Shloka 186
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
अधिभूतं तथा शब्दो दिशस्तत्राधिदैवतम् । अब समस्त ज्ञानेन्द्रियोंके भूत
adhibhūtaṃ tathā śabdo diśas tatrādhidaivatam |
Vāyu-deva said: “In this context, sound is the adhibhūta (the objective, elemental aspect), and the directions are the adhidaivata (the presiding divine principle).” The teaching then maps each sense and its field: for space (ākāśa), the ear is the adhyātma (inner, embodied basis), sound is its adhibhūta (external object), and the directions are the deity that governs and orders that domain (adhidaivata).
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
It teaches a triadic analysis of experience: the inner faculty (adhyātma), its external object-field (adhibhūta), and the presiding divine order (adhidaivata). For hearing, sound is the object and the directions are the governing principle, encouraging discernment between self, objects, and the cosmic order that regulates them.
Vāyu-deva is explaining a systematic enumeration of the senses and their corresponding objects and deities. This verse states the specific correspondences for the auditory domain: sound as the object (adhibhūta) and the directions as the presiding deity (adhidaivata), within a broader instructional discourse.