Ancestral Promise

Earth (Aiye) is a marketplace. Heaven (Orun) is our home. What do you do in the market? You get things to take home. Obviously, nothing you acquire on earth will return with you to heaven, EXCEPT your soul. So, the purpose of the earthly journey is to prepare the soul to return to heaven in a more complete form. This is essential for your ability to understand and properly define what it truly means to be an ANCESTOR. 

Typically, I hear people refer to anyone who has died as an ancestor. This is incorrect, according to Yoruba indigenous knowledge. In reality, the only way to be revered as an ancestor is for you to complete your earthly mission, which is to deliver on the Ancestral Promise. This is what prompts the Yoruba proverb that says, 'None of us has sent ourselves into the world. We are all here to complete the errands assigned to us by our ancestors.' 

The greatest spiritual principle of Orisa Lifestyle is not initiation, but REBIRTH. That is, the ultimate requirement for spiritual fulfillment is that each and every soul must fulfill its mission in Aiye in order to be admitted to Orun and live on as ancestors. The souls of those who did not complete their mission before they died are believed to reincarnate and continue to live in Aiye until they complete their
earthly mission. These reincarnated souls are referred to as abarameji, or akudaaya. 

In the teachings of the Holy Odu IrosunIwori, Ifa says; 

Let us do things with joy.
Those who want to go, let them go.
Those who want to stay, let them stay.
Surely, humans have been chosen to bring good into the world.
The all-knowing one, priest of Òrunmìlà,
Cast Ifá for Òrunmìlà.
He said the people of the world would come to ask him a certain question.
He said that Òrunmìlà should sacrifice.
Òrunmìlà heard and complied.
 
One day, all kinds of people; 
good people and those who do not allow good
in other people’s lives gathered together.
They then went to Òrunmìlà.
They said coming back and forth to earth tires us, Òrunmìlà.
Therefore, please allow us to rest in heaven.
Òrunmìlà said you cannot avoid going back and forth to earth
Until you bring about the Good Condition 
that Olódùmarè has ordained
for every human being.
After then, you may rest in heaven
- Holy Odu IrosunIwori

We do not bring about the Good Condition through merely performing rituals and ceremonies. No initiation, title, charm or icon is enough to guarantee that you will earn your place in the pantheon of ancestors. The only way is through completing your earthly mission, which is to deliver on the Ancestral Promise, which is traced through what is called your IDILE. While it is true that idile is correctly understood as your familiy's ancestral home, in the context of spiritual development, idile defines the agreement your family's founding ancestor made with Olodumare before establishing the lineage here on earth. It is that agreement that informs your family's Ancestral Promise. At the time that your ori selected its destiny in Orun, you also agreed to deliver on that promise in order to return to the heavenly realm and become reunited with your ancestors. 

The Orisa Lifestyle Academy is on a mission to helping you live the medicine that will heal your life and heal the lives of those you are destined to serve. We do this through practicing 16 Orisa Lifestyle Agreements. Learn more at www.orisalifestyle.com/volunteer.html"

Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.OrisaLifestyle.com

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