Most Tantras occur in the form of question and answer between Shiva and Shakti. Shakti is the questioner and Shiva responds. At the empirical level or the level of duality, the questioner is separate from the one who responds. Also, question and answer are separated by time. However, in the case of tantras, this is not true as they emanate from the state of true non-dual consciousness. As Shiva and Shakti are non-separate like fire and heat, the questioner here is not different from the answerer. Thus, it follows that the question in itself is the answer. On account of the eternity of a non-dual state of consciousness, there is no separation in time between the question and the answer either.
The relationship between the questioner and answerer is said to be sixfold:
1. Parasambandha – Here both the questioner and the answerer is Paramaśiva Mahābhaṭṭāraka or Parābhaṭṭārikā.
2. Mahān-sambandha – Here, the questioner is Sadāśiva Bhaṭṭāraka and answerer is Paramaśiva Mahābhaṭṭāraka.
3. Antarāla-sambandha – Here, the questioner is Ananta Bhaṭṭāraka and the answerer is Sadāśiva Bhaṭṭāraka.
4. Divya-sambandha – Here, the questioner is r̥ṣi Nandikēśvara and the answerer is Ananta Bhaṭṭāraka.
5. Divyādivya-sambandha – Here, the questioners are Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumāra, and Sanatsujāta; the answerer is Nandikēśvara.
6. Adivya-sambandha – Here, both questioners and answerers are mortals (paśu).