So what happens when you wake up and leave for office?

You might want to give a benefit of doubt to the assertion that while dreaming there could be an agency inside you which creates a very realistic experience with out the help of outside objects. This simply means that this agency is capable of creating the sensation of touch though there is no palpable object to touch. and so on.
You might be flexible enough to consider this as mechanism of sound (dhvani).

But what about when you wake up from the dream and leave for the office?

Let us say you leave your Duluth home to go to Alpharetta office everyday. Now, how can this possibly all be reduced to mechanism of sound? The road, the-getting-up, the car, the bad Atlanta traffic, a pretty face on the next lane, an impatient driver, the same gas stations, the urge to jump a red light.........how can all these objects and activities and feelings be possibly reduced to mechanism of sound ??

It can be .

According to Indian philosophy, when you 'wake-up', you actually move into another dream state called jagaran (wakeful-dream stage).
Your waking-up is nothing but a movement into another dream state!
From one dream stage to another!
You are still dreaming !

And since you are still in a dream-like state the mechanism of sound is still capable of creating all kind of experiences for you, which of course appears, feels, tastes so real just as it happens in a typical dream. To sum it up : The mind whether awake or dreaming moves through the illusion.

Take this example :

From your Duluth home to Alpharetta office,  a lot many things are repeated EVERYDAY. Same roads, same experience of a bad traffic, the potholes in the same place, the BP gas station and so on....

Now, consider this :
If you start seeing all this in your dream EVERYDAY what will happen?
Think about like when you return from office and when you go to bed you start seeing the same daily routine EVERYDAY....
Think what will happen?
You will not be able to distinguish between 'morning reality' and the dream.
Got it? The dream and the wake-up boundaries would merge.

What you do everyday from morning to the time you go to bed  - if you start dreaming this same stuff  when asleep, soon you  would become  incapable of distinguishing where dream ends and where morning routine starts.

Dream changes everyday.
The morning office going reality has a certain static pattern.
You distinguish both the stages with mutual reference.
If mutual reference vanishes you would be in trouble!

The dream experience may be
different from your day to day
experience, but both are dream stages anyway!
The mechanism of sound which was producing a realistic experience of an external world  when you were asleep is still at play when you wake up. The same mechanism is still at play, only it has become all the more difficult to convince you that you are still in a dream stage.

 

According to Indian philosophy the subject is more important than the object.
The tree as an object is not important : important is why at all you see a tree as a tree and HOW?
There is no reality of an object apart from the subject.
The subject ie YOU create the object , apart from the subject the object has no existence at all.
And HOW you create the tree?  Obviously through mechanism of Sound ( dhvani).
According to the science of mantra - your mind needs only one and only one condition to weave a world of virtual reality around you using mechanism of sound , and that condition is you should be sleeping.
In stage of coma or when you are unconscious , the mind is happy to see you sleeping and thus  capable of creating a virtual reality.
When you are sleeping the mind is happy to see you sleeping  and thus  capable of creating a virtual reality.
And when you wake up mind is STILL  happy to see you sleeping  and thus  capable of creating a virtual reality.

At the base of this staggering phenomenon is the interplay of sound, which on a gross level converts into language, words, meaning etc. This is how mechanism of sound itself evolves.

Madhyama and Vaikhari  are not very important for Indian philosophy. Because at this level of perception the tree could be tall, thick, green and  brown. It could to conform to all those bio-physical principles ( chlorophyll, electron, proton etc.)  which we read and experiment in college. But tomorrow, when the universe is recreated, the light of speed may vary and the physics would be different and so would be chemistry and who knows biology would exist at all or not in that universe  so  tree could be anything. Each time the universe is recreated the physics changes and so does the tree. The gross form of tree can take any shape - it could be square with its roots up in the skies if the universe is created out of Lord Shiva ( different physics) and not Brahma as suggested by Sage Vashitha.
Madhyama and Vaikhari  are very very relative and each time universe is recreated the tree could be anything -- and since the universe keeps creating and recreating and with each new recreation the physics changes and so does the tree this is the reason why Einstein or Stephen Hawkins are not given much importance in purest of Indian thought. Because they talk about a limited physics of Madhyama and Vaikhari which is only true for the current universe.
The Absolute principle that DOESN'T  CHANGES and is applicable across various incarnations of the universe is in Pashyanti  and Para and at the base of that principle is  Sound!
Each time the universe is recreated the tree can take any shape, it can even float !
But at the base of this realization ( for YOU) is the mechanism of sound and ALWAYS sound ( dhvani) which   with the help of Maya ( phenomenon of illusion) can create any kind of tree for you.
Therefore for Indian philosophy the intellectuals who know about this universal physics of Pashyanti  and Para  are more near and dear than the one who talk about  Madhyama and Vaikhari.

Such is the importance of sound in Indian philosophy that every  meditative inquiry into the nature of universe, existence, object, matter and the life has used sound as a powerful technique. Thus we have :

Shabda Brahman, Akshar Purusha, Nada Brahman. Bhakti poetry is full of words such as Shabda or Sabad. And in Yoga you have branches such as Japa Yoga, Ajapa Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga, Nada Yoga, Shabda Yoga, Swara Yoga. All these words (Shabda, Akshar, Sabad, Japa, Ajapa, Laya, Nada, Swara) have a literal meaning related to Dhvani (Sound) or Shabda (Word)

If you are into meditation , any kind of meditation, you cant possibly escape the use of mantra ( sound).
 

Why you find a bell at the entrance of any temple in India? Because you will never be able to 'truly enter and understand' the kingdom of God if you have not understood the phenomenon of sound!! and BTW, the 'sound of bell' is what you hear when you meditate to unravel the mysteries of creation.

OM or the AUM : The fundamental 'particle' of sound

( We are not talking about phenomenon of sound as interpreted by modern physics. )

	Objectivity has no scope in Indian Philosophy. It is a figment of mind.
	Because you create and weave a phantom world around you thus the object exists like things of virtual reality. Apart from you material world has no objective, independent existence.
	Scientific inquiry into the nature of object (electron, proton etc..) is like you experiencing a bank robbery in your dream and  in the morning  getting  up to call 911 and inform them about it. Moral : Indian philosophy doesn't take material world activities too seriously but has no problem if you take it seriously.
	The world of phantom objects can take any shape, any logic, any science depending on the basic big bang of creation. Big bang principle  could be Brahma or Vishnu or Mahesh or something else.
	Irrespective of what kind of physics is driving and defining the material world, at the core it is ALWAYS the mechanism of sound ( dhvani) which is responsible for creating the experience of  the material world for YOU ( in your consciousness).
	This is the only and the only reason Indian philosophy is more concerned with interplay of sound in your consciousness and cares less about the science of material world. Because when one 'dies' and is 'reborn'  into the realm of a different universe, the material world ( of that universe) could take any shape, size, hue, color and physics. Electron, proton - may or may not exist in that realm, whatever that realm be -- the experience will always always be constructed by the phenomenon of sound in the consciousness. This fact will NOT change.   Such is the importance of sound in Indian philosophy!! And at the base of the phenomenon of sound ( we are not talking about phenomenon of sound as interpreted by modern physics) is the primordial sound called AUM or the OM.  AUM or the OM is the fundamental sound, the root, the core. The whole phenomenon of sound originates and dissolves in OM.   OM  is the fundamental sound from which all other patterns of sound originate. Juts like a seed from which a tree sprouts. OM is the seed, from OM sprouts the entire tree of sound patterns capable of weaving  the mechanism of shabda and artha. OM can never be pronounced. The way we pronounce OM in this universe, or for that matter would pronounce in any other universe is the closest approximation to the original, primordial sound of OM. And the irony is the so called closest approximation is actually  highly distant, a far cry from the original primordial sound. OM is always EXPERIENCED in meditation. Cant be pronounced. Cant be taught. Impossible. OM is the fundamental thing, the seed. If you have gone up to OM , you have a handle to how this whole phenomenon of existence take its shape from. In a way now you know EVERYTHING . Seen in this light the following will make sense to you.    If you strive to understand the logical importance of OM per Mantra, so many abstract and vague definitions of OM will start falling in place and make sense for you. And going up to Om is far easier than you thought! All that is required is a passionate inquiry into the nature of "I". Who am I. A passionate inquiry, and not a casual one. And the practical start with as a simple exercise as being attentive to your breath! Listen to the sound of your breath The sound your breath produces or is capable of producing has great significance in mantra science - or for that matter in any school of Indian philosophy. Listen to this sound! This is important. Your natural breathing process produces 4 kinds of sound. It doesn't matter whether you are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, scholar, illiterate, criminal, communist, capitalist, whatever. We are concerned with 2 of the 4. So what are those 2? You are producing those sounds all the time - naturally. But you don't pay attention. Like when you run, do heavy exercise, get agitated or indulge in sex - these sound patterns get more pronounced. You can record them. Play back and listen carefully.   Those 2 sounds are -Aa and Ha. Your breath is producing these 2 sound all the time. When you inhale you produce sound Aa and when you exhale you produce sound Ha.   Exercise Like we said - when you run, do heavy exercise, get agitated or indulge in sex , the sound gets more pronounced. So when you are gasping for breath try speaking out an alphabet aloud , such as try speaking Z or B or T or L etc - you will find it all conflicts with your breathing process. When you are gasping for breath , you will note that your natural breathing process produces the sound Aa and ha. Pause, take some time and get convinced for yourself. So what is so important about these two sound Aa and Ha??   (Aa) First alphabet of Sanskrit. (Ha) Last alphabet of Sanskrit ( Aa) is the first alphabet in Sanskrit and is the last alphabet. And look how these two alphabets (first and the last ) come together to form this meaningful word- Aham - which means "I". AHAM means ‘I’. The Dot or the Bindu which made the two alphabets come together in a meaningful union represents the principle of Shakti or the Consciousness. ( Simply said - well simply said - it just means YOU, the conscious entity giving meaning to everything) From is derived this : = + Literally this word means Structure (Akar) of Me (Aham).   Normally we think Ahamkar () means being boastful, hot headed or being full of pride. No. It literally means the structure of " I" inside me. According to mantra it is the language ( alphabets from Aa to Ha ) that is responsible for creating the faculty of "I". (This article is getting too long so I wont elaborate how and why language is responsible for creating this faculty of "I". Some of the readers interacting with me on this are  real genius they would figure out) So now we come to something very interesting. The  language ( reducible to sound ) is responsible for creating the object as in . The  language ( reducible to sound ) is ALSO responsible for creating the subject as in Therefore the subject and object both are produced by the interplay of language ( reducible to sound) Purpose of Mantra Purpose of mantra is therefore to reveal to the seeker that he or she is neither object nor subject. Both are created upon him/her  through the play of dhavani. Therefore the literal meaning of the word MANTRA is - liberation from the spell of Dhavani, Shabda and Artha. Once the mechanism of this spell is understood, realized and finally transcended, what  ever is "left behind" is the real you. Pure and Blissful!