Shloka 2036
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
अधिभूतं ततो रूपं सूर्यस्तत्राधिदेवतम् । तीसरे भूतका नाम है तेज। नेत्र उसका अध्यात्म, रूप उसका अधिभूत और सूर्य उसका अधिदैवत कहा जाता है
adhibhūtaṃ tato rūpaṃ sūryas tatrādhidaivatam |
Vāyu-deva said: “Next, as to the ‘adhibhūta’ (the elemental/outer aspect), it is form (rūpa); and as to the ‘adhidaivata’ (the presiding divine principle) there, it is the Sun. Thus, for the third element—tejas (radiance/fire)—the eye is taught as its ‘adhyātma’ (inner, personal basis), form as its ‘adhibhūta’ (objective field), and the Sun as its ‘adhidaivata’ (divine regulator).”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
It maps experience across three levels: the inner basis (adhyātma: the eye), the objective field (adhibhūta: form), and the presiding divine regulator (adhidaivata: the Sun) for the element tejas, showing how perception is ethically and metaphysically ordered rather than random.
Vāyu-deva is instructing by enumerating correspondences between elements, sense-faculties, their objects, and their presiding deities—here identifying form as the object-side and the Sun as the divine presider in relation to sight and tejas.