Some students of my master express a keen desire to learn about sri vidya which is the study of some specific techniques to worship God in female form. This vidya is supposed to be for worshipping Sri Devi, Tripurasundari, and there is elaborate mythology surrounding all this. It is a well developed form of worship in the Shaakta tradition, the tradition of worshipping Shakti, the primordial divine energy in female form.
Students often talk of special powers which the practitioners of sri vidya acquire. I keep away from such practices or knowledge, because I find that doing things which give me power is counter-productive. If I examine who is this “I” which will attain these special powers, then it is this body-mind apparatus. Any power it attains strengthens the illusion of “I-ness”. My entire quest to try to see Ma clearly revolves around allowing this belief in my “I-ness” to loosen and melt away. I cannot understand what I will gain by attaining powers in “me.”