Atharva Veda · Atharva Veda (Yoga Upanishad group) · 108 mantras
Shandilya Upanishad
Śāṇḍilyopaniṣad
Central theme: A complete yoga manual structured around Patanjali's eight limbs but expanded into ten — including the ten yamas, ten niyamas, eight asanas, three bandhas, three mudras, and detailed nadi-shodhana pranayama
Named after Sage Shandilya (the author of the famous Shandilya Bhakti Sutras), this Upanishad is one of the most comprehensive yoga texts in the entire Upanishadic corpus — predating Hatha Yoga Pradipika by centuries yet covering nearly all the same techniques. It enumerates ten yamas (vs Patanjali's five): ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, daya (compassion), arjava (sincerity), kshama (forgiveness), dhriti (steadiness), mitahara (moderate eating), shaucha (purity). It enumerates ten niyamas: tapas, santosha, astikya, dana, ishvara-pujana, siddhanta-shravana, hri (modesty), mati, japa, vrata. It describes eight asanas (svastika, gomukha, padma, vira, simha, bhadra, mukta, mayura), three bandhas (mula, uddiyana, jalandhara), three mudras, and prescribes the complete nadi-shodhana sequence with ratios 1:4:2 (puraka:kumbhaka:rechaka). The text also contains a remarkable cosmology: the body is the brahmanda, sushumna is Mount Meru, ida and pingala are the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, the chakras are the lokas.
Shandilya Upanishad 1.1.1
अहिंसा सत्यमस्तेयं ब्रह्मचर्यं दया तथा। आर्जवं क्षान्तिर्धृतिर्मिताहारः शौचमेव च॥
Ahiṁsā satyam asteyaṁ brahmacaryaṁ dayā tathā, ārjavaṁ kṣāntir dhṛtir mitāhāraḥ śaucam eva ca
Non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy, compassion, sincerity, forgiveness, steadiness, moderate eating, and purity — these are the ten yamas.
Yoga begins not with posture but with ten yamas — and only ten. Until those ten are alive in the body, the asana is a stretch and the pranayama is a breath exercise.