sva – visayasaprayoge citta-svarupanukara ivendriyanam pratyaharah. Pratyahara (is) that condition (of the body and its senses) in which the senses, having no (ability of) contact with the subjects (or objects) of their (specific enjoyment) (they) as if, follow the nature of citta.

Pratyahara is the fifth anga (limb or member) of the corpus of Patanjalis eightlimbed (astanga) yoga system, pratyaliara is related to the citta, its part the mind and its appendages, the sense organs.

So the specific meaning of the term pratyahara in astanga yoga becomes “Withdrawal of the senses inward towards their source viz. the mind and ultimately the citta” and this is what is explained in the sutra. When the sadhaka succeeds in pratyahara, the senses, as if, lose the ability to make contact i.e. experience and enjoy.the objects and subjects, which are the normal targets or spheres of experiencing and enjoying for them.

In this way the senses appear to have been drawn in towards the source of their power of experiencing i.e. getting aware and comprehending, viz. the mind and still further in the citta. In a way, they, therefore, take up the form of citta i.e. are merged into it and so have no separate activity or existence outside of citta.

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As these openings to the external world are not functioning, the mind does not receive any message or communication from any subject or object outside. Evideritally this is an essential prerequisite for the further stages of meditation viz. dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

If the citta goes on receivi distracting messages from the outer world through the agency of seses, there would not be any citta prasadana (pleasant peaceful state of citta) and the citta will never be able to go deep into its own inner recesses, which is what broadly happens during dharana- dhyana-samadhi. Therefore for an efficient citta prasadana achieving of pratyahara to a satisfactory degree is desirable. Considered in this light pratyahara becomes the first step or at least the threshold i.e. almost a part and parcel of meditational process itself.