers or less vulnerable to misuse by ISKCON devotees.” They said explanations would instead be offered on a separate website, to keep the books “free from editorial intrusions.” [10] [11]
Jayadvaita Swami, the longtime BBT editor of Srila Prabhupada’s books, had published a defence of the passage in May 2007. [12] Further defences of the purport, one by Sudharma Devi Dasi and one published by the BBT, appeared on the Vaishnavi Ministry’s website in 2020. [13]
2022 to 2023: Kaunteya Dasa’s case for editing, and the backlash
In 2022 Kaunteya Dasa published Tough Questions, Difficult Answers on Srila Prabhupada’s Contentious Remarks (Eye of the Storm, 2022). The book argues for editing the very paragraph that has now been removed. Of the purport to 4.25.41 it says (p. 437): “The text had (and has) to be edited. As a service to the author. Keeping it ‘as it is’ may represent a serious disservice to Srila Prabhupada and his mission,” and adds that “if someone had told him about the hazardous nature of the phrase, Srila Prabhupada would have agreed to modify it.” [17]
The book makes the same case for the statement in the purport to Bhagavad-gita 1.40 that women are “generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy” (pp. 51–54 and 620–627), recommending that ISKCON “systematically and completely removes from its lexicon phrases such as ‘women are less intelligent’” and asserting that Srila Prabhupada “would immediately agree to edit or remove it. Same for many other statements.” It also predicts that when the BBT’s copyright expires, new publishers “will revise the books, removing all the (unnecessary!) sexist-sounding references.” [17]
The book carries endorsements from senior ISKCON figures in its opening pages (p. 13). Hridayananda das Goswami writes that it “offers what may be the most thorough analysis to date of this delicate, controversial issue” and that its author “writes as a faithful follower of Prabhupada.” [17]
Anuttama Dasa, GBC member and ISKCON Minister for Communications, writes that “the ISKCON society and especially its leaders need to be aware of the published and recorded remarks of Prabhupada and be prepared to analyze, put in context, or perhaps step back from (some) of those controversial remarks,” and that “while we may not agree with all of Kaunteya’s assessments, we owe him a debt of gratitude for his extensive research.” Parabhakti Dasa, Communications Director of ISKCON Italy and temple president of Villa Vrindavana, writes that the author “tackles the difficult topic of Srila Prabhupada’s controversial statements in an objective and transparent way.” [17]
The book, originally circulated under the title Racism, Sexism & Homophobia in Srila Prabhupada’s Teachings? and renamed without change to its content, met strong opposition in India. In March 2023 the ISKCON India Continental Committee censured Kaunteya Dasa, banned him from lecturing in ISKCON centres in India, and asked the GBC to remove him from all managerial posts and committees and to suspend him from ISKCON unless he withdrew the book and apologised. [21]
Akincana Gocara published Antardwip Dasa’s reply to Kaunteya Dasa’s letter defending the book (13 March 2023) and Sitalatma Dasa’s article on the book (27 March 2023). [23]
On 16 April 2023 Kaunteya Dasa wrote to the GBC relinquishing “with immediate effect, all the formal roles, titles and positions” he held, among them co-minister of the Congregational Development Ministry, trustee of the GBC College for Leadership Development, coordinator of the ISKCON Constitution Project and member of the GBC Organizational Development and Nominations Committees, saying that holding GBC-related functions had become “incongruous” with his educational efforts. [22] The ISKCON India Scholars Board answered the book in 2023 with a series of essays and an interview, collected on its page Responses to Tough Questions, Difficult Answers. [18]
2023: Schweig’s case for a footnote
The revived ISKCON Communications Journal took the opposite view to Kaunteya Dasa. In an essay on the passage in its Fall 2023 issue, Graham M. Schweig (Garuda Das), reviewing previous explanations of the purport, observes that “not one interpretation truly accepts the words as they stand.” He argued that Srila Prabhupada used “rape” in its ordinary sense and was describing the dynamic of sex addiction introduced in the preceding purport to 4.25.40. His remedy was a footnote, not a cut: he drafted an annotation to be “appended to the last word at the end of Prabhupāda’s purport,” and quoted Urmila Devi Dasi’s warning that changing the books without notation “open[s] the door to all sorts of dangerous tampering with Prabhupada’s words.” The BBT’s 2024 printing carries neither the paragraph nor a footnote. [19] [20]
Vedabase.io’s history, corrected
The first version of this article stated, on the basis of a Dandavats post of June 2018, that vedabase.io was launched in its present form in 2017 after he presented the project to a BBT trustee meeting. The vedabase.io administrator has asked for a correction. The Dandavats post, he says, was written for a Spanish-speaking group, and somebody released it on Dandavats without his knowledge. The “present form” mentioned in that post referred to the second version of the website, meaning its engine and design, and not to the texts. The website itself was launched on Vyasa-purnima 2011, and the latest version of its engine dates from January 2025. Its pages state that the content is “used with permission of © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.” and the Bhaktivedanta Archives, owner of the VedaBase. [14] [15]
Vidyabase: the original editions offline
Vedabase.io has recently released a free offline reader app called Vidyabase, currently for iOS and Android. The app contains no content by default, but users can add files to it in much the same way as the old Folio VedaBase software allowed. The app’s website carries a link to the original editions of Srila Prabhupada’s books, so devotees will be able to read the original editions anywhere without an internet connection. [16]
Still no public explanation
The emails forwarded by the vedabase.io administrator show that the change is not confined to vedabase.io but originates with the BBT, whose text vedabase.io reproduces, and that the site removed the paragraph on the BBT’s instructions. The BBT has not published a note explaining the removal, the BBT’s emails to vedabase.io give no reason for it, and the 2008 statement that the trustees would not “subtract anything” from Srila Prabhupada’s books has not been withdrawn. Akincana Gocara has asked the BBT for comment on the reason for the change, but had received no reply when this article was last updated, on 7 October 2026. [15] [10]
Read Also:
Sources
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.25.41, vedabase.io, English edition as of 1 October 2026
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.25.41, vedabase.io, English edition as captured by the Wayback Machine on 30 March 2024
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 4, Chapter 25, advanced view, vedabase.io, as captured by the Wayback Machine on 18 April 2026 (supplied by reader Sitalatma Das)
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.25.41, English and Bulgarian side by side, vedabase.io, as captured by the Wayback Machine on 30 March 2024
- Current Czech, Bulgarian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian editions of the verse, vedabase.io
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.25.42 and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.26.26, vedabase.io, English edition as of 1 October 2026
- SB 4.25.41, original edition, PrabhupadaBooks.com
- Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, eighteen-volume set, The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, ISBN 978-91-7769-300-0, 2024 printing, Canto 4 volume, p. 478 and copyright page (photographs supplied to Akincana Gocara)
- Booksellers’ listings for ISBN 978-91-7769-300-0, giving a publication date of 1 September 2017: Amazon, Blackwell’s and Open Library
- BBT Statement on Annotating Srila Prabhupada’s Books, ISKCON News, 2 July 2008
- BBT turns down GBC recommendation, will not add “explanations” to Prabhupada’s books, Jayadvaita Swami, 20 June 2008
- “Expert at rape”, Jayadvaita Swami, 26 May 2007
- On “Rape” in the Fourth Canto, two pieces by Sudharma Devi Dasi and by the BBT, published on the Vaishnavi Ministry’s website, 7 July 2020
- Vedabase.com: The BBT On-line, Dandavats, 22 June 2018
- Email from the vedabase.io administrator to Akincana Gocara, 2 October 2026, forwarding emails from the BBT copyrights office of 9 and 27 July 2026 and a message from the Bhaktivedanta Archives
- Vidyabase, offline reader app
- Kaunteya Dasa, Tough Questions, Difficult Answers on Srila Prabhupada’s Contentious Remarks, Eye of the Storm, 2022, on the Internet Archive (author’s uploads)
- Responses to Tough Questions, Difficult Answers, ISKCON India Scholars Board, 2023
- The Revived ISKCON Communications Journal Addresses Key Issues with Intellectual Vigor, ISKCON News, 13 November 2023
- Graham M. Schweig, “From the Darkness of Lust to the Light of Love: Interpreting Śrīla Prabhupāda’s challenging passage on ‘rape’”, ISKCON Communications Journal, Europe, Volume 14, Fall 2023. Article available on his official website.
- Resolution: appeal to the GBC to take action against Kaunteya Das, ISKCON India Continental Committee, 17 March 2023, as posted on Facebook by Gianni Sattvic Das Menegazzo, 18 March 2023
- Kaunteya Dasa, Krishna Willing, the Anti-Smarta Campaign Marches On (and Therefore I Am Voluntarily Relinquishing All My GBC-Related Titles and Positions), letter to GBC members, Facebook, 16 April 2023
- Written in response to Kaunteya Das’s letter by Antardwip das, Akincana Gocara, 13 March 2023; Article by Sitalatma Das on Kaunteya’s book, Akincana Gocara, 27 March 2023
Correction, 7 October 2026: an earlier version of this article attributed to the Vaishnavi Ministry the two 2020 statements on the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.25.41. The statements were written by Sudharma Devi Dasi and by the BBT and were published on the Vaishnavi Ministry’s website; they are not official statements of the Vaishnavi Ministry. The text has been corrected accordingly.
Discover more from Akincana Gocara
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
As a woman who has personally experienced some very unhinged behavior from men within ISKCON and as someone who cares very strongly about the protection of women and children, I honestly find this removal very concerning. I would seriously reconsider changing Srila Prabhupada’s words in this way.
This is not simply a grammatical correction of the kind that was authorized in the past, an entire paragraph has been removed, including Srila Prabhupada specifically saying that the word vikhyātam is very significant.
I completely understand why this passage is disturbing, especially to women, but surely the answer is to explain Srila Prabhupada’s language, his use of older English and the context of what he was discussing, rather than removing his words. In fact, one of the problems that has contributed to abuse in ISKCON is that people have sometimes selectively read the books, taking whatever gives them an excuse while completely ignoring Srila Prabhupada’s repeated instructions concerning the maintenance and protection of women.
The same purport itself discusses the husband’s responsibility to maintain his wife properly, including providing her with good food, nice clothing and ornaments and giving her children. Yet if we start removing passages because someone might misuse or misunderstand them, where does that end?
This worries me because it sets a very dangerous precedent. Almost anything could eventually be removed if someone decides that modern readers may find it offensive or that someone could use it to support a negative agenda. That does not solve the problem, it simply removes Srila Prabhupada’s words from the historical record and prevents devotees from confronting and understanding them properly.
Srila Prabhupada called his Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita As It Is for a reason. There were already numerous interpretations, but he wanted the actual teachings to be presented rather than altered to suit whatever interpretation people preferred.
And this is especially important when we remember that the spiritual and historical culture described in our scriptures contains many things that are viewed very differently by modern society. We do not have to pretend those things do not exist. We study them, understand their context and distinguish spiritual principles from their misuse in the material world.
I am not saying that every controversial statement should simply be accepted without explanation, nor am I defending abuse in any form. Quite the opposite, I think women and children are far better protected when devotees are taught the complete teachings rather than being given edited versions of them.
Please do not hide Srila Prabhupada’s difficult words from us. Help us understand them. That to me, would be a much more faithful service to Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krishna.
I was surprised the BBT removed that statement. I guess this other statement in the following purport is now under grave threat: “When a husbandless woman is attacked by an aggressive man, she takes his action to be mercy.” If we excise such statements, fearing they may offend readers, where will it end? Relative morality constantly changes. My view is that if Srila Prabhupada did indeed make a statement in his books, and it was not a later editorial adjustment, it must remain in place. It seems this statement about rape was his, and therefore it behooves us to understand it properly. He is commenting on sastra, helping us understand statements such as grhna uddhata, ‘aggressive mercy’, which the woman in the story said she enjoyed. To suggest he is endorsing non-consensual, forcible, and illegal rape is surely a misreading, as it conflicts with the whole tenor of his teachings about women, where he strongly advocates their protection. Saying a woman “likes” a man “expert at rape” could mean she enjoys bold seduction. In one class, Prabhupada mentioned a woman seduced in that way who later filed charges against the man. The judge dismissed the case after the court established that the woman had enjoyed the experience, even though she later regretted it. My understanding of Srila Prabhupada is that he was not concerned about public opinion. He spoke the truth without caring how people might receive it. So let’s treat his words as such and do our best to understand his intended meaning.
What’s the next? One sun per universe? Four regs?