The works of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam

Bhashya

Bhashya

यदेव ते गर्दभीविपीत इति नामतः भारद्वाजो गोत्रतः ;श्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति- श्रोत्रे दिक् देवता ।अनन्त इत्येनदुपा-सीत ; का अनन्तता श्रोत्रस्य ? दिश एव श्रोत्रस्य आनन्त्यंयस्मात्, तस्माद्वै, सम्राट्, प्राचीमुदीचीं वा यां कांचिदपिदिशं गच्छति, नैवास्या अन्तं गच्छति कश्चिदपि ; अतो-ऽनन्ता हि दिशः ; दिशो वै, सम्राट्, श्रोत्रम् ; तस्मात्दिगानन्त्यमेव श्रोत्रस्य आनन्त्यम् ॥

In plain words

Now, this teacher -- his name was Gardabhivipita, and by lineage he was a Bharadvaja -- taught 'the ear, truly, is Brahman'; Direction is the deity that lives in the ear. He called it the Infinite, and said to meditate on it that way. So what makes the ear infinite? Simply this: its infinitude is the infinitude of direction. Travel east, travel north, travel any way at all, Your Majesty -- no one ever reaches the edge of it. The directions never run out. And the directions, Your Majesty, are the ear. So the ear's infinitude is exactly the infinitude of direction, nothing more, nothing less.

Close to the Sanskrit

Now, the one whose name was Gardabhīvipīta, and who was by clan a Bhāradvāja -- [said] 'the ear, indeed, is Brahman'; direction is the deity in the ear. [He said] 'call it the infinite'; one should meditate upon it thus. What is the infinitude of the ear? Since the infinitude of the ear is precisely that of direction -- therefore, indeed, O emperor, whatever direction one goes, east or north or any other, no one at all ever reaches its end; hence the directions are infinite; the directions, indeed, O emperor, are the ear; therefore the very infinitude of direction is the infinitude of the ear.