The Upanishads: who's who, timeline and places
Everyone in The Upanishads, what happens when, and where, without spoilers: tell us how far you have read and we show only what you already know.
- AgniThe figure addressed in a prayer that closes the Upanishad.First seen in part 18
- NachiketasA young person whose heart fills with faith while offerings are being distributed.First seen in part 20
- YamaThe one to whom Nachiketas says his father is sending him.First seen in part 23
- IndraOne of those who act from fear of the supreme power identified as Brahman.First seen in part 121
- VayuOne of those whose actions arise from fear of the supreme power.First seen in part 121
- the discipleA seeker who asks the Master what directs the mind, life-force, speech, and senses.First seen in part 137
- UmaThe golden daughter of Haimavat, whom a seeker asks about the great mystery.First seen in part 161
- Part 1
The teaching asks people to perceive the Lord throughout the universe and avoid coveting another person's wealth.
- Part 6
A person sees every being within the Self and the Self within every being.
- Part 14
Knowledge of the invisible cause and its destructible manifestation provides a path beyond death to immortality.
- Part 21
Nachiketas judges that the worthless cows his father offers in sacrifice bring no merit.
- Part 27
Yama offers his guest three boons after three nights in his house without food.
- Part 33
Yama teaches Nachiketas the fire-sacrifice, explaining the bricks and their arrangement for the altar.
- Part 38
Nachiketas asks whether a person exists after death as his third boon.
- Part 44
Nachiketas refuses the offered pleasures because they pass quickly and weaken the senses.
- Part 48
Yama distinguishes the good from the pleasant and explains that each leads to a different end.
- Part 62
Yama names Aum as the goal praised by the Vedas and sought through austerity, continence, and service.
- Part 75
The teaching compares the Self to the lord of a chariot and the body to the vehicle.
- Part 85
Yama directs a wise person to bring speech, mind, and intellect under successively higher control.
- Part 90
A wise person turns inward toward the Atman instead of following the senses outward.
- Part 105
The body is described as a city with eleven gates ruled by the unborn Self.
- Part 114
The sun illustrates how the inner Self remains untouched by worldly misery.
- Part 129
Yoga is defined as firm restraint of the senses and union between the lower and Higher Self.
- Part 136
Nachiketas attains Brahman through the wisdom and Yoga taught by the Ruler of Death.
- Part 137
A disciple asks the Master what directs the mind, life-force, speech, and senses.
- Part 145
The teacher warns that hearing about Brahman and feeling intellectually certain do not amount to true knowledge.
- Part 150
Brahman wins a victory for the Devas, but they claim the achievement as their own.
- Part 155
Agni cannot burn the straw Brahman places before him.
- Part 159
Vayu cannot blow away the straw Brahman places before him.
- Part 162
Uma tells Indra that Brahman is the mysterious form and the true source of the Devas' victory.
- Part 170
Knowledge of the Upanishad cleanses a person of sin and establishes that person in Brahman's eternal, blissful dwelling.
Hidden until you have read that far.
- the universeThe whole realm throughout which the teaching asks people to perceive the Lord.First seen in part 1
- the heartThe inner place where faith enters the young Nachiketas during the distribution of offerings.First seen in part 20
- heavenA realm without Death, fear, or the troubles of old age.First seen in part 30
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