Sūtra 2.54

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 2.54:

स्वविषयासम्प्रयोगे चित्तस्वरूपानुकार इवेन्द्रियाणां प्रत्याहारः ॥ २.५४ ॥

svaviṣayāsamprayoge cittasvarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṃ pratyāhāraḥ || 2.54 ||

54. Abstraction is the assumption by the senses of the original nature of the thinking principle, from want of application to their respective objects.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

[English translation of the 11th century commentary by Bhoja called the Rājamārtaṇḍa]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

That by which the senses are abstracted, or from a feeling of opposition, withdrawn from their respective objects, is Abstraction (pratyāhāra). How that may be effected is thus explained. Of vision and the other senses the respective objects are form and the rest. “Application” (saṃprayoga) to them is advancing towards them. The want of such advance is the forsaking of them and abiding in their original nature. When that forsaking is effected the senses become the imitators of the original nature of the thinking principle. Since the senses follow the thinking principle as do bees their king, they all become of its nature. Thus when the thinking principle is subdued these become abstracted.

Notes and Extracts

[Notes and comparative extracts from other commentaries on the Yogasūtra]

[The natural tendency of the senses is outwards, towards the objects which are designed for their entertainment, and the great object of the Yoga is to divert them from those objects, in order to bring them to a focus in the thinking principle. When this is effected they cease to act, and are restored to the natural state of the thinking principle of which they are emanations. That natural state, again, is quiescence, and consequently the senses become quiescent, and this is their abstracted state.]

Having described abstraction, which is the imitation of the nature of the thinking principle by the senses, he now describes the fruit of the act.