Shiva Samhita

Shiva Samhita is an unparalleled and unique Sanskrit text on classical yoga. It explains the concept of yoga, its philosophy and practice in detail. Lord Śiva, the expounder of yoga, has declared this science of yoga for the welfare of all creatures in all three worlds. The discourse and teachings in all five chapters in this text are primarily focused on the philosophy of creation and dissolution of the universe, bondage and liberation, the right knowledge of the reality and the ultimate aim of human life – mokśa or the liberation.

It elaborates the ways of attaining perfections through the practice of various forms and techniques of yoga and finally, awakening the Kundalini, the Śakti. It also discusses the human body - the microcosm as the replica of macrocosm, the principles and importance of yogic way of life and the importance of the practice of āsana, prānāyāma, mudrā, bandha, pratyāhāra, dhāranā and dhyāna as the fundamental means to achieve the ultimate goal of yoga.

One of the distinct features of the present text is that it includes all Mudrās on the tāntric sexual acts from the original manuscript in Chapter Four. A few commentators of Śiva Samhitā have excluded them from their texts as they marked that such tāntric performance was “an obscene practice indulged in by low-class Tāntrists.”