Shandilya Upanishad

Shandilya Upanishad
Gomukhasana is one of eight postures described in Shandilya Upanishad
Devanagari	शाण्डिल्य
IAST	Śāṇḍilya
Title means	Name of a Vedic sage
Type	Yoga
Linked Veda	Atharvaveda
Chapters	3
Philosophy	Yoga, Vedanta

The Shandilya Upanishad (Sanskrit: शाण्डिल्य उपनिषत्, IAST: Śāṇḍilya Upaniṣad) is a Sanskrit text and one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism. It is one of twenty Yoga Upanishads in the four Vedas, and is attached to the Atharvaveda.

The text is primarily focussed on Yoga techniques, and is among the most detailed in the Upanishadic corpus of texts dedicated to Yoga. It describes ten Yamas (ethical don'ts, restraints), ten Niyamas (ethical to do list, observances) and eight Asanas (postures), along with three Pranayamas, five types of Pratyaharas, five kinds of Dharana, two types of Dhyana and one Samadhi.

Gavin Flood dates the text to around 100 BCE to 300 CE.Roy Eugene Davis suggests Shandilya Upanishad probably pre-dates Patanjali's Yogasutras, while Georg Feuerstein suggests the text probably post-dates the Yogasutras. Thomas McEvilley states that the chronology of the text is uncertain, but it was probably composed around the time Dhyanabindu Upanishad and before Hatha Yoga Pradipka, Kaulajnananirnaya and Shiva Samhita.

Some historical manuscripts of this Upanishad are titled as Śāṇḍilyopaniṣad (शाण्डिल्योपनिषत्‌). It is listed at number 58 in the serial order of the Muktika enumerated by Rama to Hanuman in the modern era anthology of 108 Upanishads. It is also known as the Shandilya Yoga Sutras. According to Alain Daniélou this Upanishad is one of the three Upanishads in the genre of the Hatha yoga; the others are the Darshana Upanishad and the Yoga-kundalini Upanishad.