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 |
Wika ni Vāyu-deva: “Sumunod, tungkol sa ‘adhibhūta’ (elemental/panlabas na aspekto), ito ay anyo (rūpa); at tungkol sa ‘adhidaivata’ (namumunong banal na prinsipyo) roon, ito ay ang Araw. Kaya, para sa ikatlong elemento—tejas (ningning/apoy)—itinuturo na ang mata ang ‘adhyātma’ (panloob na batayan), ang anyo ang ‘adhibhūta’ (layuning larangan), at ang Araw ang ‘adhidaivata’ (banal na tagapag-ayos).”
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.