In plain words
The sun keeps rooting out our Ajñāna. The moon cools the burning of our heart. In the Name Rāma, rā-a-ma makes Rāma: ra means fire, a means the sun, ma means the moon. In the word Rāma are fire, the sun, the moon and the rest.
Not only that. The essence of all the śāstras lies in the Name of God alone. The Vedic saying Tattvamasi is held within one Name. Rā means tat, ma means tvam: you are That itself. This is the inner meaning of the saying Tattvamasi. Here there is something more that we must consider. When we recognise the science of numbers in the Name of Rāma, it stands as a witness for us. Nā-a-ma makes nāma. In the science of numbers, nā means nothing. A means two. Ma means five. 0+2+5 makes 7. It is bound up with the figure seven. The Name teaches us. The seven ṛṣis, the seven colours, the seven days: these tell the sacredness of the number seven.
Today the saptāha has come to its close. What does saptāha mean? It is to offer to God the seven sounds within us. Samāpti means brahma-prāpti. We keep what is called the saptāha for the sake of attaining Brahman. Seven days have passed like seven moments. Why should this be? Because we have spent our time in timeless thought of God and in the timeless work of God, that time too appears to us beyond time. So if we remember God, who is beyond time, without a break, time will not weigh on us. That is why, when we keep in our heart Kāla, who has conquered time, we too become embodiments of Time.
Saṅkīrtana is of four kinds: guṇa-saṅkīrtana, līlā-saṅkīrtana, bhāva-saṅkīrtana and nāma-saṅkīrtana. Guṇa-saṅkīrtana means singing while dwelling on the auspicious qualities of God. Describing Him:
Can we ever find You, Kṛṣṇa? Your form is subtler far than the atom, You are vaster far than the vast; in the eighty-four lakh living beings You dwell for ever, they say, never parting from them; You shine, they say, as the undivided Form: can we ever find You?
Songs like these are guṇa-saṅkīrtana. If you go on describing only such qualities, at times you may fail to grasp these qualities, and some doubt may arise. They said ‘Aṇoraṇīyān, mahato mahīyān,’ did they not?