Shloka 186
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
अधिभूतं तथा शब्दो दिशस्तत्राधिदैवतम् । अब समस्त ज्ञानेन्द्रियोंके भूत
adhibhūtaṃ tathā śabdo diśas tatrādhidaivatam |
वायुरुवाच—अत्र शब्दोऽधिभूतं, दिशश्च तत्राधिदैवतम्। एवं समस्तज्ञानेन्द्रियाणां भूताध्यात्माधिभूताधिदैवतविभागो व्याख्यायते। आकाशं प्रथमं भूतम्; श्रोत्रमस्याध्यात्मं, शब्दोऽस्याधिभूतं, दिशोऽस्याधिदैवतं स्मृताः।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
It teaches a triadic analysis of experience: the inner faculty (adhyātma), its external object-field (adhibhūta), and the presiding divine order (adhidaivata). For hearing, sound is the object and the directions are the governing principle, encouraging discernment between self, objects, and the cosmic order that regulates them.
Vāyu-deva is explaining a systematic enumeration of the senses and their corresponding objects and deities. This verse states the specific correspondences for the auditory domain: sound as the object (adhibhūta) and the directions as the presiding deity (adhidaivata), within a broader instructional discourse.