Terms of Use
Required
What SGS Satsang is for, and what we ask of one another in a shared practice space.
WHAT THIS SERVICE IS
SGS Satsang is a space for shared spiritual practice — meditation, parayana,
bhajan and the company of other devotees. You join a practice room, start a
video from the official SGS channel yourself, and practice alongside devotees
around the world.
YOUR PLAYER IS YOURS
Nothing plays automatically. No one else — not another devotee, not a
moderator, not an administrator — can start, pause or stop your video. You
decide when to begin and when to finish, and you may leave at any time.
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU
• Take part respectfully, and do not disturb the practice of others.
• Do not post anything unlawful, abusive, or intended to provoke.
• Do not attempt to identify or contact other devotees outside this service.
• Use one account, and do not share it.
MODERATION
Moderators may hide a comment, pause someone's ability to post, or remove a
participant from a room where conduct disrupts others. If this happens to you,
you will be told plainly and you may write to us to have it reviewed. Every such
action is recorded internally, with a reason.
WHO MAY HAVE AN ACCOUNT
Accounts are for devotees aged 13 and over. A younger child is welcome to
practice with the family, through a parent or guardian's account and under
their supervision.
CHANGES
If we change how your information is used in a way that matters, we will ask you
to read and accept the new terms before you continue. We will not quietly widen
what we do with information you have already given us.
ENDING YOUR USE
You may delete your account at any time from Account → Export or delete your
data. We may close an account that repeatedly breaches these terms, and will
tell you why.
Privacy Notice
Required
Exactly what we collect, why, who can see it, and the rights you hold over it.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
Avadhoota Datta Peetham, Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Ashrama, Mysuru, is
responsible for the information described here. You can reach us at
privacy@dattapeetham.org about anything on this page.
WHAT WE COLLECT, AND WHY — ITEM BY ITEM
1. Your name and email address
Why: to create your account, sign you in, and answer you if you write to us.
Who sees it: you, and the small number of staff who handle support.
Other devotees never see your email address, and see your name only at the
level you choose. Sri Swamiji can always see your name.
2. Your password
Why: to protect your account.
Stored only as a one-way cryptographic hash. Nobody at the ashram can read
it, including administrators.
3. A city and country that you type yourself
Why: so the room can show that devotees are practicing in many places.
You enter these when you create your account. Fellow devotees see them only
at the level you choose — hidden, country only, or city and country — and
you can change that level at any time. Sri Swamiji can always see your city
and country.
We do not ask your device for its location. We do not use GPS.
4. Your presence in a room
What: which room you joined, when you joined and left, and whether the
embedded player reported a playing, paused or ended state.
Why: so the room can show how many devotees are practicing, so moderators can
keep the room safe, and so you can see your own practice history.
Who sees it: you. Other devotees see only a count, the identity level you
chose, and how many sittings of that room's practice you have completed today.
Sri Swamiji and authorised moderators can see the state of the room, and
Sri Swamiji always sees the devotees present by their real name, city and
country.
5. Comments and reactions you choose to send
Why: so devotees can take part in the room.
Who sees it: comments are shown in the room, after moderation where the room
requires it.
6. Reflections you choose to write
Why: a private journal of your own practice.
Who sees it: only you, unless you explicitly submit one for guidance.
7. Security records
What: sign-in events, and a shortened one-way hash of your network address —
never your address itself.
Why: to detect misuse and protect every devotee's account.
Who sees it: a small number of technical administrators.
8. A record of the choices you make on this page
Why: so we can show what you agreed to, and when.
9. Your name during live guidance audio
What: when Sri Swamiji speaks live and you listen, or you accept an
invitation to speak, you join a live audio session. Your name, as it
appears on your account, is visible to the other devotees connected to
that session for as long as you remain connected. This applies whatever
identity level you have chosen for the room list.
Why: so everyone present can hear and see who is listening and who has
been invited to speak.
Who sees it: the devotees connected to the same live audio session. The
audio is carried by a service provider acting only on our instructions.
Nothing is recorded, and leaving the session removes you from it at once.
WHAT WE DO NOT DO
• We do not use advertising, tracking pixels or third-party analytics. Your
practice is not shared with any advertising or analytics company.
• We do not sell or rent your information to anyone, for any purpose.
• We do not build a profile of you to predict or influence your behaviour.
• We do not record your voice or your video anywhere in this service.
• We never show your email address, network address, exact position or device
identifiers to other devotees.
AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION
Your practice sessions and their duration are records created by this
application. They are not official YouTube views. YouTube decides independently
whether any playback counts as a view, and we make no claim about that.
WHERE YOUR INFORMATION IS HELD
On servers operated for Avadhoota Datta Peetham. Where a service provider is
involved — for example to carry live audio — they act only on our instructions
and may not use your information for their own purposes.
YOUR RIGHTS, AND HOW TO USE THEM
You can do all of the following yourself, at any time, from Account:
• See what we hold about you — Account → Export or delete your data.
• Correct your name or the city and country you have entered — Account.
• Change who can see your name and location — Account.
• Withdraw any optional permission — Account → Your permissions. Withdrawing is
one click, exactly as granting it was.
• Delete your account and everything you wrote — Account → Export or delete.
If you would rather we did it for you, or you are not satisfied with how we have
handled something, write to privacy@dattapeetham.org and we will respond. If you
are in India and remain dissatisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection
Board of India.
HOW LONG WE KEEP THINGS
Set out in full in the Data Retention Schedule, which forms part of this notice.
Data Retention Schedule
Required
How long each kind of information is kept, and what happens when that time is up.
Deletion runs automatically on this schedule. It is not something we do only
when asked.
WHEN REGISTRATION IS NEVER COMPLETED
An account whose email address is never confirmed is deleted in full — the
name, email address and password hash — 30 days after it was created.
WHILE YOU PRACTICE
Live presence in a room held in memory only, gone within 5 minutes
Connection heartbeats not stored at all
YOUR PRACTICE
Detailed player events 30 days, then deleted
(the second-by-second record of play and pause)
Practice session summary until you delete it, or 24 months after your last
sign-in, whichever comes first
Private reflections until you delete them, or you delete your account
WHAT YOU SEND
Questions for guidance 12 months, unless you delete them sooner
Comments and reactions 12 months
Moderation records 12 months, and longer only where there is a
documented case of serious misconduct
OPERATIONS
Notification records 90 days
Sign-in and security records 180 days
Network address hashes 30 days, then cleared from the record entirely
Record of your consent choices for as long as you have an account, and a short
period afterwards so we can show what was agreed
WHEN YOU DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT
Removed immediately: your practice history, reflections, questions, comments,
attendance, sessions and profile.
Kept: a minimal note that a deletion was requested and carried out, no longer
linked to your name or email; and security records for the period above, with
your identity removed from them. We do not keep anything you wrote.
Age
Required
Accounts of one's own are for devotees aged 13 and over.
By continuing, you confirm that you are at least 13 years old.
Children under 13 are very welcome to practice with the family, through a parent
or guardian's account and under their supervision. In that case the account
remains the adult's, and we do not collect the child's name, voice, location or
any other information of their own.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child has created an account
independently, write to privacy@dattapeetham.org and we will remove it.
About Presence in a Room
For reference
What the room can and cannot tell about your practice.
When you join a room, the room shows how many devotees are present, and lists
them at whatever identity level each has chosen.
THE WORDING IS LITERAL
"Player playing" means the embedded player reported a playing state to your
browser. It does not mean you were watching, listening, concentrating or
meditating. This service cannot know that, and never claims to.
WHAT IS DELIBERATELY ABSENT
There are no rankings. No leaderboards. No streaks. No targets. No badges. No
comparison between devotees, and no measure of anyone's practice against anyone
else's. This is by design, and it will not change.
IF YOUR CONNECTION DROPS
The room will show that your connection was interrupted, and after a short
period you will no longer appear as present. Your practice is unaffected, and
your session record is kept.
