In the Śiva Sutra, Devi asks, ‘O Śiva, what is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? What constitutes the seed? Who centers the universal wheel? What is this life beyond form pervading form? How may we enter it fully, beyond space and time, names and descriptions? Let my doubts be cleared.’ Beautifully, She expresses Her whole state of mind through these few words. The last words are, ‘Let my doubts be cleared. Let my doubts be complete.’

She never says, ‘Please answer my questions.’ If She had made that mistake by asking, ‘Answer my question’, She would have produced one more Gītā through Śiva.

See, in the Gītā, Arjuna is not ready to surrender to Sri Krishna completely. That is why in the beginning Sri Krishna has to give him all the intellectual answers. Arjuna thinks he can solve his confusion through these answers; he doesn’t know these are much deeper doubts that need to be cleared through the experience of the Truth. That is why Sri Krishna has to give more than 700 verses to first convince Arjuna that he does not know. When Arjuna finally gives up saying ‘I don’t know’ then Sri Krishna reveals Himself! He reveals the truth and makes Arjuna experience it because that is the only way he will realize the Truth.

If you say, ‘Let my questions be answered,’ you want only intellectual answers. But Devi says, ‘Let my doubts be cleared, whether you give words or energy or techniques, I am not bothered, but let me be free and complete from doubts.’ When questions become a quest, you start speaking in this language. When the urge becomes urgent, you start speaking in this language. This shows the deep surrender of Devi.

A deep passive waiting without knowing what is going to happen is passive surrender. That is what I call total surrender.

Actually, the moment you decide ‘I will wait forever,’ things will simply start happening for you! As long as you are in a hurry and agitated, you stop things from happening in you. It is like trying your best to make the lotus bloom. You open out the petals by hand. Will it be a flower? A lotus can be called a lotus only when it blossoms by itself. Give it a little space and time. The moment you decide to wait, things will simply start happening and you don’t have to wait anymore. You only have to wait till you decide to wait! Just allow the Master to do the surgery and give you back your true Self, and automatically you will drop what you are not.

Here, Sri Krishna refers to the stages in the Master-disciple relationship. There are many levels.

• The first level is purely intellectual, doubt-based. ‘Doubt- based’ refers to the negative self-doubts, which are purely intellectual. It is like you are telling yourself on seeing the Master, ‘What is he going to do? Let us see. How is he able to mobilize such a big crowd at such a young age? He seems hardly thirty. What is going on here?’
• The next step is intelligence; from intellect to intelligence. You tell yourself, ‘Why not attend this program and see what he is really doing?’ By this time, it has changed from, ‘What is he doing!’ to ‘Oh, I think He means something. But I neither believe nor disbelieve Him. Ok, let us check it out.’ The intellect is becoming intelligence. You are giving a little space for the Master.
• Then, if you continue to start looking in, first from intellect to intelligence, then from intelligence to intelligence with emotion, like 60% intelligence, 40% emotion, that is the time you will feel like a friend towards the Master. After that, it becomes 60% emotion and 40% intelligence. That is the time you will feel like the Master is like an elder, like a father or mother or lord or teacher. You feel respectful towards him. And then, the relationship becomes pure emotion. You will feel a deep connection like a mother and son.
• Then, after that, it is neither emotion nor intellect nor intelligence. It is a being-level relationship. It is the deep connection of a beloved, the madhura bhāva.
• And suddenly, you will see, he is not even the beloved, he is beyond the beloved. You start experiencing the mahā bhāva, what I call the Guru-disciple experience, experiencing yourself as the Master. That is what I call— ‘Tat Tvam Asi.’ Tat Tvam Asi means That art thou. It means you are the Master.

First it is just intellect, where you have self-doubts. But you have to go beyond that. If you are stuck in this level of self-doubts, naturally you will suffer with misery, with self-hatred and self-denial. Then, the next level is intelligence, then emotion, then pure emotion, then emotional and being level feeling connection, then pure being level connection, and then all these and something more. When you go beyond doubts and faith, into the realization of the formless energy that is you, then you find yourself.

_{source: Bhagavadgita Decoded}