Shloka 3
Śuka–Janaka Saṃvāda: Āśrama-krama, Jñāna-vijñāna, and the Marks of Liberation (शुक-जनक संवादः)
उपस्थो<्थध्यात्ममित्याहुर्यथा योगप्रदर्शिन: । अधिभूतं तथा55नन््दो दैवतं च प्रजापति:,योगमतका प्रदर्शन करनेवाले जैसा कहते हैं, उसके अनुसार उपस्थ अध्यात्म है, मैथुनजनित आनन्द अधिभूत है और प्रजापति अधिदैवत हैं
upastho 'dhyātmam ity āhur yathā yogapradarśinaḥ | adhibhūtaṃ tathānando daivataṃ ca prajāpatiḥ ||
Yājñavalkya said: “Those who expound the discipline of yoga declare that the generative organ is to be understood as the ‘adhyātma’ (the inner, personal basis). The pleasure arising from sexual union is the ‘adhibhūta’ (the experiential object), and Prajāpati is the ‘adhidaivata’ (the presiding divine principle).”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse applies the triad adhyātma–adhibhūta–adhidaivata to sexuality: the bodily locus (upastha) is the inner/personal basis (adhyātma), the felt pleasure is the objective experiential domain (adhibhūta), and the presiding divine principle is Prajāpati (adhidaivata). The ethical thrust is to cultivate discriminative understanding of desire by seeing it as a structured phenomenon rather than an absolute good to be pursued blindly.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Yājñavalkya is explaining a yogic-interpretive framework that maps human experience onto a threefold scheme (inner basis, objective domain, presiding deity). Here he illustrates it through the topic of sexual experience, identifying its bodily seat, its experiential result, and its divine presider.