ATMAN ALONE EXISTS

The Atman, our real nature, is "the experiencer," while the totality of the relative world, including the mind and the senses, is the "object of experience."  In reality, the Atman alone exists. 

When, however, by way of maya, our present predicament, the Atman falsely identifies with the individual ego, it is subject to all the thoughts that arise and trouble the mind.  This is why a person imagines that he is "unhappy" or "happy," "angry" or "lustful."

The Gita reminds us that this is not really the case:

The illumined soul . . . knows always, "I am doing nothing."  No matter what he sees, hears, touches, smells, eats . . . this he knows always, "I am not seeing, I am not hearing.  It is the senses that see and hear and touch the things of the senses."