सा होवाच यदूर्ध्वं याज्ञवल्क्य दिवो यदवाक्पृथिव्या यदन्तरा द्यावापृथिवी इमे यद्भूतं च भवच्च भविष्यच्चेत्याचक्षते कस्मिंस्तदोतं च प्रोतं चेति ॥३,८.३ ॥
In plain words
She said, "Yājñavalkya, that which is above the sky and below the earth, that which is between the sky and the earth, and that which men call what has been, what is and what shall be — upon what is that woven, warp and woof?"
The commentators
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam· bhāṣya
सा होवाच—यत् ऊर्ध्वम् उपरि दिवः अण्डकपालात्, यच्च अवाक् अधः पृथिव्याः अधोऽण्डकपालात्, यच्च अ- न्तरा मध्ये द्यावापृथिवी द्यावापृथिव्योः अण्डकपालयोः, इमे च द्यावापृथिवी, यद्भूतं यच्चातीतम्, भवच्च वर्तमानं स्वव्यापारस्थम्, भविष्यच्च वर्तमानादूर्ध्वकालभावि लिङ्ग- म्यम्—यत्सर्वमेतदाचक्षते कथयन्त्यागमतः— तत्सर्वं द्वैतजातं यस्मिन्नेकीभवतीत्यर्थः— तत् सूत्रसंज्ञं पूर्वोक्तं कस्मिन् ओतं च प्रोतं च पृथिवीधातुरिवाप्सु ॥
In plain words
Here is what her question actually comes down to. 'Above' means above the shell of what the tradition pictures as a cosmic egg -- the sky. 'Below' means beneath the earth, under that same shell from underneath. 'Between' means the gap between earth and sky, between the egg's two halves. 'These two' are simply heaven and earth. 'Past' is whatever has already happened; 'present' is whatever is happening right now, still doing its work; 'future' is whatever hasn't come yet but is already marked to arrive. All of it -- everything scripture ever names, every one of these pairs and opposites -- collapses somewhere into a single thing. That single thing already has a name from earlier: the thread. Her real question is simply this: what is everything woven onto, the way the substance of the earth runs invisibly all through water?
Close to the Sanskrit
'She said': that which is above -- above, over the shell of the cosmic egg; and that which is below -- beneath, under the earth, below the shell of the cosmic egg; and that which is between -- in the middle, between heaven and earth, between the two shells of the cosmic egg; 'these two' -- namely heaven and earth themselves; that which is past -- that which has gone by; and the present -- that which is now engaged in its own operation; and the future -- that which is to occur at a time beyond the present, its mark. All this that they call so, and speak of by scriptural tradition -- all of it, this whole mass of duality, in which it becomes one: that is the meaning. That thing, already mentioned, called by the name 'thread' -- on what is that woven, crosswise and lengthwise, as the substance of earth runs through water?