---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: pratyahara
title: "Pratyāhāra"
iast: "Pratyāhāra"
devanagari: "प्रत्याहार"
description: "The fifth limb: the senses following citta inward rather than chasing objects — not sense-blocking, not detachment."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 2.54-2.55"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - pratyahara
  - sense-withdrawal
  - ashtanga
  - dharana
  - inner-limbs
not:
  - term: "sense withdrawal"
    why: "withdrawal implies actively pulling the senses back; pratyāhāra is more precisely the cessation of the senses following the mind's direction, as described in YS 2.54 (*svaviṣayāsaṃprayoge*); the senses do not need to be actively withdrawn if the mind no longer moves toward objects"
    instead: "Keep Pratyāhāra untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "blocking out"
    why: "blocking suggests effort and suppression; pratyāhāra is the natural consequence of citta's inward orientation, not a barrier erected against the senses"
  - term: "detachment"
    why: "detachment has Stoic and popular-psychology connotations; pratyāhāra is a technical Yoga term for the senses following citta's direction rather than running after their objects; it is functional redirection, not emotional detachment"
  - term: "shutting down"
    why: "the senses do not shut down in pratyāhāra; they continue to receive stimuli at the perceptual level; what changes is that citta no longer engages with (moves toward) those stimuli"
related:
  - /concepts/dharana.md
  - /concepts/chitta-vritti.md
  - /concepts/nirodha.md
  - /concepts/guna.md
  - /concepts/samprajnata-samadhi.md
  - /concepts/prakriti-yoga.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Pratyāhāra — प्रत्याहार

**Not:** sense withdrawal, blocking out, detachment, shutting down

The fifth of the eight limbs — the withdrawal of the sense faculties from their respective objects, so that they follow the mind's inward direction rather than moving outward toward stimuli. Pratyāhāra is the bridge limb: it completes the outer practice (yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma) and makes the inner practice (dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi) possible. Without pratyāhāra, the sense faculties will perpetually interrupt the concentration of dhāraṇā.

## Etymology

- *prati* — against, back, toward, counter to
- *āhāra* — taking, bringing; from *ā* + √*hṛ* (to take, to bring)
- *pratyāhāra* — "counter-taking"; bringing back; the taking-back of the senses from their objects

The prefix *prati* (counter, back) is key: it is not the *absence* of sensory intake but a reversal of its directional flow. Normally the senses reach *toward* their objects (*āhāra*); pratyāhāra is the counter-movement (*prati*) in which they draw back from those objects.

## YS 2.54-2.55

*svaviṣayāsaṃprayoge cittasya svarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṃ pratyāhāraḥ* (2.54)

"Pratyāhāra is, as it were, the imitation of the mind's own nature by the sense faculties, when they are disengaged from their respective objects."

*tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām* (2.55)

"From that comes the supreme mastery of the sense faculties."

### Unpacking YS 2.54

The phrase *svarūpānukāra iva* — "as it were, imitating the mind's own nature" — is Patañjali's precise description. The senses do not cease; they *follow* citta's nature. When citta has been made to turn inward (by prāṇāyāma, by practice, by vairāgya), the senses follow — as if they have adopted citta's inward character.

The *iva* ("as it were") is important: the senses do not literally become the mind; there is no merger; but functionally, they operate in the same inward mode.

## Pratyāhāra as the Bridge Limb

Yoga teachers in the commentary tradition consistently describe pratyāhāra as the hinge between:

| External Limbs (Bahiraṅga) | → Bridge → | Internal Limbs (Antaraṅga) |
|---|---|---|
| Yama | → | Dhāraṇā |
| Niyama | → | Dhyāna |
| Āsana | → | Samādhi |
| Prāṇāyāma | → | |

Prāṇāyāma reduces the Rajasic movement of citta (the breath-thought coupling); pratyāhāra consolidates this reduction by ensuring the sense faculties do not re-import Rajasic stimulation. The practitioner who sits for dhāraṇā without achieving pratyāhāra will find the concentration repeatedly interrupted by sensory pull.

## The Senses and Citta in Yoga's Structural Account

The Sāṃkhya-Yoga model explains *why* pratyāhāra works through the citta:

- The *jñānendriyas* (sense faculties: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) are Prakṛtic evolutes of ahaṃkāra
- They do not perceive independently; they convey *viṣaya* (object-impressions) to manas (the processing mind)
- Manas integrates and presents to buddhi; buddhi decides; ahaṃkāra claims ("I saw", "I want")
- The *movement* of senses toward objects is driven by rāga-vṛttis in the citta-complex
- When rāga-vṛttis have been attenuated (by yama, niyama, prāṇāyāma), the senses have no citta-movement to follow outward — pratyāhāra results naturally

Pratyāhāra is thus not a technique so much as a *consequence* of successful prāṇāyāma combined with vairāgya: the senses simply have nowhere to go when citta has stopped reaching.

## Cross-References

- [Dhāraṇā](dharana.md) — the first of the inner limbs; pratyāhāra must be established for dhāraṇā to be sustainable
- [Citta-Vṛtti](chitta-vritti.md) — the attenuated vṛttis that allow pratyāhāra to arise; pratyāhāra reduces vṛtti-generation by cutting off sensory reinforcement
- [Guṇa-s](guna.md) — pratyāhāra shifts the Guṇa-balance in the perceptual faculties from Rajas (outward-chasing) toward Sattva (inward-resting)
- [Nirodha](nirodha.md) — pratyāhāra is an early and partial nirodha of the sensory vṛttis; dhāraṇā-dhyāna-samādhi complete the process

## Audience Metaphor

Pratyāhāra is like a general who has been sending scouts out in all directions — one toward sound, one toward sight, one toward smell — and who now recalls them all to headquarters. The scouts (sense organs) don't stop existing; they return to the general (citta) and wait. Whatever sound still enters the ears is registered but not chased. Whatever sight still enters the eyes is received but not pursued. The intelligence-operation contracts inward. This is not blindness — it is strategic inward deployment of the same sensory resources.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 2.54-2.55
2. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 2.54
3. [Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā](/references/hatha-yoga-pradipika.md) 4.1-4.9 (on pratyāhāra as prerequisite for prāṇāyāma-nāḍī-śuddhi)
