Author of the text: Mark Casillas, one of our members from North America
Aboru Aboye.
Iba Olodumare.
Today I would like us to consider the value and importance of quality, genuine devotion and heart felt dedication in our service to the orisa.
Why do we choose to become devoted to or dedicated to certain orisa? Why do we receive their sacred icons, emblems and ase? Why do we aspire for priesthood? Why do we invest our time, resources and hearts in pursuit of the mysteries of the orisa? These are important, penetrating and revealing questions that each one must endeavor to honestly answer for themselves. What are you seeking for and looking for in your association with the orisa? Are your hopes legimitate? Is your faith sound and genuine, or do you have an aberrant and counterfeit faith? Are your expectations well founded or are you pursuing unrealistic and unrealizable expectations from either people or the orisa?
Some people come to orisa to pursue genuine spirituality and to partake of divine grace, wisdom and power to improve their own lives, realize their humanity and to genuinely assist others along these same lines without a calculating spirit, bartering disposition or selfish motives.
Some come to orisa for less than honorable purposes, they come seeking an occasion to promote their vanity, pride and delusions of grandeur etc etc. They want to lord it over others and become petty gods on this sacred earth. They shamefully come to attempt to turn the holy path of the orisa into a commercial enterprise. Such ones come to something good and noble but for the wrong reasons or aims.
Others come out of curiosity, they come in a spirit of honest search, inquiry and investigation. Irrespective of how and why they come, the orisa in good faith receive them with love, hope and a vision of noble prospects.
You see, the orisa are not suspicious by nature or petty. They see the hidden good in all and the treasure of divine potential in all. The orisa will always endeavor to elevate and transform the hearts and minds of the devotee’s, irrespective of their initial reason or reasons for coming to the orisa. How wonderful, great, noble and farsighted are the orisa. This being said, let us continue on to consider the importance of quality versus quantity in our walk of friendship with the orisa. Let us consider the vital importance of cultivating and having genuine awe, love and reverence for the orisa. It is awe, love and reverence that bonds the affections of the orisa to us and us to the orisa. Awe, love, gratitude and reverence are the sum, substance and vital power of rites, ceremonies and rituals. If there is no genuine affinity with the orisa permeated by authentic awe, love and reverence, our rites, ceremonies and rituals will be no more than powerless theatrical performances that will fail to receive the response, power and grace of the orisa.
Today in the orisa community a spirit of superficiality, decadence, irreverence and loss of moral-spiritual values has crept in, ruining the faith, corrupting the spiritual lives, devotion and priesthood of countless devotee’s. Many devotee’s have been led away into wrongful paths by unwise and immature leaders, priests and elders who do not have the best interest of their students at heart or that of the orisa. To them the path of orisa is a commercial enterprise or an avenue to inflate their pride and vanity and to attempt to cover over or hide from others the fact that they are spiritually-morally ignorant and bankrupt. Such ones have nothing of true and enduring value to give to others. Many noble and genuine student-devotee’s of the orisa are seeking not only for the divine and beautiful truths of their faith, but also seeking to find the genuine representatives and embodiments of the principles of Ifa, of Orisa, of Isese. To such ones I say: Do not allow yourselves to become discouraged and do not lose hope. Determine to be such a stalwart, bonafide and staunch devotee of the divine orisa and their ideals. Many people think that if they just fill their homes with many kinds of orisa shrines, icons and so forth, all will be well, blessings, peace, health and power will be forthcoming. Is this true? No it is not. Many are in a mad rush to get this initiation, that initiation, this empowerment, that empowerment, this orisa, that orisa, on and on and on. They do this thinking that by increasing quantity of all of these realities, their lives will be fulfilled, filled with peace and power. Are they really happy? Are they fulfilled? Do they wield in any discernible measure divine power? No. Can an extinguished fire give light and heat? No it cannot. Have they gained the qualifications to exercise and be recipients of the grace of the orisa by all of these dizzying activities?! No, they have not and will not, until they determine to follow the path of quality and affinity with the moral-spiritual requirements of Ifa, of the Orisa. Until genuine interest in true devotion, awe, love and reverence arises in their hearts, they will always be driven by pride, vanity, pettiness, jealousy, delusions of grandeur and illusions of having a non-existent power and authority. They will always find themselves dissatisfied with themselves and empty of any genuine divine content. They are spiritually hungry, thirsty and starving. Like the leech, they only know how to receive and take but have no true willingness to impart and give. From such people steer away.
Do not allow even the shadow of such people to touch you. It is far better to be dedicated wholehearted to just one orisa who inspires confidence, awe, devotion and reverence than to have many kinds of orisa shrines and icons and so forth, but no genuine understanding of what ones true aims are and how to achieve them. It is better to become proficient and artful in the ways of ones chosen orisa, than to have many accumulations of ritual and ceremonial items and not truly know what one is doing and why. I want to encourage and inspire all orisa devotee’s to live a life of genuine quality. If you are a devotee of Obatala then enthusiastically learn all that there is to learn about Orisanla, incorporate his teachings, character and example in your life. The same is true of any other orisa with whom you have a deep and genuine loving affinity with. Let us not miss the mark by living superficial and distracted lives. Let us develop deep, meaningful and satisfying friendships and relationships with our orisa. Let us seek out genuine and honest people within our community to associate with and learn from, while endeavoring to be in our own lives, character and bearing, men and woman of sterling character, who delight to embody and display truthfulness and dignity in all we do. Life is a precious from Olodumare to you. Do not squander your life, gifts, talents and divine affinities in things petty, superficial and ignoble. Learn from others. Learn from the good actions of others. Learn from the bad actions of others. Make the best of your devotion. May the best of your initiation. Walk your path with courage, dignity, truthfulness and honesty. Be a light in this world. Be a living hope and comfort in this age of restlessness, anxiety, superficiality and deceit.
May the light and truth of Ifa burn brightly in your hearts, illuminating your minds and enriching your lives. May Ela Asiwaju enliven and invigorate you through these lofty thoughts and considerations. Ase.
May divine earth mother Onile Ogboduora, upon whom we walk, live and thrive, be witness to the truths you have this day considered and by her blessings may you be empowered to tread the path of truth, love, courage patience and good character with consistency and reliability. May she bear witness to your conscience, your determination and resolve. Ase.
Ogbo ato asure iworiwofun.