Masters say, “You Are the Cause.” In other words, you are responsible for what is going on in your life. You are responsible for your own actions. You are responsible for others’ reactions to you. You are responsible for your life’s circumstances.

Every action you take, every reaction you make, and every thought you think sets Universal Forces into motion. Our actions, reactions and thoughts are the causes which produce the effects we experience in our lives. A careful examination of life reveals that nothing happens by coincidence or chance. We are all actors in a Divine Play of Consciousness forever interconnected by the Law of Cause and Effect. Even the act of a dewdrop forming on a leaf is an effect preceded by a complex chain of causes, which in itself is the cause for another effect.

The Law of Cause and Effect is profoundly simple, yet it is difficult for human beings to grasp. Our human nature wants to make us the victims of life. Most people have an easier time believing they are the casualties of some external actor or force. This puts them in a place of powerlessness and at the whim of an arbitrary universe. It also puts them in the place of not having to exert self effort to bring about change. Human beings have extreme difficulty accepting their own greatness. Perhaps this is the most significant impediment to our conscious evolution as a race. It takes a truly conscientious person to assume full responsibility for her experience of life and to accept the full implications of being God in her own universe.

The Law of Cause and Effect is a practical law of action. By taking action, both in thought and in your experience, you embrace the power of creation itself which lies within you. In setting up new causes in your life, you cannot just sit on a mountain top and “OM” wishing for a new experience of life. You power as a creator lies in taking divinely inspired action in your world. Through divine right action, you become an active agent for transformation of your life rather than a spectator on the sidelines. You begin to experience your spiritual life and your worldly life as being one in the same.

The easiest way to see the Law of Cause and Effect at work is to start observing yourself. Through the practice of awareness, you can identify the causes you are setting up and the corresponding effects they produce. The practice of awareness begins by being present to your thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions as they arise. When you practice awareness, do so from a detached, nonjudgmental perspective. Simply observe how you show up in the world without making yourself “wrong” or “bad” when you witness ways of being that no longer work. Observe your thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions as if they are physical objects without being identified with them. In practicing awareness, ask yourself the questions: How am I showing up in my life? What actions am I taking? What is the fruit of my actions? What reactions do my actions evoke in others? What are the circumstances of my life? What do I want my life to look like? Where am I off balance? Am I caught up in painful emotions? What ways of being no longer serve me?

Through the practice of awareness, over time, you become clear about the causes operating in your life and their corresponding effects. Awareness of the causes at work provides you the opportunity to create new and empowering experiences. Awareness, at its most basic level, gives you the conscious power to create your reality. Therein lies your greatest power as a spiritual being living a human experience.

Once you are aware of undesirable causes operating in your life, it is up to you to create more favorable causes, threby producing more desirable effects. In each and every moment, you have the opportunity to choose how you experience life, and that opportunity begins with pure awareness of the causes you set in motion. You do not have the power to choose unless you are first aware. In awareness, you can choose to live from habitual patterns, or to create new possibilities in the moment. When you create new possibilities, you become cause in the matter of your life. You experience the teaching of the Saints and the Sages of the East, “You Are the Answer.” All of life becomes transformed for those who realize and practice this Truth.

Vedacharya Munishwarji Walking Tall is the spiritual head of Mahavatar Babaji Ashram. www.mahavatar-babaji-ashram.org. With 16 years of experience in meditation, holistic health and healing, Munishwarji teaches people how to experience their own Mastery. Munishwarji was initiated as Vedacharya, or True Teacher of the Vedas and Master of Life-Force Energy.