Thank you! 

We have to keep going with the flow of our respective practices, taking help from our teachers. In all honesty, I no longer understand what it means when you say:

the atma is greatly affected by the senses

I used to just accept that blindly without really knowing exactly what the atma is and exactly what the consequences are when it is affected. You do not need to explain. I understand that the  atma (core self) is not normally seen objectively and I am not challenging anyone. 

Good luck! Keep practicing and sharing.