Shloka 286
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
वक्तव्यमधिभूतं च वह्निस्तत्राधिदेवतम् । विश्वकी देवी पहली वाणी यहाँ अध्यात्म कही गयी है। वक्तव्य उसका अधिभूत तथा अग्नि उसका अधिदैवत है
vaktavyam adhibhūtaṃ ca vahnīs tatrādhidaivatam | viśvākī devī prathamā vāṇī iha adhyātmaṃ kathitā | vaktavyaṃ tasya adhibhūtaṃ tathā agnis tasyādhidaivatam |
Vāyu said: “What is to be spoken belongs to adhibhūta, the level of embodied existence, and in that sphere Fire (Agni) is its presiding adhidaivata. Here the first divine Speech (Vāk) is declared to be adhyātma, pertaining to the inner self. What is to be spoken is its adhibhūta aspect, and Agni is its adhidaivata.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse maps speech onto the Mahābhārata’s triadic interpretive scheme: adhyātma (inner/spiritual), adhibhūta (embodied/material), and adhidaiva (presiding divine). Divine Speech (Vāk) is treated as an inner principle (adhyātma), while the act/content of what is spoken is its embodied correlate (adhibhūta), and Agni is identified as the presiding deity (adhidaiva) connected with that function.
Vāyu is instructing the listener by classifying a phenomenon—speech—across cosmic levels. He states which aspect belongs to the embodied plane and names the deity that presides over it, while also affirming the primacy of divine speech as an inner, spiritual principle.