Shloka 196
Adhyāya 42 — Mahābhūta–Indriya–Adhyātma-Vyavasthā
Brahmā’s Instruction on Elements and Faculties
स्प्रष्टव्यमधिभूतं च विद्युत् तत्राधिदेवतम् । वायु दूसरा भूत है। त्वचा उसका अध्यात्म तथा स्पर्श उसका अधिभूत सुना गया है और विद्युत् उसका अधिदैवत है
spraṣṭavyam adhibhūtaṃ ca vidyut tatra adhidaivatam | vāyu dvitīyaṃ bhūtaṃ; tvacā tasya adhyātmaṃ tathā sparśaḥ tasya adhibhūtaḥ śrutaḥ, vidyut tasya adhidaivatam ||
وایو دیو نے کہا—“سپَرش (لمس) ادھی بھوت ہے اور وِدیُت (بجلی) اس کی ادھی دیوتا ہے۔” وایو دوسرا بھوت ہے؛ جلد اس کا ادھیاتم، لمس اس کا ادھی بھوت سنا گیا ہے، اور بجلی اس کی ادھی دیوتا مانی گئی ہے۔
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a threefold mapping of experience: the inner (adhyātma: skin as the sense-organ basis), the outer (adhibhūta: touch as the objective field), and the divine regulator (adhidaiva: lightning as the presiding principle) for the air element. This framework supports disciplined self-knowledge by linking body, world, and cosmic order.
Vāyudeva is instructing the listener in a doctrinal exposition—classifying the elements and their corresponding sense faculties and presiding deities—within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s broader reflective and didactic passages following the war.