Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks for the literal, root level meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga, not its everyday modern usage.
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
Trace the word back to its Sanskrit root to find its original sense, rather than relying only on how the term is used today.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke, join or unite.
In the philosophical sense, it refers to the union of the individual soul with universal consciousness, and in a simpler sense, the joining together of body, breath and mind.
Many people today think of yoga only as physical exercise involving asanas, but that is a practice built on top of the concept, not the literal meaning of the word.
Separation is the direct opposite of union, so it clearly cannot be right.
Step 4: Final Answer:
In Sanskrit, yoga literally means Union.