Copyright on Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s Works

Our visitors might be wondering about copyright on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Works. There are different opinions represented by different organisations and individuals.

Here is official status on copyright on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Works from Copyright Department of Sri Aurobindo Ashram:

1. The copyright of those works of Sri Aurobindo that were published during His lifetime have expired in India and some other parts of the world. The copyright in most works that have been published posthumously continue to exist.
2. The copyright of the Mother’s works published in Her lifetime expires only in 2033.
3. In the case of compilations (e.g. ‘The Bhagavad Gita: Text, Translation and Commentary’), the totality of the specific individual editorial acts of selection and arrangement gives rise to a distinct copyright in the compilation per se, which is independent of the copyright in the underlying works which may have expired

Works that are still in copyright many not be put up for download by any party, even ‘registered visitors’, irrespective of whether profit is involved.