Category: IFA

Examine Yourself

Try to examine your life through these four qualities of success and victory. Remember, every successful step needs your personal participation and effort.
Desire – the beginning of great personal achievement. You must really desire and want your goal by combining all energy needed to achieve the goal. Physical energy, spiritual, mental, divine and emotional energy are needed to be successful and victorious.
Decision – Always set or make a clear decision. Unclear decisions are enemies of progress. Make your decision unequivocal that you are going to practice these behavior and develop these habits no matter how long it takes.
Discipline – This is the greatest and the most important single quality of man who want to achieve greater successes and goals beyond the realm of mediocrity. With highly developed sense of personal discipline the world bow before you and the universe becomes your co worker in the vine yard and arena of greatness and blissful life and every things and all things are brought under the feet of a principle and discipline man and you become a good disciple of the creator of all things in the universe. Without discipline little or nothing can be achieved. Hence ensure high sense of discipline and mental control always. Nothing comes to your life without consciously or unconsciously manifesting in the mental state or planting the seed in the mental and spiritual arena. The disciplined man plants the seed of success first in his or her own mind and the universe respond to his or her desire and plantation. Learn to plant well and support it with effort and be discipline to see the fruit grows as both rain and sun equates the problem and success in the jungle of life to attain goals and generation blessings. Hence be disciplined to move forward in the face of challenges.
Determination – it is one of the greatest qualities that enables you to overcome all setbacks, disappointments, temporary failure and every setback life throws on your path. Never expect easy way to success and victory. Determination, dedication and persistence are the measure of belief and faith in God and yourself.
Live by faith, work like angel, think godly and act wisely.

It is well.

Quality not quantity. Devotion and love and not rote ritual and mechanical rites.

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.

On Faith

May God bless you always. May the power of Almighty be your strength and your life. The purpose of this text is on faith.

Faith and purpose constitute the motive power and foundation of life. There is nothing that strong faith and an determined purpose may not accomplish. By daily exercise of silent faith, the energy and the power of man are gathered together and by perpetual strengthening of silent purpose, the power are directed towards the object of accomplishment. Before you can hope to enter into any measure of victory, blessing and success and usefulness, you must learn how to focus your thought forces by indulging and cultivating quietness and calmness. No matter what kind of job or service you are rendering for others including those who are in the business, you may suddenly confronted with some extremely difficult situation or probably disaster. You grow fearful, anxious and worry and you are at your possible end. To persist in such an evil state of mind and emotion would be a great disaster, for when anxiety steps in, correct judgment may be difficult to attain. If you will take advantage of a quiet hour or two in the early morning or at night and go away to some solitary place or in your room in the house where you know you will be free from noise or disturbance and having seated yourself in an easy habit, you forcibly direct your mind right away from the object of anxiety by dwelling upon something in your life that is pleasing, you will find that a calm, spiritual strength will gradually steal into your mind and your anxiety will pass away. Learn to use prayer and spiritual devotion to bring back your mind and re-establish it on the plane of peace and harmony. Never allow your mind to wander in the tumultuous ocean of worry and anxiety, that is deadly for successful steps and positive atmosphere. There is a divine solution to all mind that search for the existence of infinite power Of God through prayer and faith. Hence faith; prayer and calming spirit or soul attract the right course to pursue and the proper end to all problems. Make prayer and faith your daily spiritual food and drinks.
Doubtless is the foundation of hopelessness and failure. The doubting soul has failed from the beginning of any investment or purpose. To worry or anxious is to doubt the great cosmic power that colored the universe, bring about the seeds, leaves, vegetables and fruits you put on your table on daily basis. The power that put all things rights and the energy that create your body that house the soul which is the mark of the great cosmic power in your being and life. To fear, anxious and doubt is to defeat the energy of life. Be guided absolutely by the habit and vision of calmness, faith and work. Faith does not stand still. It is the working power of the Omnipotent God to illuminate your being and steps. The hour of calmness, prayer and faith while working or remain quite is the hour of illumination and correct judgment. By such a course of mental discipline, the scattered thought forces are united and directed, like the rays of the searchlight , upon the problem at issue with the result that it gives way before them.
There is no difficulty, however great that will not yield before a calm and powerful faith and strong believe in the Almighty.
Hence try to defeat the enemies within and the adversaries without will flee from you. The arena of faith is the arena of victory and hard work with the core belief that you are not alone but all forces in the cosmic and ethereal level are bound to support your mission. God will not and cannot discriminate you on the basis of your religion, color or sex but you can be beaten on the basis of your fear, doubt and anxiety. These habit of mind to doubt, fear, idle and indiscipline are destructive camp of the weak and they suffer the consequences throughout their life time and so also their generation. The arena of faith is the work place of the pure discipline and hard working being. Let faith and prayer be your virtue and principles in life. You and your generation will be blessed forever.

Truth is The Source of Action

Aboru, aboye.

Truth is the source of action. Love, patience, kindness, self discipline, great ambition and self control are instruments of truth. What perfect tools they are and how wise and skillful are they who use them.
A man who learns that he cannot command things but that he can command himself; that he cannot coerce the will of others but that he can mold and master his own will and things serve him who serves Truth; people seek guidance of him who is master of himself. A man who cannot command himself under external stress is unfit to guide others or to control affairs of others. A man must learn to govern himself before attempting to guide others. Men who habitually give way under pressure to suspicion, resentment and anger, are unfit for greater responsibilities and higher duties and usually fail, even in the ordinary duties of life such as the management of their own family or business. Lack of self control is foolishness and folly or silly cannot take precedence of wisdom.
He who is learning how to control his turbulent and his evil thought and evil action is becoming wiser every day and the day will come when, like a wise master builder, he will rest in peace and his generation in the beautiful dwelling which he has built. Wisdom precedes self control. The life of self control is no deprivation or monotony or self suffering but renunciation of false and weak life of gluttony, immorality, destructive thought pattern, procrastination, unnecessary self pleasure, drunkeness, lack of daily physical activities, lack of daily spiritual and divine activities, self indulgence, hypocrisy and idle talk. A self controlled man is calm, enlightened and resolve in to prayer under all misfortune because he knows that things will turn around for good and the darkness of the night will surely see the light of the day. He believes in the overall infinite power that bring all things into being.
While the drunkard, the glutton and immoral lives for pleasure only. In pursuit of elusive enjoyment, man lose the abiding joys of life.
He who control his senses has most of physical life, joy and strength so he who controls his thoughts has most of spiritual life and divine power flow to him like undried river flowing to the ocean of life. Knowledge and wisdom are revealed to the wise man who controls self. The road to ignorance and selfishness are blocked and closed, while the gate of knowledge and enlightenment are open to the soul that controls self.
Start your day with prayer and end it with thanks and gratitude. It shall be well with you as long as there is an appreance of the sun.
At the road path of self control, there is the joy of victory, the consciousness of expanding and increasing power; the attainment of infinite and imperishable riches of divine knowledge and abiding happiness of service to humankind those who travel only a portion of the way will develop a strengt , achieve a success and experience a joy which the idle and the thoughtless cannot know and those who tread on this great path will become spiritual conqueror. He will triumph over evil and be patient under temptation and enjoy everlasting victory with his generation.

Alafia

Give Value to Life

Author of the text: Mark Casillas, one of our members from North America

Aboru aboye

The only life worth living is the one that is permeated by dignity. It is enough to be a human being. We are placed upon this sacred earth to realize our humanity. We are here to discover that humanity is divine, sacred and fundamentally good but this divine quality of sacredness and fundamental goodness does not emerge and reach fullness in a passive way, but through graceful and skillful effort. Make the best of your time upon this wonderful earth. Love God, be kind to each other and do not fragment God. Know that God is omnipresent, therefore see God in all.
Keep this thought in mind and remember that one day you will have to depart from this world. All your relatives, your language, your regional identity and the beliefs you professed will not leave with you when you depart from this earth. The only thing that will accompany you is your actual goodness, your moral-spiritual attainments, the spiritual power and grace you cultivated and built up within yourself and the quality of your conscience. We come into this world with closed fists and leave with open hands. We bring nothing with us when we come into this world and everything we possess will be left behind when we leave this world. In the end, it is not important where you were born, what our language, professed religion or creed was. Rather what is important is, how good human beings we become, how much service and benefit we rendered to humanity and whether our lives are approved and blessed with a good conscience. What is important is that we improved, developed and matured as genuine human (humane) beings. Religion is ultimately an expression of who and what kind of person you truly are. What is important is not how much knowledge you possess but what you do with that knowledge; whether you practice and apply it for the wellbeing and benefit of others and yourself. What is important is whether there is love, sincerity, humility and purity in your thoughts, words and actions. What will be important is whether you were and are a genuine and authentic person. Be guileless, straightforward and wholesome. Live with joy, enthusiasm and compassion. These are the things that matter. Simple living, high thinking and practical demonstration of unfeigned kindness from moment to moment and day to day will fill our lives with satisfaction, gratitude and fulfillment. When our time upon this earth is complete,— with honor, joy and peace of mind we will ascend to the divine abode without shame and  with great satisfaction and expectancy of greater things to come.

Make sure that you cultivate, nourish and build up iwa within yourself. Iwa will defend and speak for you when you depart to the higher worlds. Iwa will open the doors to the sublime realms and give you the power, eligibility and right to enter. Iwa is the supreme ase. Through iwa all graces, powers, knowledge and blessings are secured. Be diligent. Apply and cultivate patience and perseverance. Feel and see the divine presence in everything and everyone. Do not leave for tomorrow what should and can be accomplished today. Do not put your spiritual dreams and aspirations on hold. Pursue them assiduously and realize them. This is the way of dignity, satisfaction, peace and fulfillment.

Alafia

STAY ENCOURAGED AND NEVER LOSE HOPE

Aboru Aboye.

Do not think or worry about who is on your side or who is not on your side while going about your service to Olodumare and Ifa. Just think about how and in what wonderful way the ase of Olodumare Enitolaaye will manifest in your life. Give space, time and occasion for the divine guiding power to manifest. When you do all things with care, love, respect, truthfulness and honesty Olodumare takes personal and direct charge of all your affairs and causes all your doings to bring forth abundant and satisfying fruit. Do not worry yourself as to how, when and where the divine ase will manifest itself in your life. Do not see any secondary causes in your life just acknowledge and see Olodumare alone, the supreme controller, master and guide of all things. Do not consider people, places and things as the directors or determiners of your life…above all and behind all, see the gracious and loving hand of Olodumare at work in you and in your life to bring to accomplishment, peace and prosperity.

Just be at peace and know with unshakeable and unwavering assurance that the divine ase will unfailingly manifest. Deepen your trust in Olodumare and let your actions be the expression of the flow of the gracefulness, pure energy and invigorating power of Eledumare. Do your best in all things, be inwardly still, tranquil and at peace. Exert yourself diligently as if all depended upon you but know in your heart that all manifests due to ase, grace and presence of Olodumare.

Do not consider your actions and endeavors as something separate from the actions and endeavors of Olodumare. Affirm and recognize your essential and qualitative oneness with the Source Supreme. Olodumare’s actioning is your actioning. Your actions are Olodumare’s actions. May you be comforted, strengthened and empowered by these truths. You need not know how, when or where the relief and aid will come from. Why trouble yourself with what is not necessary when you can be at peace through the power of faith, trust and confidence in the Divine leading you. Having entrusting your situation, dilemma, problem or concern to Olodumare know that the answer and solution is in route and will reach you at the best and most propitious time.

You are perfection in the making. All precious, shining, resplendent and finely faceted diamonds start off as a dark pieces of charcoal but through the divinely established process of programmed tensions, pressures and stressors it emerges a transformed and beautiful peerless, translucent and luminous gem. Delight in your trials, glory in your challenges and thrive in your moments of adversity because that means that at any moment the mystic, pure and holy gem within you is soon to emerge and be revealed, your true divine identity is to be manifested. Do not exasperate yourself. Practice patience, gentleness and kindness towards yourself. You will attain and obtain benefit and advancement beyond your personal hope and expectation of this there is no doubt.

Alafia.