Shloka 2
Śuka–Janaka Saṃvāda: Āśrama-krama, Jñāna-vijñāna, and the Marks of Liberation (शुक-जनक संवादः)
पायुरध्यात्ममित्याहुर्यथा तत्त्वार्थदर्शिन: । विसर्गमधि भूतं च मित्रस्तत्राधिदेवतम्,तच्त्वार्थदर्शी विद्वान् गुदाको अध्यात्म कहते हैं। मलत्याग अधिभूत है और मित्र अधिदैवत हैं
pāyur adhyātmam ity āhur yathā tattvārthadarśinaḥ | visargam adhibhūtaṃ ca mitras tatrādhidaivatam ||
Yājñavalkya sprach: «Die, welche die Wirklichkeit wahrhaft schauen, erklären: Der After (pāyu) ist der ‘adhyātma’-Aspekt. Seine Funktion der Ausscheidung (visarga) ist der ‘adhibhūta’-Aspekt, und die darüber waltende Gottheit ist Mitra als ‘adhidaivata’.»
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse maps a bodily organ and its function into a threefold framework: adhyātma (the embodied locus), adhibhūta (the physical operation), and adhidaivata (the presiding divine principle). It teaches a disciplined way to understand human embodiment as ordered and governed, not random—supporting self-knowledge and restraint.
In Śānti Parva’s philosophical instruction, Yājñavalkya is explaining correspondences between the body, its functions, and presiding deities. Here he identifies the anus as the adhyātma aspect, evacuation as the adhibhūta aspect, and Mitra as the adhidaivata connected with this domain.