यदेव ते कश्चिदब्रवीत्तच्छृणवामेति ।अब्रवीन्मे गर्दभीविपीतो भारद्वाजः ।श्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति ।यथा मातृमान् पितृमानाचार्यवान् ब्रूयात्तथा तद्भारद्वाजोऽब्रवीच्छ्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति ।अशृण्वतो हि किं स्यादिति ।अब्रवीत्तु ते तस्यायतनं प्रतिष्ठाम् ।न मेऽब्रवीदिति ।एकपाद्वा एतत्सम्राडिति ।स वै नो ब्रूहि याज्ञवल्क्य ।श्रोत्रमेवायतनमाकाशः प्रतिष्ठानन्तमित्येनदुपासीत ।कानन्तता याज्ञवल्क्य ।दिश एव सम्राडिति होवाच ।तस्माद्वै सम्राडपि यां काञ्च दिशं गच्छति नैवास्या अन्तं गच्छति ।अनन्ता हि दिशः ।दिशो वै सम्राट्श्रोत्रम् ।श्रोत्रं वै सम्राट्परमं ब्रह्म ।नैनं श्रोत्रं जहाति ।सर्वाण्येनं भूतान्यभिक्षरन्ति ।देवो भूत्वा देवानप्येति ।य एवं विद्वानेतदुपास्ते ।हस्त्यृषभं सहस्रं ददामीति होवाच जनको वैदेहः ।स होवाच याज्ञवल्क्यः पिता मेऽमन्यत नाननुशिष्य हरेतेति ॥बृह. ४,१.५ ॥
In plain words
"Let me hear what anyone has told thee." "Gardabhīvipīta Bhāradvāja told me, 'The ear indeed is Brahman.'" "As one who had a mother, a father and a teacher might say, so did Bhāradvāja say that the ear indeed is Brahman; for what would one have who could not hear? But did he tell thee its dwelling and its support?" "He did not tell me." "Then this is a thing of one foot only, your majesty." "Then do thou tell us, Yājñavalkya." "The ear is its dwelling and space its support. Let a man worship it as the endless." "What is endlessness, Yājñavalkya?" "The quarters themselves, your majesty," he said. "Therefore, your majesty, in whatever quarter a man goes, he does not come to its end; for the quarters are endless. And the quarters, your majesty, are the ear. The ear, your majesty, is the highest Brahman. The ear does not leave him, all beings flow toward him, and becoming a god he goes to the gods, who worships it thus knowing." "I give thee a thousand cows with a bull like an elephant," said Janaka of Videha. Yājñavalkya said, "My father held that one should not take a gift without having taught."
The commentators
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣadbhāṣyam· bhāṣya
यदेव ते गर्दभीविपीत इति नामतः भारद्वाजो गोत्रतः ; श्रोत्रं वै ब्रह्मेति- श्रोत्रे दिक् देवता । अनन्त इत्येनदुपा- सीत ; का अनन्तता श्रोत्रस्य ? दिश एव श्रोत्रस्य आनन्त्यं यस्मात्, तस्माद्वै, सम्राट्, प्राचीमुदीचीं वा यां कांचिदपि दिशं गच्छति, नैवास्या अन्तं गच्छति कश्चिदपि ; अतो- ऽनन्ता हि दिशः ; दिशो वै, सम्राट्, श्रोत्रम् ; तस्मात् दिगानन्त्यमेव 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.