ESU – ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MOST REVERED DIVINITIES – Irunmole

This divinity is generally known as a universal or  divine policeman because of the spiritual duties of enforcing divine laws and order . ESU in reality deter chaos , confusion  and pandemonium in the life of all devotees  of OLODUMARE   at all level in life. Without the activities of this great divinity , the entire universe would have experienced or fall  into  great confusion never seen before in creation  . Had it not been for the fear of the unknown and the law of retributive effect, man would not have given any importance or meaning to life  or to superior forces or try to  know or seek the existence of higher power in creation,   the fact that man will go on the way of his ancestor after short life span , force him to submit to the superior forces of OLODUMARE AND HIS NUMEROUS DIVINITIES.   ESU makes us realize that evil awaits the evil doers at all level , and goodness awaits the wise  here and hereafter   . Man wants to live freely without caution , and he wants to do whatever  suits him and man is delighted in his own  immoral existence and  his  indolence. Man wants to assume complete authority with ease  but the presence of Ajogun Orun, that is, the punitive knights  of heavenly doom create fear into the life and mind of man to reject arrogance and seek wisdom . Man does not want to worship or revere any higher force or forces, and consequently man does not want to recognize any power higher or explanation beyond his physical existence   not to talk of unseen energies embedded in the universe.  The presence and the knowledge of Esu force man to yield to higher and unseen force of OLODUMARE and His  numerous divinities.

WHO IS ESU ?

He is the arbiter between   man  in the quest  to  deter evil manifestation in his destiny and attract positive lot to his  life and that of his generation . There is no way we can speak or write about ESU without trying to iron out who is AJOGUN, or ALAJOGUN or AJOGUN ORUN . AJOGUN ORUN , literally means or  translates to ‘’PUNITIVE KNIGHTS OF HEAVENLY DOOM NAMELY , IKU (DEATH) , ARUN (DISEASES) , OFO ( SORROW) , OFO( LOSS) ,ESE(DESTRUCTION ) , EJO (LAWSUITS) . These energies or vibrations are not man –made or  physical reality , they are spiritual forces embedded in the universe to serve as deterrent  to any man who fail to comply to universal laws and orders.. Remember,  weed   grows on uncultivated land , the fool  sees  weeds as  nuisance in the universal order of things , but it is  natural  to have weeds to protect the uncultivated land from losing her richness or fertility while a wise farmer with seed , must sweat through his own effort to replace the weed with the seed . Like the weed of sickness , death , lawsuit , destruction , loss , sorrow and other negative vibrations are well established in the universal order of things  to appreciate life and to ensure that man labor for his spiritual freedom, liberty and opportunity in life . Nothing should come freely to man , all things must be labored for , to appreciate its value and its usefulness. Esu becomes the go between  two opposing  ends of objective of all creatures and discontentment  Life entails the period of happiness and the time of unhappiness,  the time to live and the time to pass on to the world beyond or other side of the universe , the time of  riches and the period of lack , the time to rain and the period of drought , the time of  accomplishment  and  the period of disappointment .

It is a well acceptable fact that good  fruits of life would not come to our life without effort  unless induced or enticed  by effort  or power within and without ( the power within is the spiritual and the power without is the divine –the expansive power of OLODUMARE AND HIS NUMEROUS DIVINITIES).  Bad occurrence or evil manifestation would not stop  coming into our lives  like weed covering up   an un-cultivated  and  fertile land. It is therefore, absolutely compulsory or necessary  to approach  or seek power beyond our control or spiritual wisdom to gain control over this misfortune or negative manifestations. Life itself is the work of spirit , and spirit is life , no one solves what is in the spirit with ordinary human wisdom , the need to delve into spiritual world to effect positive changes in our life and destiny call for the presence of Esu and reverence to  his immense power in the universe. In all human effort to grow and to change the unchangeable, Esu is needed . Esu is said to be the divinity  that connects man to higher forces so  that the presence of ALAJOGUN can be neutralized without delay and other negative powers can be kept away from our own path and that of our generation . Energy of ESU  according to Enitolodu, is the primordial  energetic vibration from the divine realm that  go beyond spiritual, mental , emotional and physical .

ESU is at the middle of both divergent world forces , Esu Controls and regulates the two extremes, the world of happiness, joy and fulfillment , and also the arena of destruction , hopelessness and sorrow . At times, man tries to explain the activities in the world through their unlimited knowledge of the unknown , he fails to realize that , spiritual goes beyond prediction and scientific analysis of man in creation or human reason . The wise knows that beyond the field of human knowledge commences the  true picture of reality , the divine reality of life and limitless vibrations  pervading the  universe,hence to explore this reality , man must connect , initiate or appease to ESU , the adjudicator and arbitrator of these numerous level of creations or many  worlds of existence .

Esu demands  from those who have  to give  to those that do not have or those who demanded  for it , within the limit of sacrifices, and initiations , the spiritual forces spread to cover and guide those who are obedient to the sacrifice and punish those who  neglect possible offerings of sacrifice and initiations. Both world of visible  and  invisible are to be regularized , and since man cannot walk himself to the spiritual realm unaided , he needs the support of ESU to appease to the world of spirit so as to bring and shape his misfortune into fortune and maintain his happy lot from generation to generation .  ESU ,at times, test man through difficulties and wake him up from the slumber or deep sleep of ignorance . Without challenges and death,   no man seeks God , the simple act of having ESU to carry out the function of waking man from deep slumber , gives Him (ESU) , the most reverence and admiration  every  spiritual  man must  do on daily basis.  Sacrifice or initiation is in-complete without offering first ( sacrifice or ritual) to ESU , that is the reason an intelligent devote says ‘’ esu duro niwaju , esu duro seyin awo , ‘’ that is  , You –ESU , be at the front and be at the back of the devote’’. The meaning of the above statement is for Esu to prevent evil of the front and the evil at the back , and if fortune and riches  are coming both at the front and at the back , with the wisdom  and the support of ESU, it will get to us without  delay and disturbance from any quarter .

Esu tests all human and make them pass through the fire of life to know that there is a superior power  above us, that is in control , and the power must be recognized by all creature in their sublime or moving  form .

Esu  is the one who undertakes all the necessary plans to deter evil or impact of evil after ifa has been consulted and sacrifice prescribed to prevent all  negative manifestations of ALAJOGUN( PUNITIVE KNIGHTS OF HEAVENLY DOOM) , AJE(WITCHES) , AROGOSAJU OLOGUN( THOSE WHO SEE THE FORTUNE BEFORE IT GETS TO THE OWNER) , OLORI KUKU( STUBBORN AND DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL) , AWORAWO ( THE FORTUNE CHANGER), ELENINI( THE EVIL ONES) , ASENIBANIDARO( THE WICKED THAT PRETEND TO BE GOOD TO US) , OSO ILE( THE WIZARD) , ELOBOLOGUN( EVIL SPIRITUAL HEALERS AND DECIEVERS) , EKE (FALSITY), OLORO IKA OR OLORO BUBURU( THOSE WHO SPEAKS  EVILS AT  ALL TIMES ) OLOKAN BUBURU  TABI ELERO BUBURU ( THE EVIL THINKERS) .

When ifa reveals the secret of these evil forces and warning to carry out necessary sacrifices to reduce or deter their power , and the devotee agrees to perform necessary sacrifices , ESU then moves into action and take the sacrifice performed by good ifa priest  to the place of acceptance , distribute such sacrifice among various divinities and other elemental forces in the cosmos so that the purpose of the sacrifice can be achieved . In fact  Esu becomes  the pacifier that appeal to all contrary forces in the universe to stop the manifestation of destruction when all necessary sacrifices and spiritual steps have been performed .The duties of Esu go beyond   evil deterrent , ESU also  takes sacrifices to other divinities in heaven so as to enable them carry out the work endowed or instructed or given  to them by God . Remember that most of these divinities are unseen and invisible , and the power to induce them to aid and support our life are  given to ESU through the sacrifices we offered to them .  ESU builds a strong energy for those who carry out spiritual steps as directed by ifa  to prevent negative attack  from getting to us in the physical state of existence and damage our relations with our spiritual colleague and divine partner in heaven-EGBE .

IFA through the knowledge of odu states that ESU came with the greatest primordial divinities during trans-spiritual and divine migration from heaven to the earth .He supported the greatest exodus in  creation , helping all divinities to achieve their purposes, most especially IFA ORUNMILA BARA AGBONNIREGUN . The major work of Ifa is divination and correction of error associated with life   , and also the prescription of sacrifices , rituals, prayer , initiations and other spiritual steps to right the wrong and to rectify all misfortunes associated with human destiny and his generation . Who then become a  facilitator!!! , the answer is ESU , he takes sacrifice to heaven and brings back the good messages from OLODUMARE  AND HIS NUMEROUS DIVINITIES to the doers of sacrifice on Earth . Through this great work ESU KNOWS THE SECRET OF UNSEEN WORLD OF SPIRIT AND THE DESIRE AND ASPIRATION OF MEN ,  these two opposing demands are brought into harmony and have solution through  ESU.

Heaven  needs the attention of man in creation to fulfill their destiny and to fulfill the purpose by which GOD  created him , while man needs the attention of GOD  and His numerous divinities  to SUPPORT himself in the jungle of life   , the balance between the two is facilitated through ESU .

In one of the numerous verses of ifa ,  ESU was seen as the servant and at the same time , the leader of all divinities. He is seen as servant because he feeds them daily with the sacrifice performed by man , and also takes the message of  divinities back to man . While as a leader , because , he is at the throne of  OLODUMARE  on daily basis , knowing the important decisions made by GOD ON DAILY BASIS  and also relates and brings the decision of  OLODUMARE to both divinities and human alike , that is the main reason he is called AJIROBA , — THAT IS THE ONE WHO SEES ON DAILY BASIS , THE OMNIPOTENT KING OF THE UNIVERSE , OLODUMARE  .

In one of the greatest myth , ESU  intended to dominate and take  all divinities as slaves , he planted one of his properties  inside their different bags  and loads  and declared it missing when they were coming during trans- spiritual migration from ALEDE ORUN( heaven) . ESU  announced  to the divinities that he  was looking for missing properties , and in whose bag the missing property is found would become his   slave .  ORUNMILA , the great (HBA- HEEPA BARA AGBONNIREGUN) , quickly recognized the attitude of ESU, consulted ifa , and it was revealed that , he ( Orunmila) should quickly returned the property(esu put in his bag) back to ESU’S LUGGAGE, before dawn .  ORUNMILA  took the steps as directed by ifa and saved himself and other divinities from being enslaved by ESU ODARA . Till   present , ESU BECOMES THE SERVANT INSTEAD OF LEADER OF DIVINITIES , hence ORUNMILA   directed  ESU to always sleep outside  so as to guide other divinities taking rest or sleeping inside the house ,

According to odu ifa under ejiogbe:

Ifa lo dalarun barun waye

Emi naa wi mo lo dalarun barun waye

Orunmila  loun ri tikole  orun bowa si ikole aye

Oun tepa osun

Esu odara  lo reru  awo tele oun

A difa  fun alarun

Nijo  ESU  odara loun o gba gbogbo ere ise oga oun

Won ni ko karale ebo ni ko ya wa muse

ESU odara gbo gbigbo ebo ko rubo

Kaki ki o ko ere awon oga , nise won ba ti ESU odara si gbalede

Won ti si enu ona , won ti si orita meta ona ara

ESU duro ni waju , ki o kehin awo

Nitori tire loso ro

Translation

Ifa says , it is as if the people came to the world with diseases

I confirm the insinuation that people  came to the world with diseases

Orunmila averred  and confirmed , saying , he was coming  from heaven to the physical state of existence

Orunmila said , he was coming and walking with osu staff

ESU  odara was the one that carried  the oracular  bag  on his head following ORUNMILA AND OTHER DIVINITIES

Thus cast IFA ORACLE    for the sick ones

On the day , ESU ODARA  said , he would  take all the gains of his master .

Esu was advised to be patience and offer sacrifice

Esu did not offer sacrifice

Instead of taking all the gains of his master

Esu was pushed out of the house

Esu was pushed to the three cross road

Esu was asked to stay both at the front and at the back

Because only the wise and the spiritual can know the way of ESU

Till today , the shrine of esu is always at the front or back door of the house or  at the

entrance of the house or  office,  to guide and protect the occupier of the house or the office from the attack of ALAJOGUN OR OTHER EVIL MANIFESTATIONS.

Odu iwori meji states  that ESU  becomes the first student of ORUNMILA  during trans- migration  and the name given by  ORUNMILA to ESU is ESU OBASIIN. ( ESU, THE KING THAT SERVES) … TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT LESSON )

KNOWING YOUR DIVINITIES