‘Man’ means ‘mind’ and ‘tra’ means ‘liberation’. Thus, mantra is to liberate the mind from its bondage through sound vibration.

The very first subtle manifestation, after consciousness and energy interacted with each other, was sound. Sound is the manifestation of consciousness and energy in their purest form. However, the sound that we hear through the ears is gross, material noise. Subtle sound is spandan, vibration, which is the first evolute.
Shiva Charitra describes the emergence of the world. It is described that Shiva manifests in the world in the form of sound vibration. This vibratory layer is called shabda sharir, in which ‘shabda’ means sound and ‘sharir’ means body.

In the beginning, a nada, primal sound manifested, like the sound of an explosion. This sound is called as God’s shabda sharir. After, there emerged the jyotirlingam, with neither a beginning nor an end. This is called as the prakashmaya sharir of God, the body of light. This light body has been called as linga sharir, as it is visualized in the form of a lingam, which is symbolic for the formless, transcendental God.

The entire universe is moving, vibrating and pulsating. Pulsation indicates expansion and contraction. The universe expands, and one day it will return to out of which it arose. The universe is not only pulsating externally, but also internally. In our own atomic structure there is expansion and contraction as well, and each and every atom is vibrating in its own frequency. This vibration is caused by movement. Without movement, there would be stillness. This movement gives rise to vibration, which is the very first act of consciousness and energy. Whatever vibrations are found in the external cosmos, is found within as well, since the micro cosmos is part of the macro cosmos. These vibrations, or antar nadas (inner sounds) are realized by yogis in deep meditations.

We can only hear frequencies within a certain range of decibels. Our hearing capacity is limited and anything above or below this range is not perceived. However, as one exceeds the limits of the senses, in the causal state of consciousness, one discovers that there is a lot more to be experienced than the gross level.
Thus, sound is a form of energy that has frequency, pitch, volume and tone, as well as subtle qualities. Sound is a vibration at a certain frequency and is able to make physical changes in living organism. When mantras are chanted, their sound waves are able to realign and reorganize energy patterns in both the body as well as the mind.