Shloka 5
सांख्यदर्शी विद्वानोंके कथनानुसार दोनों हाथ अध्यात्म हैं, कर्तव्य अधिभूत है और इन्द्र अधिदैवत हैं ।। वागध्यात्ममिति प्राहुर्यथा श्रुतिनिदर्शिन: । वक्तव्यमधिभूतं तु वह्निस्तत्राधिदिवतम्,वेदार्थपर विचार करनेवाले विद्वान् जैसा कहते हैं, उसके अनुसार वाक् अध्यात्म है, वक्तव्य अधिभूत है और अग्नि अधिदैवत हैं
vāg adhyātmam iti prāhur yathā śruti-nidarśinaḥ | vaktavyam adhibhūtaṁ tu vahnīs tatrādhidaivatam ||
Yājñavalkya said: “As the seers who illustrate the meaning of the Veda declare, speech (vāk) is the inner, spiritual principle (adhyātma); the thing to be spoken is the objective, elemental domain (adhibhūta); and in this triad, Fire (Agni) is the presiding divine power (adhidaivata).”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a threefold mapping used in Vedic and philosophical interpretation: (1) the inner faculty (adhyātma) is speech itself, (2) the external/objective counterpart (adhibhūta) is the content that is spoken, and (3) the divine presiding power (adhidaivata) governing this function is Agni. It frames human cognition and expression as linked to cosmic and ritual principles.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional setting, Yājñavalkya is explaining doctrinal correspondences cited by authoritative Vedic interpreters. He is not narrating an event but delivering a philosophical clarification about how speech and its object are understood across the adhyātma–adhibhūta–adhidaivata framework.