SELF-TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERING IN SOM
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Spiritual Training - MOST ESSENTIAL
Become YSS/SRF Member and take Kriya initiation
If someone is thinking seriously about volunteering for longterm, they should take YSS or SRF Lesson Membership and practise the spiritual teachings. After about a year, they will qualify to be initiated into Kriya Yoga through YSS/SRF. It is likely to take at least a few years of Kriya practise and following the whole teachings to really gel well with SoM.
Those who are not on this path, may still volunteer for a few hours a week or for full time. If after joining as a volunteer they think of working for SoM more seriously for longterm, they too are likely to go through this process of Lesson membership and daily Kriya Yoga practise. This whole process of spiritually changing from within takes years, but it changes you deeply from within and benefits you in every aspect of life and brings you closer to the Lord of Happiness within.
SoM has respect for other serious spiritual paths also. But every spiritual path is different and focuses on different aspects of Spirituality. Some are less serious about Self-Realization and some are more. This spiritual path of Kriya Yoga (through YSS/SRF) is more strongly compatible with SoM.
Depending on the need for volunteers in your area of expertise, you may be able to volunteer for SoM, irrespective of whether you are spiritual or not. But sincere Kriya Yogis (YSS/SRF) will be able to gel well more easily and will benefit SoM much more.
People may think that if they have more experience with teaching, or with children, or with software development, or in some other field, then they can be more helpful. I do not agree with that fully. If someone has expertise in one or more of these areas but has no deep attachment to Kriya Yoga path of YSS/SRF, it may be difficult to be attached to SoM for a long time. In regular for-profit businesses, people get monetary benefits in return for their time and effort. In non-profit organizations like SoM, such benefits are much less. So, what binds people together is their attachment to God and spirituality and their Divine Love for each other. People get more attached to the spiritual organization and the people working there if they are following the same spiritual path. That is because, as a sadhak becomes more one with a spiritual path, he actually becomes more one with all the spiritual practitioners on that path. This leads to deep bonds of selfless love and spiritual unity. Such unity between people lasts for lifetimes. And when they work with this unity, they are able to carry burdens with selflessness and purity.
(This suggestion is not just for those who are interested in working for SoM. Whenever I meet people whom I really care for, I try to encourage them to take an interest in getting Kriya Yoga through YSS/SRF. Happiness is the Goal of human life and this path brings us closer to this goal over time.)
Become Tech-Savvy
Being tech-savvy is quite important. If you are already a regular Kriya yoga practitioner, this is something you should target. Becoming tech-savvy is even more important than working on becoming a good academic teacher, because everyone will benefit by having an experience with technology irrespective of how they serve in SoM.
Become AN ACADEMIC TEACHER
SoM's approach to teaching is very experiential and it is different from that of a typical Indian school. It is preferred that SoM's teachers are not from teaching background, because a typical teacher is already well trained for traditional school system and also he is very set in his/her ways of dealing with students. Sometimes his whole personality becomes like that of a typical teacher who has a habit of giving instructions and encourage education as it is done in other schools. Therefore, a great teacher in 1970s used to advertise for his schools- "Wanted teachers, but untrained." He used to train teachers himself in his own way. That is likely to become SoM's way also, especially for the alternative schools. For rural schools, regular teaching practices of regular schools might suffice.
Read more to learn more about SoM's way of academic teaching and how you can self-train yourself into it.
Spiritual TEACHER IN SOM
It is better not to think about becoming a Spiritual Teacher in SoM. It is better to think about serving in SoM in other ways. If someone becomes a good spiritual practitioner over time, and has certain required character traits, he can be picked for teaching spirituality. A spiritual teacher's mind needs to be transparent and spiritually ready to transfer the spiritual message across correctly. SoM will be very very selective about who would be allowed to teach.
Software developers
No one can become a software developer quickly or even in a year, but there are a few things existing software developers can learn to make themselves more ready for SoM.
There are many other ways one may serve in SoM. For ex: If you are good at English speaking, no matter where you are, you can talk to rural kids in english over a zoom call to help them practise English speaking. If you have a managerial background, you can help in SoM in managing different kinds of work. If you are from a village background, you can help us connect to people in villages.
Having said that, out of all the things, the most important is that you be a Kriya Practitioner (YSS/SRF), especially if you want to serve for long-term.