Obedience to IFA must be total. Instruction on how sacrifice, initiations, rituals, propitiation, prayers, and other forms of spiritual steps must be taken, in accordance with spiritual directives given by IFA through his priests to his people or to his devotee or his disciple. It is highly important to listen to babalawo and record everything he says accurately so that everything is done according to the divine inspiration given to him in the cause of divination.
Sacrifices, rituals, prayer, initiations, and other forms of spiritual steps have been seen and predetermined in the higher level for it to work for the good of the person, who is complying with the advice of offering the sacrifice. Never try to go against the word of OLODUMARE given to you by his messenger IFA through his priest. Always wait a little bit for sacrifices, rituals , initiations and other spiritual steps to work out everything in the spiritual state and show its manifestation in the physical level before apportion blame.
If you carefully obey the words of IFA on those things that involve sacrifices , rituals , initiations and sound spiritual steps, things will work out according to your plan. The law governed the spiritual life cannot fail, but exercise its power with accurate precision whatever you plant grows, and whatever you do come back to torment you and whatever you do well fulfill the glory of GOD in your life.
Hence, consider the following reason for taking your spiritual life very serious and have confidence that your spiritual steps correct most of your past errors , rectify the present mistake and guarantee better life in the future for the generation yet unborn. A wise human eliminates all present diseases, and presents predicament to have a glorious future. Wisdom is a good possession, spiritual is an asset. While spiritual understanding lighten the souls, and spiritual decisions are a mechanism to grow well and to grow in abundant wisdom and also a way to path of light which is path of GOD .
Before itemizing the reasons for sacrifice, I will like to make a quick explanation of the word sacrifice. Yoruba word for sacrifice is EBO or IPESE, or ETUTU which can be seen to be what you forfeit, forgo, or give up, in term of materials, habits, conducts, and other things that have negative impact on your life. Ebo is what you give up in order to use it in worship, devotion, or in exchange for better circumstances of life. The aim of the person offering the sacrifice is to cause things to function the way he wants them. This is offered on behalf of the man by babalawo.
Hence sacrifice, or rituals or propitiations or initiations may be classified under the following points to have a clearer view of their functions
1) BUY BACK: for every situation most especially difficult situation, there are corresponding sacrifices to be performed in a specific way, and positioned in a specific place for a particular deity; serving as the target or an intermediary between the two ends of the person looking for good things of life, and those things which the person sought rest . That is why IFA calls article used for sacrifice, ‘’IRARI AKAPO’’, that is buyback for ORI (lives of his devotees on Earth ). Under Ogunda Otura , Ifa made pronouncements on those things which are to be used as ‘’IRARI’’ on earth .
According to IFA verse under Ogunda Otura
Orunmilawi o lodisilasila
Ifamolodi silo silo
Omo ekunsesilasila
N se silo silo
Monikinninsesilasila ti nse silo silo si
Omo ekuninitoriomoni
Orunmilani se iwoomoeku o sin
Omo ekunikinloun n wi
Kinni baba akeyo n wi
Orunmilaniwon o jomoekuo moo bimo
Won se ifafunomoeku
Omo ekuba n bimo
Translation
Orunmila said , it is a matter of running helter-skelter
Ifa , I say , it is a matter of being troubled
The children of the Rat were running helter-skelter
They were troubled
I asked why they were running helter-skelter and troubled
The children of the Rat said, it was because of children
Orunmila asked them, would you be my devotee?’
What are we asking for? the Rat had answered
What is baba akeyo(the great teacher) saying?
Orunmila asked that the children of the Rat may reproduce
They prepared an IFA portion for the children of the rat
They were having children
They initiate the children of Rat , they are fulfilled
In line with his duty on earth ,Orunmila had visited all human groups, when they were having problems with their lives. In each of the places he visited, he noticed they were troubled. He therefore asked what their problems were. The first place, which was the house of the Rat, he said , it was because of lack of children. Orunmila asked if he would be devoted to him, to which the Rat did not give any answer. In order words, he was not ready to forfeit anything in exchange for the good things he wanted from OLODUMARE through Orunmila ‘’what are we talking about, what is this man saying ? Is there any relationship between being devoted and having children ? The Rat had asked.
Nevertheless ,Orunmila asked that he starts to have children and it was so . Orunmila repeated the same feat in the house of the Fish, and all other animals including every human, until finally he met his own people who are physiologically similar. Orunmila asked them the same question. The children of human being however benefitted from the character of ESU who silently told them to agree to becoming devoted to Orunmila . We shall be devoted! They chorused. Orunmila also granted them the ability to multiply . Sixteen years later, Orunmila returned to check if they were doing well . One after the other he visited them, he entered the house of the Rat. The multitude of children did not even know him. They did not remember it was he who made it possible for them to multiply . They were even spitting at him. The same happened in the house of the Fish, and other animals. Bird in fact defecated on him . However , when Orunmila entered the house of human beings , they recognized him afar and offered him drinks and foods . They gave him a place to sleep and he dwelt with them.
Consequently, Orunmila who had been offended by the actions of the children of Rat , Fish , and other animals, he prayed for human beings and decreed that all those who revolted against him be used henceforth , as the exchange for the problems that manifest in human lives. ‘’From today , they have become the ‘’IRARI”,that is a buy –back for you and your children till eternity ‘ , Orunmila instructed. I pray today that may OLODUMARE will not allow the situation of the children of the birds, of the rats , and the fish be your lot , may you continue to overcome all body temptation and dishonor as long as there an appearance of the sun, Ase.
Take a good lesson from this antidote and change your attitude towards sacrifices , initiations and spiritual steps. To stress further, human joyfully burst out singing in one accord concluding the same verse above saying
Njekinnirariakapo
Omo ekunirariakapo
Omo eku
Kinnirariakapo
Omo ejanirariakapo
Omo eja
Kinnirariakapo
Omo eyenirariakapo
Omo eye
Kinnirariakapo
Omo erannirariakapo
Omo eran
Translation
What then would be the buy back of a devotee?
The children of the Rat are the buy-back of a devotee
The children of the Rat
What then would be the buy-back of the devotee?
The children of the Fish are the buy-back of the devotees
The children of the fish
What then would be the buy-back of the devotee?
The children of the Bird are the buy-back of a devotee
The children of the bird
What then would be the buy-back of a devotee?
The children of Animals are the buy-back of a devotee
The children of Animals
That was how fish, rats, birds and animals are used in sacrifice to replace the children of human. Now always perform your spiritual steps by performing your sacrifice at right time, it is a ‘’check up ‘’ that has a profound effect on your life, the lives of your loved ones and your future generation. Whatever you do today has a positive or negative effect , if you take care of yourself spiritually , the manifestation will come in the later life and you‘ve created a sound positive step to overcome future problems. It is like a man who wants to have a wonderful old age, he must start to eat well now, take good care of himself and avoid worry since he can commit all his worries to higher power and with total faith, he shall be victorious.
To overcome life obstacles and come to the house of peace, you need higher wisdom and spiritual understanding that call for your constant sacrifices, rituals, initiations, and other form of spiritual steps. No one feed the body without proper food, while the food of spirit is the sacrifice you do to make things right and to get things in order in your life, in your job and within your family
2) Messenger: Sacrifice may also be termed a messenger for the devotees or supplicant or petitioner. They may be sent on errands to meet with certain people and spirits and also bring back replies or messages. That is the main reason after sacrifice , a divination is done, oracle is consulted and response are sent back to the doer of sacrifices. Under Ose Iwori , we see an example where Orunmila sent a sacrifice to heaven for the sake of his child. According to the odu
Osepaa bi oko
Iworijowolobiirahun
A difa fun orunmila
Yooraana kirinbitieb olosa lade orun nitori omore
Ebomogbagbe o jiyin
Akirinbiti
Momogbagbe o jiyin
Akirinbiti
Boo badorun too batijiyin aye
Ka raje rereni
Akirinbiti
Momogbagbe o jiyin
Translation
Osepaa bi oko
Iworijowolobiirahun
Cast divination for orunmila
He would send a breathtaking sacrifice to Heaven for the sake of his child
My sacrifice do not forget to deliver my message
Akinribiti
Do not forget to deliver my message
Akirinbiti
When you get to Heaven, deliver my message of wealth
Let us have a good wealth to pocket
Akirinbiti
Do not forget to deliver my message
It should be realized that a particular EBO is an aggregation, arrangement, and presentation of many articles as standardized by the particular verse or verses of IFA as chanted when the devotee visited. It is the natural forces of these spiritual steps that the babalawo would combine, based on the instruction of IFA verse for the spiritual message to be delivered to Heaven , that is while babalawo says “ifajebonaa o fin , elajebonaa o rode orungburegbure” means, Ifa let the sacrifice be auspicious , ela let the ritual goes up to the heaven .
However, though, the content of the sacrifice in many instances are expected to be the favorite food of the deities whose favor is being sought. This is to spur them into swift action. Orunmila under Owonrin Ose gave the taboos of the deities to them to wake them up to their responsibility. But this is the strictly under the supervision of a babalawo .
3) Pacifier: to forestall any attack, man may give his foes what they eat. Even without the knowledge of an impending attack, a man may ask for sacrifice to de done for him so that he may neutralize any evil plans by
- the witches (aje), wizard(oso) , stargazer ( arogosajuologo) , stubborn evil doer(elenini),
- those who know us but does not want us to succeed(amaniseni),
- those who do not know us, but just get a slip of what we want to do to succeed(aifaniseni),
- those who do evil to us and they are the one to break the news (asenitantibanidaro),
- those who live outside our house but send evil vibration to us (ehinkulelotawa),
- those who live with us , but never want us to succeed(inuilelasenigbe),
- those who love us when we with them or present but devour us with their mind , or
- those who pretend to talk good of us , but in the mind they pray against us or thwart our effort(elerobuburu or afojufenimafokanfeni),
- those who constantly want to hear bad news about us or who want to report evil news about us (abosiaseka or igbe-abosi),
- and the greatest is AJOGUN ORUN ( the punitive knight of heavenly doom).
If you think that evil only exists in the physical state, you are wrong. There are abundant of cosmic negative energies operating or working in an infinitesimal way in the universe. These evil power are not bounded by boundaries or disturbed by any barriers, they move freely and always find a prey to attack. Like popular IFA phrase , ma jeki se kongeibi , means ‘’ never allow evil to be my lot , or never evil to befall me ‘’. These are arbitrary occurrences in the life of humans that detest physical explanation. How can you speak of a situation, whereby a big hole open on the ground and swallow one out of the three children playing at the front or the back of their family house , or animal or snakes attack one or two from the nearby bush , while playing? These are the work of Ajogun. Or a plane crash after taking up from the nearby airport with a large number of people , some people attribute it to mechanical fault , it may be , but you fail to realize that these can be prevented by spiritual power, where by the plane will be delayed or weather disturbs the flight from going into sky in the first instances. There are many ways GOD can save his chosen one or GOD through his messages or messengers. Wake from your slumber and take up the wisdom of spirit and knowledge of divine to bless your life and your future.
IFA under Oyeku Otunrunpon says, Orunmila was in the midst of plenty of terrifying enemies and according to the verse
Gangaate
Gangaate ganga
A difafun Orunila
Nijo ti nbelaarinotasangiliti
Translation
Gangaate
Gangaate ganga
They are the ones that cast divination for Orunmila
On the day he was in the midst of real enemies
In this verse , Orunmila was asked to offer sacrifice to neutralize the effect of the actions of the foes. Death, sickness, illness, loss, witches, destruction, lawsuit and other punitive knight of heavenly doom (AJOGUN ORUN) were tracking him. He was also asked to be dancing while the sacrifice was being offered. Orunmila obeyed and gave sacrifice to ESU, who in turn gave it to all the AJOGUNs. They all had a taste of the sacrifice of Orunmila. IFA says in the particular verse that ,’’ IKU I Ijehunenikotunpani ‘’, meaning ,’’ Death does not eat out of ones portion of sacrifice and still resolve to kill one’’. Hence sacrifice is to pacify all these negative vibrations that want to disturb you in the jungle of life. Offer sacrifice when asked and never delay to do it , at times ask for sacrifice to be done on your behalf, never wait until it is asked. A wise man will never wait to be told before he eats well. Exercise right, sleep well or do his activities under normal condition, however the same things happen to our spiritual life .
4) Sharing: caring for the less privileged is one virtue that Ifa continuously stress to his follower. A wise man knows that the world does not belong to him alone. It belongs to all that dwell therein, most earth dweller are poor , and there may be some responsible people who in their wise way learn to care for these beings. It may be human, animal, or plant, or fish, or bird or ants. Sacrifice offers a good opportunity for obeying such advice as everyone is seen to be a member of one big family. Food is very necessary for the sustenance and continuity of life. Ifa enjoys that foods when prepared after someone had offered sacrifice should be shared within the neighborhood, so that everyone would have a share of the bounties of OLODUMARE .
A verse of IFA under Oyeku Otura instructs anyone to whom that particular verse is chanted to be very generous. As OLODUMARE is so generous towards the world and creates and supplies everything in abundance, we should learn to give out in abundance without complaint or remorse.
Oyeku Otura speaks of a man who needs to give food to his neighbor, if he intends to enjoy his life. While Ogbe Owonrin stresses the need for man to bring people together and feed them to attract more blessings. IFA says, feeding people has its own spiritual significance. I will not mention a name but always pray for those who provide food for me, my entourage and my family whenever I come to Europe , those who gave me presents and gifts are also part of what I am saying here, concerning sharing. Your need will be met at every moment of your life (Ase).
Feeding people or give out or share with another has a profound importance as Okanran Otura points out. If you feed those who are hungry with no string attached, it is definite that a mouth that is satiated is a prayerful mouth and definitely, prayer will be directed at a person who refuses to allow hunger to kill his kinsmen. It was made to realize that Mouth is an ORISA , called OLUBOBOTIRIBOBO BABA EBO , ENU WA LAKOKO BO NILE IFE , ENU WON , ENU WON LAKOKO BO KATO BORISA , MEANING , THE GREATEST AND THE MOST DYNAMICS ONE , THE FATHER OF ALL SACRIFICES , WE FIND FIRST THE MOUTH BEFORE FEEDING THE DIVINITIES IN THE CITY OF IFE , THE MOUTH , THE GREATEST AMONG ALL DIVINITIES.
When you feed the mouth, you are feeding one of the greatest Orisa, and a praying mouth is a praying Orisa in Action. Let the action of praying takes place in your house everyday through first, your own Mouth that is FENU RE WURE means use your mouth to pray.
In feeding domestic animals are not left out of the what Ifa is saying as sharing . Those who show love that is pure and divine to domesticated animals like dogs, cats and other animals are sharing from little or abundant of blessing from OLODUMARE.
Continue to manifest your love through sharing with those who feed you spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Never limit your feeding to human, because most of these animals you see are once men living in the cosmos, by just an error of habit, or non- appreciation of their existence they are recreated to become animals , or send to the world in the nature of animals . When a man offers sacrifice and it is given to ESU, the spiritual aspects of it has been consumed as soon as it is placed on the specified position, but the physical ebo stays in the container used in offering it. From this, dogs, goats, pigeons, chickens and even birds most especially vulture, have a taste. Don’t let us forget that in the beginning, these animals were also in human form and could communicate using a language which humans, especially Orunmila can understand. Therefore giving the food is tantamount to feeding other segment of human in different levels. Science has supported what IFA is telling us from creation , all substance or creature are atomic that is, everything in creation is from atom, hence nothing separate us from animal, stones or other seen or unseen creatures .
Viewed from another angle, refusal to share in the religion if IFA can almost be said to be an indication of self- annihilation, most especially when it concerns food item , knowing fully well that people who are hungry being within one’s neighborhood. As Otura Ofun clarifies in ones its verse
Akusaba Ayanda
Awo ileoumeri Aapaala
A difafun Olumeri Aapaala
Omo ilesanwon o jokolo
Nijo ti n sogbogboorun
Nnaju alai lenide
Translation
Akusaba Ayanda
The priest of Olumeri Aapaala
They are the ones that cast divination for Olumeri Aapaala
The child of ile san won o joko lo
On the day he was nursing an illness
And was sightseeing without being able to stand up
Olumeri was sick and called on Akusaba Ayanda his ifa priest for divination. He cast divination. Read out the sacrifice and collected the booties. He ate everything alone. He did not share with anyone. Since he did not abide by the instruction of IFA on how the ebo should be done, the sickness of Olumeri did not heal. Olumeri called him the second time as sickness had not healed. Akusaba divined again ad called another round of sacrifice, more elaborated than the first one. Olumeri offered everything in multiples yet, nothing changed as they. Olumeri and his household want to do by themselves sacrifices and ate everything as like first time. Olumeri then decided to call on other sets of babalawos. Coincidentally, they too prescribed the same sacrifice which Akusaba Ayanda had asked Olumeri to offer in the beginning. Olumeri had thought the new babalawos approach would be entirely different from that of Akusaba Ayanda. Therefore he refused to offer the sacrifice.
The Babalawo however prevailed on him to offer the sacrifice for the third time. When they were preparing the same sacrifice this time, they shared to everyone within the neighborhood. The head, the women leader, the divorced women, the children and the eccentric person. All shared in the goat which Olumeri sacrificed. As they were collecting the meat, each person prayed for the sickness of Olumeri to heal. May your sickness be healed, your reason for this offering would be accepted. Another prayed, may you never be hungry, said some others. In the end, Olumeri not only became healed of the disease, he also became wealthy.
Hence the reason for your initiations, sacrifices rituals and other spiritual steps shall go on next time probably next week , enjoy the above main reason , and digest it , send your comment to me or to your priest ,
May Olodumare bless you.
Alafia
Sources:
1) Obatala , the oldest and the greatest divinities—by chief OGUNSINA OLAYINKA BABATUNDE ADEWUYI
2) YORUBA THEOLOGY AND TRADITION--- THE WORSHIP , AYO SALAMI – PAGE 409 TO 420
3) The sociology of the Yoruba – N.A fadipe
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