In plain words
Merely doing japa, ‘Rām, Rām, Rām’, does not make it a tāraka mantra. We must contemplate this Name in waking, dream and deep sleep alike. We must not change it to suit the time and the occasion, saying, ‘This is a time of hardship’, ‘This is a time of loss’, ‘a time of grief’. So they have said that to contemplate it at all times, in all places and in all matters is itself the tāraka mantra. Because it is the root and basis of all sounds, they have taught that it is named ‘Praṇava’. God is the embodiment of the eight aiśvaryas. When we say aiśvarya, we think of only money, grain, houses, lands and all such things as aiśvarya. We believe them to be riches. In the divinity of Īśvara, who embodies the eight aiśvaryas, the very first is sound. It begins with Śabdabrahmamayī. Carācaramayī, Jyotirmayī, Vāṅmayī, Nityānandamayī, Parātparamayī, Māyāmayī, Śrīmayī. Without sound itself, neither these forms nor letters could begin. The very root and basis of all is the Praṇava. All sounds come forth from the Praṇava alone. For example, here is a harmonium. We put air into this harmonium. Only after filling it with that air do we press the Reeds. ‘Sa ri ga ma pa da ni sa.’ All these sa ri ga ma pa da ni sa are vikāras. But the chief sound is the Oṃkāra. That Oṃkāra itself is the ākāra. From this ākāra called the Oṃkāra came forth these vikāras. So we must know that the root principle is the Praṇava. No one at all can create this root principle. No one can destroy it. In the same way, no one can create any of the root substances in Prakṛti. No one can destroy them. All the scientists of today base themselves on that root foundation and keep fashioning many forms and names. Without the root foundation itself they could not create shapes, or forms and names.