Yagnavalkya said: 'Let us hear what anybody may have told you.' Ganaka Vaideha replied: 'Gardabhivibhita Bharadvaga told me that hearing (sruta) is Brahman.' Yagnavalkya said: 'As one who had (the benefit of a good) father, mother, and teacher might tell, so did Gardabhivibhita Bharadvaga tell you that hearing is Brahman; for what is the use of a person who cannot hear? But did he tell you the body and the resting-place of that Brahman?' Ganaka Vaideha said: 'He did not tell me.' Yagnavalkya said: 'Your Majesty, this (Brahman) stands on one leg only.' Ganaka Vaideha said: 'Then tell me, Yagnavalkya.' Yagnavalkya said: 'The ear is its body, ether its place, and we should worship it as what is endless.' Ganaka Vaideha said: 'What is the nature of that which is endless?' Yagnavalkya, replied: 'Your Majesty, space (disah) itself (is that which is endless), and therefore to whatever space (quarter) he goes, he never comes to the end of it. For space is endless. Space indeed, O King, is hearing, and hearing indeed, O King, is the Highest Brahman. Hearing does not desert him who worships that (Brahman) with such knowledge, all creatures approach him, and having become a god, he goes to the gods.' Ganaka Vaideha said: 'I shall give you (for this) a thousand cows with a bull as big as an elephant.' Yagnavalkya said: 'My father was of opinion that one should not accept a reward without having fully instructed a pupil.'

In plain words: Janaka says a teacher told him hearing is Brahman. Yagnavalkya says the ear is its body and space its home, and it should be honored as endless, because the directions of space never come to an end, and hearing is linked to space. He refuses payment until the teaching is complete.