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 |
风神婆由说道：“其次，就‘依物’（adhibhūta，外在之元素面）而言，是色相（rūpa）；就‘依天’（adhidaivata，主宰之神圣原则）而言，则为太阳。是故，于第三元素——火光之性（tejas）——教示曰：眼为其‘内我’（adhyātma，内在根基），色相为其‘依物’，太阳为其‘依天’（神圣调御者）。”
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.