You create your opportunities by asking for them.

Hear, O seeker of truth, the words of Shakti Gawain, who declared with clarity: “You create your opportunities by asking for them.” This teaching, though simple in form, is profound in spirit. It reminds us that destiny is not a gift poured into waiting hands, but a flame we kindle by our own courage. For the world does not yield to silence, nor does fortune bow to those who never dare to speak. It is the act of asking, the bold utterance of one’s desire, that shapes the pathway of opportunity.

In the halls of ancient wisdom, it was known that the tongue is a sword and the voice a key. Those who remained mute before kings received nothing, but those who dared to speak were often granted more than they imagined. The timid heart waits for providence to descend like rain; but the valiant heart asks, and thereby calls down lightning. To create opportunities is not to sit idly by, but to shape the clay of circumstance with the hands of intention, to move the universe by the strength of request.

Consider the tale of Rosa Parks, a seamstress weary after a day’s work in Montgomery. She might have sat silently, yielding to injustice, asking for nothing. But when she refused to surrender her seat, she was in truth asking—not with words, but with her steadfast act—for dignity, for equality, for the chance of a new world. That act of “asking” created an opportunity not only for herself, but for millions who longed for freedom. Her courage bore fruit because she dared to claim aloud what countless others carried silently within.

So too in the realm of discovery: think of Thomas Edison, who asked again and again for light, though failure greeted him a thousand times. He did not merely wait for illumination; he demanded it of nature, he inquired of every filament, every experiment. His asking was relentless, and from that persistence arose the electric glow that banished darkness from the homes of men. Here lies the truth: opportunity bows not to the indifferent, but to the persistent petitioner who will not cease to ask.

The meaning is plain: silence may spare you the risk of rejection, but it also locks you away from the treasures of possibility. To ask is to declare your worthiness, to announce to the world that you are ready to receive. Even if the answer is “no,” the very act of asking sharpens your spirit and opens unseen doors. Every request is a seed, and though some fall upon barren ground, others take root and rise into mighty trees of fulfillment.

Let each one then take this wisdom to heart. Do not shrink back when your soul yearns. Speak your need. Ask for guidance, for work, for love, for chance. Go to the master and request to be taught, go to the leader and seek your place, go even to the heavens and cry out for blessing. For the silent mouth receives nothing, but the one who asks may create a world anew.

Therefore, O listener, remember: the world belongs not to those who merely wish, but to those who voice their wish with courage. Opportunity is not a windfall from fate; it is a fire you ignite with your words, your actions, your requests. Walk forth boldly, ask without shame, and in the asking, create the path that destiny itself will honor.

Thus the teaching endures: You create your opportunities by asking for them. Be fearless in your asking, be steadfast in your pursuit, and life itself shall answer you with the opening of doors once thought sealed. And in those moments, you shall see that opportunity was never distant—it was always waiting for the sound of your voice.