page_title: Pratyahara
section_title: Types of Pratyahara
hierarchical_section_title: Pratyahara / Types of Pratyahara
caption_attribution_description: English: Buddhist monks meditating under the Anandabodhi tree in Jetavana Monastery, Sravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India. This is one of the 3 most holy Bodhitrees in Buddhism. The original tree was a sapling of the Mahabodhi tree in Bodhgaya. ไทย: พระสงฆ์นั่งภาวนาใต้ต้นอานันทโพธิ์ในวัดพระเชตวัน เมืองสาวัตถี แคว้นอุตตระประเทศ ประเทศอินเดีย. ต้นโพธิ์ต้นนี้คือต้นโพธิ์ที่ิ์ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ที่สุด ๑ ใน ๓ ของชาวพุทธ. (ต้นแม่ของต้นโพธิ์ต้นนี้อยู่ที่วัดมหาโพธิ พุทธคยา)
context_page_description: Pratyahara or the 'withdrawal of the senses' is the fifth element among the Eight stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in his classical work, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali composed in the 2nd century BCE. It is also the first stage of the six-branch yoga of the Buddhist Kālacakra tantra, where it refers to the withdrawal of the five senses from external objects to be replaced by the mentally created senses of an enlightened deity. This phase is roughly analogous to the physical isolation phase of Guhyasamāja tantra.
  For Patanjali, it is a bridge between the bahiranga aspects of yoga namely, yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, and the antaranga yoga. Having actualized the pratyahara stage, a practitioner is able to effectively engage into the practice of Samyama. At the stage of pratyahara, the consciousness of the individual is internalized in order that the sensations from the senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell don't reach their respective centers in the brain and takes the practitioner to the next stages of Yoga, namely Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, which is the aim of all Yogic practices.
caption: Monks meditating under the Anandabodhi tree in Jetavana Monastery, Sravasti
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