SHRI MAHADEVI TEERTH, KULLU, H.P., INDIA ALSO KNOWN AS VAISHNO MATA MANDIR
A few kilometers to the north of the city of Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, India, on the way to Manali along the river Vyas, there is an exquisitely beautiful place of pilgrimage called Sri Mahadevi Teerth. It is more known by its popular name, “Vaishno Mata Mandir”. A saint who was called “Sewak Das” (i.e. Servant of Servants) by his followers came to live in Kullu in 1963. The details of his earlier life was not revealed even to his closest followers. The sketchy details of his divine search all over India that came from him, give us some idea of his divine madness. When he was a mere boy, he asked his uncle the whereabouts of his physical mother. His uncle told him that she was with God. That made him determined to seek his mother by seeking God. This search led him to the famous temple of Vaishno Devi near Jammu, where he had her darshan. That darshan led him to Kullu, to seek the hidden cave and to re-establish Divine Mother there.

In the early 1960’s he used to live under a tree in Kullu’s market area called Akhara Bazaar. When he arrived there he was already advanced in age and in his sadhana. He seemed to be a perfect embodiment of tapasya, gnyana and vairagya. As God has promised in His Gita, all his physical needs started getting taken care of automatically by the hidden hand of the Divine. His name started to spread and his followers started coming to him one by one. In order to follow the mission of bringing Vaishno Devi here, his inner guidance led him to move to a cave to the north of the city. Starting with nothing but divine inspiration and depending only on divine help, the place of pilgrimage
started to take shape. Over all these past 50 years, the shrine developed into a huge complex of temples, guest houses, meeting hall, daily bhandara arrangements where thousands of pilgrims take free food daily, social service activities, all managed by an organization called “Sharada Ma Sewa Sangh”, named after Mother Sharada, Sri Ramakrishna’s divine consort. This Trust is headed by Geeta Ma, a saint of the same region, who has been staying and serving in this work of Sewak Das since 1974.
The present complex looks like this: 

This is the view from across the river Vyas. From this distance, it is difficult to imagine what beauty is hidden within this complex. As you enter inside, you come to a large hall with an altar dedicated to Sri Ramakrishna, Ma Sharada and Swami Vivekananda.

On the right side of this altar is a shrine dedicated to Lord Rama, Sita and Laxmana. Still further to the right is a deep cave into which you have to crawl on all fours. This cave is dedicated to Vaishno Devi, and it reminds you very much of the cave at Katra near Jammu. In side this cave is an eternally burning lamp of ghee, and a shrine containing Lord Shiva and Divine Mother. If you have the time, it is wonderful to meditate in this cave. You can bearly stand inside the cave. After receiving your blessing you crawl back out the way you entered. The path to Divine Mother and Lord Shiva within our brains is also like this cave, through which you have to crawl with your consciousness and prana.
All this so far is at the bottom most floor. From here you cross the hall and start climbing up. As you climb, you come across a small cave in which Lord hanuman is enshrined. The path then leads up a flight of stairs to the first temple of Divine Mother in the form of Goddess Kali. The path is laid out in such a way that as you go around to the entrance, you automatically do half the pradakshina to the Goddess. Then as you go out, you do the remaining half of the pradakshina.
On the left side of the main shrine of Mother Kali are the images of Sri Ramakrishna, Ma Sharada and Swami Vivekananda. On the right side are Lord Shiva in two different poses. The ceiling and all the images are surrounded by exquisitely carved wooden framework. In the image above you can also see a carving of Mother Chchinnamasta Kali. You receive your darshan and blessings here and go around the shrine to climb to the next shrine. This  complex has images of Divine Mother in all Her nine different forms. Even the windows and ceilings all along the passages are lined with beautifully carved wooden sculptures.
Ma Gayatri Mother Ganga – The ceiling of the passage around Ma Durga’s shrine. Another ceiling as you keep going up. The topmost floor gives you a view of the river. The wooden carvings repeat the name “Ma” “Ma” “Ma”….all around the shrine.
All these shrines so far are in this temple as seen from above:
From here we climb up to the cave of Lord Shiva, which is situated at the top of the whole complex. This cave is very large and can accommodate over a hundred people. It also has shrines for Lord Shani (Saturn) and Lord Bhairav (one of the partial avatars of Lord Shiva). A group of devotees of Paramahansa Yoganandaji from the city of Kullu visited this shrine recently to carry out a Rudrabhishek there. A special permission was given by the temple’s Trustees, who also kindly allowed these photos to be taken, which is otherwise forbidden. This is an image of Lord Shani, who is worshipped by bathing this image with oil.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA!! OM SHIVA-SHAKTYAIKYA RUPINYI NAMAH!!