Sama Veda · Sama Veda (Yoga Upanishad group) · 121 mantras
Yogachudamani Upanishad
Yoga-cūḍāmaṇy-upaniṣad
Central theme: The crest-jewel of Hatha Yoga — six chakras, three nadis, four locks (bandhas), the kundalini ascent, and the merger into the sahasrara
The longest and most systematic of the Hatha Yoga Upanishads — literally the "crest-jewel of yoga" (chudamani = crest-jewel). Across 121 mantras, the text provides the complete operating manual of Hatha Yoga: the six chakras (muladhara, svadhishthana, manipura, anahata, vishuddhi, ajna) with their bija-mantras (Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, Om), petal-counts, deities, animal vahanas, and meditational images; the three nadis (ida cooling lunar left, pingala heating solar right, sushumna central fire); the four bandhas (mula bandha, uddiyana bandha, jalandhara bandha, maha bandha); the three granthis (Brahma at navel, Vishnu at heart, Rudra at throat — the three knots the kundalini must pierce); the kechari mudra (rolling the tongue back to the soft palate); and the final sahasrara dissolution where the kundalini-shakti merges with Shiva. The text is the primary source for Swatmarama's Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century) and for the entire Nath Sampradaya tradition initiated by Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath. The mantras 86-92 contain the famous "shiva-shakti samarasya" verses describing the bliss of the kundalini merger with sahasrara Shiva — the source for all later Kashmir Shaiva metaphysics of pratyabhijna.
Yogachudamani Upanishad — Mantra 89
कुण्डलिनी शक्तिरुद्रिक्ता विद्युत्पुञ्जसमप्रभा। सुषुम्नया समारुह्य सहस्रारे विलीयते॥
Kuṇḍalinī śaktir udriktā vidyut-puñja-samaprabhā, suṣumnayā samāruhya sahasrāre vilīyate
The aroused kundalini-shakti, blazing like a mass of lightning, ascending through the sushumna, dissolves in the thousand-petalled crown.
Six chakras, three nadis, four locks. Wake the serpent at the base, give her the central highway, and she will find Shiva at the crown — every time.