Shloka 8
जिह्दामध्यात्ममित्याहुर्यथा श्रुतिनिदर्शिन: । रस एवाधिभूतं तु आपस्तत्राधिदेवतम्,वेदके अनुसार दृष्टि रखनेवाले विद्वानोंका कथन है कि जिह्ठा अध्यात्म है, रस अधिभूत है और जल अधिदैवत है
jihvām adhyātmam ity āhur yathā śruti-nidarśinaḥ | rasa evādhibhūtaṃ tu āpas tatrādhidaivatam ||
Yājñavalkya said: “Those who interpret in accordance with the Vedic revelation declare that the tongue is the inner (adhyātma) factor; taste (rasa) is the elemental (adhibhūta) factor; and water is the presiding divine (adhidaivata) factor there. Thus, even ordinary sense-experience is to be understood through the Vedic triad—self, world, and deity—so that perception is disciplined by right knowledge.”
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sense-experience should be understood through a threefold Vedic framework: the inner faculty (adhyātma: tongue), the external object (adhibhūta: taste), and the presiding divine principle (adhidaivata: water). This integrates psychology, cosmology, and theology into disciplined knowledge.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on higher knowledge, Yājñavalkya is explaining correspondences used by śruti-based teachers, mapping a sense-organ and its object to an elemental/deity principle to guide contemplation and right understanding.