Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is the shrine of Ambika Devi which is presently known as the Mahavidya Devi Mandira, where Nanda Maharaja came after visiting Gokarneshwara Mahadeva. The temple is situated within the forest of Ambikavana and nearby is a kunda known as Sudarshana Moksha-kunda (Mahavidya-kunda), where the Vidyadhara named Sudarshana was given liberation from the body of a serpent by Krishna. Ambika Devi is another name of Parvati, the eternal consort and wife of Lord Siva. According to some, this Deity was also worshiped by the Pandavas during the period of their exile. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also had darshana at this temple when He visited Krishna’s pastime places in Mathura.
The name Mahavidya Devi generally refers to Durga, as the possessor of supernatural knowledge (mahavidya). There are ten different forms of Mahavidya Devi that are specifically worshiped in the tantric system of sadhanas by the followers of the Shakta sampradaya. The tantric worship of Mahavidya became very popular around the 7th century onwards, although worship of the mother-goddess has been practiced throughout the Indian subcontinent for millennia. Archeologists have discovered the worship of the mother-goddess throughout the Indus-Saraswati valley civilization and in Paleolithic settlements dating back at least 22,000 years.
The ten forms of Mahavidya Devi are said to represent the feminine aspect, or shakti of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and are considered in tantric worship to be the female adi-shakthi of the ten avatars of Vishnu. In tantra, Devi is envisioned to be the impersonal Supreme Brahman, or the absolute controlling factor and cause of all causes. In Vaishnavism, all the forms of Devi, including Ambika, Parvati, Mahavidya, Katyayani and Durga, are expansions of Yogamaya Devi, Lord Krishna’s sister. Vaishnavas worship Yogamaya in order to achieve pure devotion to Krishna, just as the gopis did when they worshiped Katyayani Devi to achieve Krishna as their husband. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says, “O Shrinivasa, taking darshana of Krishna’s relatives like Ekanamsa (Yogamaya Devi), Yashoda Mayi, Devaki Devi, and Mahavidya Devi, can save one from the sin of killing a brahmana.” Although some say that the Mahavidya Mandira is one of the famous shakti-pithas of the tantric school, it is not. The only genuine shakti-pitha in Vraja is the Katyayani Mandira in Vrindavana.
