The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam

Verse 296

श्रोत्रँ होच्चक्राम तत्संवत्सरं प्रोष्या-गत्योवाच कथमशकत मदृते जीवितुमि-ति ते होचुर्यथा बधिरा अशृण्वन्तः श्रो-त्रेण प्राणन्तः प्राणेन वदन्तो वाचा प-श्यन्तश्चक्षुषा विद्वाँसो मनसा प्रजाय-माना रेतसैवमजीविष्मेति प्रविवेश हश्रोत्रम् ॥ १० ॥

In plain words

Hearing walked out. A full year later it came back and asked, 'How did you manage to live without me?' And they said: 'The way the deaf live — we couldn't hear, but we still breathed with breath, spoke with speech, saw with the eye, thought with the mind, and fathered children with our seed. That's how we lived.' So Hearing came back in.

Close to the Sanskrit

Hearing indeed departed. Having been away for that whole year, having come back, it said: 'How were you able to live without me?' They indeed said: 'As the deaf, not hearing with hearing, breathing with the breath, speaking with speech, seeing with the eye, knowing with the mind, procreating with semen — thus we lived.' Hearing entered back in, indeed. [10]