Shloka 23
मनु-उपदेशः — भूत-उत्पत्ति, इन्द्रिय-निवृत्ति, तथा पर-स्वभाव-विवेकः
Manu’s Instruction on Elemental Origination, Sense-Withdrawal, and Discrimination of the Supreme Nature
एवं नराणां मनसि त्रिषु भावेष्ववस्थिता
evaṁ narāṇāṁ manasi triṣu bhāveṣv avasthitā; sā bhāvātmikā buddhiḥ samādhi-avasthāyāṁ sukha-duḥkha-moha—etān trīn bhāvān laṅghayati; yathā saritāṁ svāmī samudraḥ uttāla-taraṅgaiḥ saṁyuktaḥ san svāṁ vipulāṁ taṭabhūmim api kadācid laṅghayati.
毗湿摩说道：因此，在人的心中，它以三种倾向而住。然而这由倾向塑成的理智，一旦进入深定，便超越这三者——乐、苦与迷妄。它如大海，诸河之主：与冲天巨浪相合时，有时竟涌越其广阔的海岸。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that although the mind commonly functions through three affective conditions—pleasure, pain, and delusion—the discriminative intellect can, in samādhi, transcend these fluctuations. Ethical steadiness arises when one is no longer driven by these inner tides.
Bhishma continues his instruction in the Shanti Parva by explaining the psychology of inner states and the possibility of surpassing them through meditative absorption, illustrating the point with a vivid image of the ocean overflowing its shores when stirred by great waves.