In English, it means that, if you build a shrine for your God or Orisa. And your god does not want the shrine or appreciate your effort. You do not have to worry. You also have the right as a man to ask the Orisa to go into the forest to cut stakes, grass land for vines to build his or her shrine.
I love this proverb because it shows how tolerant our ancestors were to one another about God and different mode of worship. It also shows the horizontal relationship between them and their Gods (Orisa's). Unlike the vertical relationship between African Christians and Muslims to their adopted heavenly Gods today.
We should all learn to tolerate one another. Our security should only be the reason why we should attack or defend ourselves with cohesive force not because of our religion and our definition of the most high (God). Could this be the reason why Yoruba ancestors don't wage crusade or Jihad (holy wars) on one another? I believe so, what about you?
