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PRIVACY POLICY & LIABILITY AGREEMENT

This document describes the policy that the International Marriage Committee (IMC, “we” or “us”) follows, the commitments that it takes towards all those who interact with IMC for that purpose, the responsibility of all parties involved in the process, the limitations of liability and the privacy policy. Please note that the activities performed by the IMC and described below are managed by volunteering Sahaja Yogis/Yoginis brothers and sisters, in support of the global Sahaja Sangha and for its benevolence, and as such do not qualify as professional services or 
as commercial activities. IMC is not a formal entity, and while it cooperates with Central Committee, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Sahaja Yoga World Foundation, country Sahaja, VND or connected Associations, Institutions & Trusts, it is not dependent or legally connected to any of these global Sahaja organizations.


Please contact us with any questions or comments about this document, personal data, our use and disclosure practices, or your consent choices, or if you have any concerns, by writing an email to info@sahajamarriages.org.

A. DEFINITIONS

 

  • “Sahaja Marriages” are marriages arranged following the protocols and the indications provided by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

  • ”International Marriage Committee” is an informal group of volunteering Sahaja Yogis and Yoginis, from all over the world, nominated by local Sahaja country coordinators & councils affiliated to the global Sahaja Yoga movement for the purpose of arranging Sahaja Marriages.

  • ”Applicant” means a Sahaja Yogi or Yogini who wishes to apply to a Sahaja Marriage ceremony. 

  • “Sahaja Matches” are proposals made to Applicants by IMC, for the purpose of a future Sahaja Marriage. Such Sahaja Matches are selected on the basis of the principles taught by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, in relation to human & material aspects, and validated by vibratory check through Paramchaitanya

  • ”Personal Data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

  • ”Approver” means an individual other than an Applicant, who has local responsibility for validation of application forms, and for this purpose collects data from Applicants at the local or country level, and provides such data to IMC for this purpose, with the Applicant’s consent.

  • ”Applicant Data“ means Personal Data, reports, addresses, and other files, folders or documents in electronic or paper form that an Applicant provides to local Approvers and IMC.

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B. LIABILITY AGREEMENT
The following Liability Agreement (“Agreement”) describes the policy that the IMC follows, the commitments that it takes towards all those who interact with IMC for that purpose, the responsibility of all parties involved, and the limitations of liability.


When applying for a Sahaja Match or Sahaja Marriage, Applicants should be aware of and accept the following principles:

  • Getting a Sahaja Match or a Sahaja Marriage is not possible, available or meant for all the practitioners of Sahaja Yoga. A careful evaluation of Applicants is performed by the IMC before proposing a Sahaja Match, according to the protocols and the indications provided by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

  • All Applicants have to provide their Application forms to a local Approver, which could be appointed country representatives, leaders, coordinators or council members, consenting to the transmission of such forms from the Approvers to the IMC

  • The IMC commits to the utmost confidentiality in treating the personal and sensitive information provided as described in the attached Privacy Policy

  • Each Applicant that is considered for matching is treated fairly and equanimously, as children of the Divine Mother, and according to the principles and teachings of Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi. For clarity, in performing the Sahaja Matches, the IMC does not take into account differences of race, spiritual or religious background before Sahaja, nationality, or local marriage practices that are against the Sahaja principles e.g. caste, dowry etc.

  • The IMC does not validate matches that have been decided and proposed by requestors or third parties outside the IMC but proceeds with independent checks for a Sahaja Match 

  • The IMC, based on such evaluation, matches applicants with prospective couples, for the purpose of a possible future Sahaja Marriage. Each and every Sahaja Match is a proposal by the IMC, that needs to be thoroughly evaluated by the couple, with serenity and without external pressure in order to proceed with a Sahaja Marriage. The decision to proceed with marriage is the sole and only responsibility of the couple and IMC respects that decision.

  • The IMC does not make any pressure on the couple for a decision of any kind, but provides time limits for such decisions, in order to be able to accept couples for the nearest Sahaja Marriage ceremony.

  • A Sahaja Match can be spiritually officialized as Sahaja Marriage at any nearest Sahaja Marriage ceremony

  • The Sahaja Marriage officiated by the IMC does not have legal validity and needs to be, previously or subsequently, legalized through the local authorities of the country of one of the spouses.

  • The IMC cannot be held responsible for real or perceived misbehaviours of any of the applicants after the proposal, or after the marriage, or for any wrong information provided by the applicants, as that entails the personal choices and actions of applicants and it is not under the control of the IMC.

C. PRIVACY POLICY

The following Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes the information that the International Marriage Committee (IMC, “we” or “us”) gathers throughout the marriage process, how we use and disclose such information, and the steps we take to protect such information. By sending us a marriage application form, either directly or through a local Approver, Applicants accept the privacy practices described in this document.

 

1. The Information We Collect

We collect different types of information throughout the process. The basis for the IMC’s processing of personal data is primarily that such processing is necessary for arranging Sahaja Matches and Sahaja Marriages.

  1. User-provided Information When Applicants provide information to the IMC through marriage application forms in paper form, through the local Approver or through the IMC email address, they may provide it, and we may collect Personal Data. Examples of Personal Data include name, email address, mailing address, mobile phone number. Personal Data also includes other information, including sensitive information, in relation to health or other personal issues, especially for Applicants, which they can provide directly to the IMC or through local Approvers to the IMC. Personal Data may be provided to us by Applicants in various ways, for example, when interacting with us through communication platforms or messaging.

  2. Information from Other Sources We may obtain information about Applicants, including Personal Data, from third parties (e.g. Approvers) and other sources, such as local collectives and coordinators if needed. If we combine or associate information from other sources with Personal Data that we collect, we will treat the combined information as Personal Data in accordance with this Policy.

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2. How We Use the Information

We Collect We use the information that we collect in a variety of ways in arranging marriages, including the following:

  1. Sahaja Matches and Sahaja Marriages operations IMC members use the information to perform all activities in relation to matches and marriage arrangements for Applicants. We process Applicant Data in accordance with the directions provided by the Applicant if provided.

  2. Data Analysis We use the information to understand and analyze the marriage trends and tendencies around the world. Should this purpose require IMC to process Applicant Data, then the data will be used in anonymized or aggregated form.

  3. Communications We may use an Applicant’s email address or other information to contact that Applicant (i) for administrative purposes such as clarifications as to the information provided, information about marriage matches or (ii) with updates on any changes to the ceremony or future ceremonies or (iii) to provide contact details of prospective Sahaja Matches. We do not use contact details for the purpose of promotional communications, but only for the purpose of providing all practical and useful information about the marriage ceremony and logistics.

 

3. To Whom We Disclose Information

Except as described in this Policy, we will not intentionally disclose the Personal Data that we collect or store to any third parties without the consent of the Applicant. We may disclose information to third parties in the following circumstances:

  1. Matching Information In case any Applicant is matched to any other applicant throughout the process, their names and country of residence will be announced publicly at the ceremony site and, for all matches that have not been refused by the Applicants, the same information will be provided to country coordinators through the Sahaja Yoga country leaders mailing list. Contact details of Applicants will also be provided to the respective matches or to country representatives for the purpose of getting in touch with the prospective marriage match.

  2. Approver’s request We may share Applicant’s Personal data only with the Approvers that Applicants have listed in their marriage form, as per the consent provided, for their approval.

  3. Non Personally Identifiable Information We may make certain automatically collected, aggregated, or otherwise non-personally identifiable information available to third parties for the purpose of reporting and statistics on marriage ceremonies.

  4. Law Enforcement, Legal Process and Compliance We may disclose Personal Data or other information if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with applicable laws, in response to a facially valid court order, judicial or other government subpoena or warrant, or to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or other governmental agencies. We also reserve the right to disclose Personal Data or other information that we believe, in good faith, is appropriate or necessary to (i) take precautions against liability, (ii) protect ourselves or others from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful activity, (iii) investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations.

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4. Privacy Choices: Access, Correction, Deletion
We respect Applicants’ privacy rights and provide them with reasonable access to the Personal Data that they have provided. If an Applicant wishes to access or amend any other Personal Data we hold about them, or to request that we delete or transfer any information that we have obtained, they may contact us at the email  info@sahajamarriages.org. At an Applicant’s request, we will have any reference deleted or blocked in our database. Applicants may decline to share certain Personal Data with us, in which case we may not be able to process their Application successfully for a marriage match.


At any time, an Applicant may object to the processing of their Personal Data, on legitimate grounds, except if otherwise permitted by applicable law. If an Applicant believes their right to privacy granted by applicable data protection laws has been infringed upon, they should contact immediately info@sahajamarriages.org.

 

5. Minors and Children’s Privacy
Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important. The Sahaja Marriage ceremony is not directed to children under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 18. If an Applicant is under 18 years of age, they should not apply for Sahaja Marriage at any time or in any manner. If we learn that Personal Data has been collected from persons under 18 years of age and without verifiable parental consent, then we will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If a parent or guardian discovers that their child under 18 years of age has sent an Application form for marriage, then they may alert us at info@sahajamarriages.org and request that we delete that child’s Personal Data from our systems.

 

6. Data Security
We follow generally accepted standards to protect the information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. We maintain appropriate safeguards to protect Personal Data against unauthorized disclosure or access, misuse, and any other unlawful form of processing of the Personal Data in our possession. This includes, for example, antiviruses, firewalls, password protection and other access and authentication controls. Personal Data is stored in a protected area on Google services owned by the IMC. Such services are accessible only to selected members of the IMC. No person outside the IMC has direct access to such Personal Data. Personal data is also stored in paper format in locked cabinets and is only accessible to IMC members.


Please note that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. We cannot ensure or guarantee the security of any information that is transmitted to us, and Applicants do so at their own risk. We also cannot guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. If an Applicant believes their Personal Data has been compromised, please contact us at the email info@sahajamarriages.org

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If we learn of a security systems breach, we will inform Applicants of the occurrence of the breach in accordance with applicable law.


7. Data Retention
We only retain the Personal Data collected from an Applicant for as long as required for Sahaja marriages recording and tracking and for disputes purpose or otherwise for a limited period of time as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes for which we have initially collected it unless otherwise required by law. We will retain and use information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our Agreement.


8. Changes and Updates to this Policy
If we modify the Policy, we will make it available through the country coordinators, and to the Applicants for the specific Sahaja Matches and Marriage ceremony and indicate the date of the latest revision, and will comply with applicable law. The Applicant’s continued consent to the Matching process by the IMC after the revised Policy has become effective indicates that the Applicant has read, understood and agreed to the current version of the Policy.


Last update: March 15, 2021

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