Mahabharata — Ashvamedhika Parva, 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 disse: “Em seguida, quanto ao ‘adhibhūta’ (o aspecto elemental/externo), ele é a forma (rūpa); e quanto ao ‘adhidaivata’ (o princípio divino presidindo ali), ele é o Sol. Assim, para o terceiro elemento—tejas (radiância/fogo)—ensina-se que o olho é o seu ‘adhyātma’ (base interior), a forma o seu ‘adhibhūta’ (campo objetivo) e o Sol o seu ‘adhidaivata’ (regulador divino).”
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.