Privacy Policy

VedaSpace (VedaSpace) is an independent Bhagavad-gītā and devotional-study programme based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is affiliated with ISKCON Ayodhya for examinations and certificates, but it is not an official website of ISKCON or of any temple management body.

For privacy purposes, VedaSpace is the data controller for account, course, and sadhana information collected through this portal. The website itself is designed, built, and maintained by Webser (webser.app) as a technical service provider.

Questions about classes or spiritual content should go to your teacher. Questions about your data, account, or this policy may be sent to archanamaheshwari1174@gmail.com.

We collect only what the portal needs in order to function securely and effectively:

• Account information — your name, email address and an encrypted password. Authentication is handled by Google Firebase Authentication; we never see or store your password in readable form.
• Profile information — details you provide such as your local centre, courses completed, or areas of service interest.
• Learning records — course enrolments, attendance, lesson progress, assignment submissions, and the files you upload.
• Gita reading summary — if you are signed in, your browser may sync a compact study summary (how many verses you have opened, which chapter you last read, and memorisation counts). Your private notes and bookmarks stay on your device unless you choose to share them another way. Day-by-day streaks on the Reading history page are stored locally on your device and may not reflect activity from before that feature shipped.
• Beta feedback — optional short notes you submit through beta banners (for example on Reading history). These are emailed to the site maintainer and may include your name and email if you are signed in.
• Sadhana records — practice entries you log, such as rounds chanted, reading time, hearing time, and rising time.
• Donation details — if you give through Support Seva, Stripe processes the payment. We may receive your name, email, amount, and any note you include. We never see or store your card number.
• Technical information — IP address, browser and device type, and pages visited, collected in server logs for security, performance, and diagnostics.

We do not ask for, and you should not submit, sensitive information such as government identifiers, financial account numbers, or health records.

• To create and administer your account and give you access to enrolled courses.
• To let your assigned teacher or mentor review your progress, sadhana records, and assignment submissions to provide personal feedback.
• To send course announcements, schedule changes, and essential administrative notices.
• To keep the service secure, prevent abuse, and diagnose infrastructure faults.
• To evaluate course effectiveness in an aggregated, anonymous format.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your data to train commercial AI models, and we do not share it for third-party advertising.

Your spiritual practice records are strictly confidential. They are visible only to you, and to the authorized teacher or course administrator assigned to your specific course. They are never visible to other students, nor are they published publicly.

Where a course displays group statistics, all figures are aggregated anonymously so that individuals cannot be identified.

We rely on trusted infrastructure providers who process data strictly on our behalf:

• Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Storage) — account records, portal data, and uploaded student files.
• Groq and, when configured, Google Gemini — power the in-portal assistant (Sañjaya). When you send a message, your query text and limited portal context are transmitted to these providers for processing. Do not enter passwords, payment card numbers, or other sensitive personal data into the chat.
• Stripe — processes Support Seva donations on Stripe Checkout. Card details are entered on Stripe's pages, not on this site.
• FormSubmit — delivers contact-form and in-app feedback messages (including beta-feature notes) to our team by email. Only what you type in those forms is sent.
• Webser — maintains the application codebase and hosting configuration on behalf of VedaSpace.
• Vercel Inc. & Google Cloud Platform — hosts the web application, static assets, and maintains security logs.
• Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights — count page views and measure how quickly pages load on real devices, so we can tell whether the site works well on a phone as well as on a computer. Both are cookieless: they set no cookies, do not fingerprint your device, and do not follow you to any other website. We see totals and page paths, never individuals, and the data is never used for advertising.

Each provider processes data only as needed to deliver its service. We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

Account and learning records are retained for as long as your account remains active, and for up to 7 years following account inactivity so that certificates and course completion transcripts can be reissued upon request. Security server logs are retained for 30 days. You may request account deletion at any time.

Under applicable privacy laws (including GDPR and Indian DPDP Act 2023), you have the right to:

• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete records.
• Request the deletion of your account and associated personal data.
• Opt out of non-essential communications at any time.

To exercise your rights, email archanamaheshwari1174@gmail.com. We respond to all requests within 30 days.

All traffic is encrypted in transit using modern TLS encryption. Access to student records is strictly restricted to authenticated accounts, and administrative rights are granted solely to verified teachers. In the event of a security breach affecting your data, we will notify you and relevant regulatory authorities as required by law.

Self-registered portal accounts are intended for users aged 13 and above. For children participating in specialized youth Bhagavad-gītā courses, enrollment requires prior consent from a parent or guardian.

For participating minors, accounts are managed by their parent or guardian. A parent or guardian may request to review or delete their child's account records at any time by contacting us.

VedaSpace is an educational initiative operating under the laws of Alberta, Canada. Because this programme is affiliated with ISKCON Ayodhya, student course completion records (such as student name and exam results) may be shared with ISKCON Ayodhya for official examination and certification purposes. Sadhana logs are never shared for this purpose.

Some infrastructure providers (including Firebase and our hosting partners) may process data in the United States or other countries. By using the portal, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to jurisdictions with different privacy laws, subject to appropriate safeguards.

If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will update the date at the top of this page and notify registered account holders via email or portal announcement prior to the changes taking effect.