Pratyahara

Pratyāhāra is the fifth limb of Patañjali's classification of yoga in the Yoga Sūtras.

स्वविषयासम्प्रयोगे चित्तस्य स्वरूपानुकार इवेन्द्रियाणां प्रत्याहारः ॥५४॥

svaviṣayāsamprayoge cittasya svarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṁ pratyāhāraḥ ॥ 54 ॥

Pratyāhāra, withdrawal from sense objects, occurs when the senses do not come into contact with their respective sense objects. It corresponds, as it were, to the nature of the mind (when it is withdrawn from the sense objects).

— Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, 2.54.

Pratyāhāra is a prerequisite of the further stages of meditation, Dhāraṇā (intense concentration), Dhyāna (meditation) and Samādhi (absorption). Without the ability to mute impressions from the outside, the mind cannot be turned inward in meditation, but is continuously distracted by outside impressions.

How can pratyāhāra be achieved? As in all parts of yoga, only through practice. Namely, those four practices outlined in the Yoga Sūtras that precede this fifth limb. Especially prāṇāyāma can be helpful to reach sense withdrawal as it can be used to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which leads to a restful state.

ततः परमा वश्यतेन्द्रियाणाम् ॥५५॥

tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām ॥ 55 ॥

From this comes the highest control of the senses.

— Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, 2.55.

Just as bees follow their queen, so the senses follow the mind.

According to Vyāsa, highest control of the senses requires a restrained and focused mind, because then the senses are automatically brought under control - that is, there is no contact between the senses and the sense objects. He illustrates this with a metaphor from the Praśna Upaniṣad (II.4): just as when the queen bee flies up, all the other bees fly up along with her, and when the queen bee settles down, all the other bees automatically settle down, so the mind and the senses are directly interconnected.