In Devanagari, an alphabet used in Sanskrit, the term is originally written like this: योग. It comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means “to join”, “to bind”, “to harness”, “to harness”, “to bind”, “to join”. When the ox is tied to the yoke or yoke, or even when the team of animals is joined, this means that these animals are being put in conditions for work. Therefore, the root “yuj” also means “to suit”, “to prepare” or “to use”.
The idea that the root “yuj” could mean “to unite” in the sense of “to integrate” (physically or mystically) possibly arises from a Vedantine statement that defines yoga as the “union” between Jīvātma and Paramātma, which actually become one. But “yuktam” (which is the past participle of this verb) does not mean “together”, but “towed”, “prepared” or “adequate”.
Some believe that yoga interpreted as “union” in Vedantian ways, is meaningless mainly in Advaita Vedanta, where everything is Brahman, the Absolute that encompasses all that exists, so there is no need for “union”, as any disunity, separation it is mere illusion (māyā), so there is the discovery of the ever-existing union, the discovery of Brahman in all things, including the individual himself. However, this is not the reality observed in the current evolutionary level of the human race, characterized by individualism and the disconnected way in which human beings feel in relation to their species and other beings that inhabit planet Earth.
The understanding that in Yoga Sūtra this interpretation of yoga as “union” would also be meaningless is not correct, the belief that we are and have always been in essence the Puruṣa, the unconditioned and eternal consciousness, which need not be joined to anything, on the contrary, it needs to be disidentified from the phenomenological processes of nature (Prakrti), it still does not prove true in the current evolutionary stage of the human race.