Maha means the same Goddess in her original mool swaroop wherein she is connected with the Divine Mother and hence in her original form and purpose on the Overmind plane of the gods. It is revealed only to the yogis who have done sadhana of the Divine Mother or else of the Deity. But what general humanity is in contact with is with their workings on the higher mind or the vital plane which is nearer to us. It is the play of human mind and its workings in ignorance that has limited the goddess to fit into our limits. Else there will be little contact with us.
Thus, for example Mahakali is golden in colour and Goddess of intense Divine Love in her original form but mankind generally knows her as the warrior goddess on the higher mind and various other forms of Kali on the vital plane because her intense love meeting the human resistance takes this darker hur. So too Mahalakshmi is the Goddess of Beauty and Harmony, of true spiritual wealth but here down in the human consciousness she has turned into the goddess of material wealth to fulfill our earthly desires. Mahasaraswati is the Goddess of perfection who becomes the goddess of many forms of learning here as conceived by the human mind. Mahagauri is the Goddess of supreme purity and light becomes in the human range the goddess of wisdom and the power that protects.
The first is their original Power as it is working in creation since it began. The second is the forms she assumes as she comes closer to earth and in contact with the human consciousness.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
