नर्तक आत्मा
In plain words
The dancer is the .
The commentators
Śivasūtra with Kṣemarāja's Vimarśinī
ईदृशश्चायं सर्वदा स्वस्वरूपविमर्शाविष्टः - नर्तक आत्मा ॥ ९ ॥ नृत्यति अन्तर्विगूहितस्वस्वरूपावष्टम्भमूलं तत्तज्जागरादिनानाभूमिकाप्रपञ्चं स्वपरिस्पन्दलीलयैव स्वभित्तौ प्रकटयति इति नर्तक आत्मा । तदुक्तं श्रीनैश्वासदेवीमहेश्वरनर्तकाख्ये सप्तमपटले देवीकृतस्तवे त्वमेकांशेनान्तरात्मा नर्तकः कोशरक्षिता ॥ इति । भट्टश्रीनारायणेनापि विसृष्टाशेषसद्बीजगर्भं त्रैलोक्यनाटकम् । प्रस्ताव्य हर संहर्तुं त्वत्तः कोऽन्यः कविः क्षमः ॥ इति । सर्वागमोपनिषदि श्रीप्रत्यभिज्ञायाम् संसारनाट्यप्रवर्तयिता सुप्ते जगति जागरूक एक एव परमेश्वरः ॥ इति ॥ ९ ॥
In plain words
The Self is the dancer. And such a one, always absorbed in reflective awareness of his own nature: He dances: through the play of his own vibration alone he displays on his own wall the spread of the many roles, waking and the rest, whose root is his firm hold on his own nature, hidden within. So the Self is the dancer. As it is said in the hymn made by the Devī, in the seventh chapter of the Naiśvāsa, called Devī, Maheśvara and the Dancer: "With one portion of yourself you are the inner self, the dancer, the guardian of the sheath." And by Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa too: "O Hara, having set going the drama of the three worlds, whose womb holds every true seed sown, who other than you, what poet, is able to bring it to its close?" And in the Pratyabhijñā, the secret teaching of all the scriptures: "The one who sets going the drama of saṃsāra, awake while the world sleeps, is the Supreme Lord alone."