यदेव ते कश्चिदब्रवीत्तच्छृणवामेति; अब्रवीन्मे गर्दभीविपीतो भारद्वाजः, श्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति; यथा मातृमान्पितृमानाचार्यवान्ब्रूयात्, तथा तद्भारद्वाजोऽब्रवीच्छ्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति, अशृण्वतो हि किं स्यादिति; अब्रवीत्तु ते तस्यायतनं प्रतिष्ठां? न मेऽब्रवीदिति; एकपाद्वा एतत्सम्राडिति; स वै नो ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य; श्रोत्रमेवायतनम्, आकाशः प्रतिष्ठा, नन्तमित्येनदुपासीत; कानन्तता याज्ञवल्क्य? दिश एव सम्राडिति होवाच, तस्माद्वै सम्राडपि यां कां च दिशं गच्छति नैवास्या अन्तं गच्छति, अनन्ता हि दिशोः; दिशो वै सम्राट् श्रोत्रम्, श्रोत्रं वै सम्राट् परमं ब्रह्म; नैनं श्रोत्रं जहाति, सर्वाण्येनं भूतान्यभिक्शरन्ति, देवो भूत्वा देवानप्येति, य एवं विद्वानेतदुपास्ते; हस्त्यृषभं सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः; स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः पिता मेऽमन्यत नाननुशिष्य हरेतेति ॥ ५ ॥
yadeva te kaścidabravīttacchṛṇavāmeti; abravīnme gardabhīvipīto bhāradvājaḥ, śrotraṃ vai brahmeti; yathā mātṛmānpitṛmānācāryavānbrūyāt, tathā tadbhāradvājo’bravīcchrotraṃ vai brahmeti, aśṛṇvato hi kiṃ syāditi; abravīttu te tasyāyatanaṃ pratiṣṭhāṃ? na me’bravīditi; ekapādvā etatsamrāḍiti; sa vai no brūhi yājñavalkya; śrotramevāyatanam, ākāśaḥ pratiṣṭhā, nantamityenadupāsīta; kānantatā yājñavalkya? diśa eva samrāḍiti hovāca, tasmādvai samrāḍapi yāṃ kāṃ ca diśaṃ gacchati naivāsyā antaṃ gacchati, anantā hi diśoḥ; diśo vai samrāṭ śrotram, śrotraṃ vai samrāṭ paramaṃ brahma; nainaṃ śrotraṃ jahāti, sarvāṇyenaṃ bhūtānyabhikśaranti, devo bhūtvā devānapyeti, ya evaṃ vidvānetadupāste; hastyṛṣabhaṃ sahasraṃ dadāmīti hovāca janako vaidehaḥ; sa hovāca yājñavalkyaḥ pitā me’manyata nānanuśiṣya hareteti || 5 ||
5. ‘Let me hear whatever any one may have told you.’ ‘Gardabhīvipīta, of the Hne of Bharadvāja, has told me that the ear (the quarters) is Brahman.’ ‘As one who has a mother, father and teacher should say, so has the descendant of Bharadvāja said this—that the ear is Brahman, for what can a person have who cannot hear? But did he tell you about its abode and support?’ ‘No, he did not.’ ‘This .Brahman is only one-footed, O Emperor.’ ‘Then you tell us, Yājñavalkya.’ ‘The ear is its abode, and the ether (the Undifferentiated) its support. It should be meditated upon as infinite.’ ‘What is infinity, Yājñavalkya, ‘the quarters them-selves, O Emperor,’ said Yājñavalkya, ‘therefore, O Emperor, to whatever direction one may go, one never reaches its end. (Hence) the quarters are infinite. The quarters, O Emperor, are the ear, and the ear, O Emperor, is the Supreme Brahman. The ear never leaves him who knowing thus meditates upon it; all beings eagerly come to him; and being a god, he attains the gods.’ ‘I give you a thousand cows with a bull like an elephant,’ said Emperor Janaka. Yājñavalkya replied, ‘My father was of opinion that one should not accept (wealth) from a disciple without fully instructing him.’
‘Let me hear,’ etc. Gardabhīvipīta, of the line of Bharadvāja, etc. The ear is Brahman: The quarters are the presiding deities of the ear. ‘It should be meditated upon as infinite.’ ‘What is the infinity of the ear?’ Because the quarters themselves are the infinity, therefore, O Emperor, to whatever direction, east or north, one may go, one never reaches its end. Hence the quarters are infinite. The quarters, O Emperor, are the ear. Therefore the infinity of the quarters is also that of the ear.’