Atma remains unchanged, the Individual changes

Consider a person who has built a house for himself. From the moment he completed the house he has been considering it as 'his' house. When he dies, the house goes to his heir, who then starts calling it 'his' house. Suppose, as time goes on, this new house owner becomes poor and has to sell the house to discharge his debts. Another person buys the house and begins calling the same house 'his' house. Now, who does this house really belong to? Does it belong to the one who constructed it, to the one who inherited it or to the one who bought it? There is no change in the house. In other words, the object remains as before. There is a change only in the persons who claim to own it. The house just continues to be there, but the claimed ownership undergoes repeated change.

In a similar way, there is the unchanging entity, the atma, which, like the house, remains unaffected by the countless owners who come and go. Each one claims personal ownership of this inner house which they call I. Each one believes the I to be their own personal self, but, in truth, it is the one, unchanging atma. And so this my-ness goes on constantly changing, but the atma which is being claimed as one's personal property, expressed every time one says I, remains unaffected by all these assertions.

Is there any medicine to cure this disease of I-ness or my-ness? Both the revealed and the written scriptures have declared that it is the mind which is responsible for this possessive nature. It has been said that along with the five senses of perception, the mind may be considered to be a sixth sense. But it is not just another sense equal to the other senses. In fact, it is the master of all the senses.