Bhashya
उदके ओतं च प्रोतं च- ओतं दीर्घपटतन्तुवत्, प्रोतंतिर्यक्तन्तुवत्, विपरीतं वा- अद्भिः सर्वतोऽन्तर्बहिर्भूताभि-र्व्याप्तमित्यर्थः ; अन्यथा सक्तुमुष्टिवद्विशीर्येत ।इदं तावत्अनुमानमुपन्यस्तम्- यत् कार्यं परिच्छिन्नं स्थूलम्,कारणेन अपरिच्छिन्नेन सूक्ष्मेण व्याप्तमिति दृष्टम्- यथापृथिवी अद्भिः ; तथा पूर्वं पूर्वम् उत्तरेणोत्तरेण व्यापिनाभवितव्यम्- इत्येष आ सर्वान्तरादात्मनः प्रश्नार्थः ।तत्र भूतानि पञ्च संहतान्येव उत्तरमुत्तरं सूक्ष्मभावेनव्यापकेन कारणरूपेण च व्यवतिष्ठन्ते ; न च परमात्मनोऽ-र्वाक् तद्व्यतिरेकेण वस्त्वन्तरमस्ति, 'सत्यस्य सत्यम्' इतिश्रुतेः ; सत्यं च भूतपञ्चकम्, सत्यस्य सत्यं च पर आत्मा ।कस्मिन्नु खल्वाप ओताश्च प्रोताश्चेति- तासामपि कार्य-त्वात् स्थूलत्वात् परिच्छिन्नत्वाच्च कचिद्धि ओतप्रोतभावेनभवितव्यम् ; क तासाम् ओतप्रोतभाव इति ।एवमुत्तरोत्तर-प्रश्नप्रसङ्गो योजयितव्यः ।वायौ गार्गीति ; ननु अग्नावितिवक्तव्यम्- नैष दोषः ; अग्नेः पार्थिवं वा आप्यं वा धातु-मनाश्रित्य इतरभूतवत् स्वातन्त्र्येण आत्मलाभो नास्तीतितस्मिन् ओतप्रोतभावो नोपदिश्यते ।कस्मिन्नु खलुवायुरोतश्च प्रोतश्चेत्यन्तरिक्षलोकेषु गार्गीति ।तान्येव भू-
In plain words
This mass sits woven into water -- lengthwise, the way the long threads run through a cloth, and crosswise, the way the threads run the other way -- or maybe it's the reverse. Either way, water runs through it completely, inside and out; take the water away and it would crumble apart like a fistful of flour in your hand. Here is the reasoning behind that. Whatever is finite and solid, we can see, is held together by something unlimited and subtle -- exactly the way earth is held by water. So it has to go the same way all down the line: each thing rests on the one after it holding it up. That, really, is the whole question, reaching all the way to the self within everything. The five elements, bound together as they are, stand each inside the one after it -- finer, and the ground the other rests on. And short of the highest self there is nothing else at all -- scripture calls it 'the truth of the truth': the five elements are 'the truth', and the self beyond them is the truth of that truth. 'And the water -- what is it woven into?' Because water too is finite, solid, an effect -- it must be woven into something somewhere. Where? Keep asking the same question, one step further each time. 'Into the wind, Gargi.' But wait -- shouldn't it be fire next? No, that's no mistake: fire alone, of all the elements, doesn't need earth or water underneath it to exist; it doesn't come into being the dependent way the others do. So there's no 'woven into' to teach for fire. 'Then what is the wind woven into?' 'Into the worlds of the atmosphere, Gargi.' And those very same...
Close to the Sanskrit
In water it is woven lengthwise and woven crosswise. 'Woven lengthwise' is like the long threads of a cloth; 'woven crosswise' is like the transverse threads -- or the reverse; the meaning is that it is pervaded on every side, inside and outside, by the waters. Otherwise it would crumble apart like a fistful of barley-flour. This much, for now, is an inference put forward: it is observed that whatever effect is finite and gross is pervaded by a cause that is unlimited and subtle, as the earth is by the waters; so each preceding element must be pervaded by each succeeding one -- this is the point of the question up to the self within all. There, the five elements, though combined, are arranged such that each succeeding one exists as a subtle, pervading cause; and short of the supreme self there is no other entity apart from it, on the authority of 'the truth of the truth'; the group of five elements is 'the truth', and the supreme self is 'the truth of the truth'. 'On what, then, indeed, are the waters woven lengthwise and crosswise?' -- since they too, being effects, being gross, being limited, must indeed be woven somewhere; where is their woven state? In this way the sequence of successive questions is to be worked out. 'On the wind, Gargi.' But surely it should have been said 'on fire'! This is not a flaw: since fire, without depending on an earthy or watery substance, has -- unlike the other elements -- no independent coming-into-being of its own, therefore in its case the woven state is not taught. 'On what, then, indeed, is the wind woven lengthwise and crosswise?' 'On the worlds of the atmosphere, Gargi.' Those very [beings]...