Terms of Service

By creating an account, making a donation, redeeming a gift code, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information and forms part of these terms.

The Service is operated by Bhagavadgita Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization operating in the United States and India.

Contact: support@bhagavadgitafoundation.org for questions, privacy requests, or data requests.

Gita Life accounts, content access, subscriptions, gifts, and the shared service infrastructure are operated by the US Bhagavadgita Foundation entity. The India Bhagavadgita Foundation entity is independently responsible for India donations, INR payment processing, 80G receipt records, and related India compliance. Both entities participate in the Foundation’s organizational governance.

The Service content is suitable for a general audience. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Users in India who are under 18 must not create an account or provide personal data unless a parent or legal guardian has provided verifiable consent where required by law.

To donate or to purchase gift access, you must be of legal age to enter into a contract where you live and must be using a payment method you are authorized to use.

• Give us accurate information when you register, and keep it up to date.
• Keep your password safe. You are responsible for activity that happens under your account. Tell us promptly if you think someone else has access to it.
• One account per person. Do not share your account credentials with others.
• Your access to content is personal to you and is not transferable, except through the gift feature described below.

The Service gives you access to Bhagavadgita study content, including Telugu and English meanings and a Tutor’s version. Some content is freely available; some requires an active entitlement.

You can also make one-time or recurring donations, buy gift access for someone else, and redeem gift codes.

We may add, change, or remove content and features. We aim to keep the Service available, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted availability.

An entitlement grants you a personal, non-transferable right to view and listen to the covered content within the Service for as long as the entitlement is active. It does not transfer ownership of any content to you.

Exactly what an entitlement covers, and for how long, is described on the purchase page at the time you buy it.

Subscriptions and gift access are purchases of digital-content access. They are not charitable donations and are not tax-deductible. Donations do not provide or extend content access.

• You may purchase gift access for another person. We will deliver a gift code by email to the address you supply — please check it carefully, as we deliver to the address as entered.
• A gift code may be redeemed once, by one recipient, and grants that recipient the access described at the time of purchase.
• Gift codes expire 12 months after purchase. An expired code cannot be redeemed.
• Gift codes have no cash value, cannot be exchanged for money, and cannot be resold or transferred for value.
• We may cancel a gift code obtained fraudulently or in breach of these terms.

Donations are non-refundable, except where applicable law requires otherwise.

For subscriptions and unredeemed gift access, you may request a refund by emailing support@bhagavadgitafoundation.org within 3 calendar days of purchase in India or 5 calendar days of purchase elsewhere. A refund request does not guarantee a refund. We will review each request under these Terms, applicable law, and the rules of the applicable payment provider.

Approved refunds are generally issued for 90% of the amount paid. The remaining amount covers non-recoverable payment processing, transaction, administrative, and related costs. The actual refund amount may differ where required by applicable law or the applicable payment provider’s rules.

Gift access is not refundable after the gift code has been redeemed. Once a gift code has been redeemed, the recipient has received access to the digital content and the purchase is considered fulfilled. This restriction does not limit any refund, cancellation, or other consumer right that cannot lawfully be waived, or any remedy required by applicable law.

Unauthorized-charge claims and payment disputes are reviewed separately and may result in suspension or revocation of related access while they are investigated or resolved.

Canceling a recurring donation or entitlement stops future charges but does not refund charges already made.

Nothing in this section limits any non-waivable refund, cancellation, withdrawal, or consumer right you have under applicable law.

You can delete your account from your account settings in our web app. You may also request deletion by emailing support@bhagavadgitafoundation.org.

On a deletion request, access and entitlements are suspended immediately and any recurring-donation mandate associated with the account is canceled. You may restore the account within 12 days; after that period, the account record is purged. Donation and tax-receipt records remain identifiable because they are nonprofit filing and bookkeeping records, but are no longer linked to the purged account. Donation and charitable tax-receipt records are retained permanently; subscription and gift-purchase receipts are retained for 7 years. Our Privacy Policy explains this in full.

Deleting your account cancels the recurring-donation mandate associated with that account. A restored account does not automatically reinstate the mandate.

The Service and its contents — including translations of scripture, commentary, audio recordings of study material and Sanskrit chanting, text, images, design, and software — are owned by Bhagavadgita Foundation or its licensors and are protected by copyright and other laws.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the content for your own personal, non-commercial study. You may not:

• Copy, download (except where the Service offers a download), record, or re-upload the audio or text.
• Redistribute, publish, broadcast, or share the content publicly.
• Use the content commercially, or create derivative works from it, without our written permission.
• Remove any copyright or attribution notice.

The underlying Sanskrit scripture is ancient and in the public domain. Our particular translations, commentary, recordings, and presentation are not.

“Bhagavadgita Foundation” and “Gita Life”, and our logos, are our marks. Please do not use them without permission.

Do not:

• Break the law, or use the Service to harm or harass anyone.
• Share your account, or access the Service with credentials that are not yours.
• Attempt to bypass entitlement checks, paywalls, security, or bot protections.
• Scrape, crawl, or bulk-download content, or reverse-engineer the apps or the API.
• Interfere with the Service’s operation, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to it.
• Submit false donor information, use a payment method you are not authorized to use, or make fraudulent donations or chargebacks.
• Upload malware or automated scripts against the Service.

We rely on third parties to operate the Service, including Stripe and Razorpay for payments, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) for email delivery, and Render, Neon, Vercel, and Cloudflare for hosting and delivery. Your use of those services through us is also subject to their terms. They are listed in our Privacy Policy.

If you obtained the mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, that store’s terms also apply to your download and use of the app. This agreement is between you and Bhagavadgita Foundation, not with Apple or Google; Apple and Google are not responsible for the app or its content, and are not parties to these terms except as third-party beneficiaries entitled to enforce them where their rules require.

The mobile app may receive over-the-air updates through Expo / EAS. By using the app you agree it may install those updates.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, or that content will be free of inaccuracies.

The content is offered for spiritual study and general educational purposes. It is not professional, medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

Nothing in this disclaimer limits any warranty or consumer protection that cannot lawfully be excluded.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Bhagavadgita Foundation and its trustees, officers, volunteers, employees, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost data, lost profits, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of the Service.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for entitlements or gift access in the twelve months before the claim, or (b) US $100. Donations are gifts and are not “amounts paid” for this purpose.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Nothing in this section limits any non-waivable consumer remedy or right.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Bhagavadgita Foundation and its trustees, officers, volunteers, and employees from any claims, losses, liabilities, and reasonable legal costs arising from your misuse of the Service, your breach of these terms, or your violation of the law or of anyone else’s rights.

This indemnity applies only to the extent permitted by applicable law and does not remove any non-waivable consumer right.

You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete your account as described in section 10.

We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these terms, if we are required to by law, or to protect the Service or other users. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you why.

If we terminate your account without cause before the end of a paid entitlement period, we will provide an appropriate remedy, such as a pro-rata refund, service credit, or continued access for the unused portion of the entitlement, unless applicable law permits otherwise. No refund, credit, or continued access will be provided where the termination results from your breach of these Terms, fraudulent or abusive activity, unauthorized payment disputes, or other misuse of the Service.

Sections that by their nature should survive — intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and governing law — survive termination.

We may update these terms. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date above. If a change is significant, we will give you reasonable notice — for example by email or in the app — before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, USA, with respect to Gita Life accounts, subscriptions, gift access, and use of the Service operated by the United States Bhagavadgita Foundation entity. Donations made to the India Bhagavadgita Foundation entity are governed by the laws of India.

Before starting any formal legal proceeding, you agree to contact us first at support@bhagavadgitafoundation.org so that we have an opportunity to resolve the issue informally.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes any consumer rights or legal protections that cannot be waived under the law applicable to you.

Contact: support@bhagavadgitafoundation.org for questions, privacy requests, or data requests.

• US post: Bhagavadgita Foundation, PO Box 561532, Charlotte, NC 28256, USA
• India post: Bhagavadgita Foundation, #102, Himasai Park View Apartments, Road No. 5, Banjarahills, Hyderabad – 500034, Telangana, India

See also our Privacy Policy.