Yajur Veda · Krishna Yajur Veda (Maitrayaniya shakha) · 107 mantras
Maitri Upanishad
Maitry-upaniṣad
Central theme: Six-limbed yoga (shadanga-yoga) and the two-fold Brahman (shabda + ashabda)
Also called Maitrayaniya. Opens with King Brihadratha renouncing his kingdom and asking the sage Shakayanya the existential question: "In this body, foul-smelling and pithless — heap of bone, skin, marrow, flesh, semen, blood, mucus, tears, faeces, urine, wind, bile and phlegm — what is the use of enjoyment?" The reply unfolds across seven prapathakas the doctrine of two Brahmans (the sound-Brahman Om → the soundless Brahman beyond), the six-limbed yoga of pranayama, pratyahara, dhyana, dharana, tarka and samadhi (the earliest shadanga-yoga schema, predating Patanjali's ashtanga), and an extended teaching on time (kala) as the form of the Lord.
Maitri 6.18
प्राणायामः प्रत्याहारो ध्यानं धारणा तर्कः समाधिः षडङ्ग इत्युच्यते योगः
Prāṇāyāmaḥ pratyāhāro dhyānaṁ dhāraṇā tarkaḥ samādhiḥ ṣaḍaṅga ity ucyate yogaḥ
Breath-control, withdrawal of the senses, meditation, concentration, inquiry, and absorption — this six-limbed yoga is so declared.
The body is a leaking pot; the only worthwhile use of the years left is the six-limbed climb from Om to silence.