Unmoved by Jabali's words, Rama said in defense of the Vedic injunctions "I respect your zeal for my coronation which prompts you to contradict the accepted norms. Your intent may sound honorable, but it is not. A man transgresses when he ignores the code of conduct and will be held in contempt by the virtuous. The way a man conducts himself decides whether he is born noble or base, courageous or cowardly and whether he is honest or deceitful. He, who shirks his duties, commands no respect from the upright. The nobility or baseness of his actions judges the character of a man distinguishing between the ethical and the unethical. The immoral would pass for the moral, the unworthy as the worthy and the vile as the virtuous.

Renouncing priceless injunctions, am I to reap their manifest evil? As I tread this path, devoid of dharma, which man of sense, able to discriminate between the just and the unjust, would respect me? My ignominy will be beheld with aversion and even heaven will be denied me. It is also detrimental to the discipline that Ayodhya is famed for.What the king does, so will his people. The lords of the earth should relentlessly keep vigil over righteousness. Compassion towards all beings is the foremost of virtues of the warrior clan and morality is the soul of governance. Truth sustains and enriches life; the chaste fear a liar as they would the venom of a serpent.

On the foundations of truth rests the world and so do all offerings, sacrifices, libations asceticism and the Vedas. Unheeding these, man will land himself in hell. Loyalty to one's word is the core of virtue. Neither by deceit, greed or delusions will I ever abandon my duty and my reverence to the decrees of dharma. The ancestors and Devas will not accept the offerings of those who are false to their promises. I will not accept that which befits the ruthless the depraved and the avaricious. The mind conceives sin, the tongue utters falsehood and the body executes it. Three folds are the paths of sin.

Sire, disregarding the commands of my father should I yield to Bharata's wishes? Death does not change the nature of a promise made. Every man born in this world of 'Karma' will have to perform acts of auspiciousness. Even Agni, Vayu, and Soma reap the fruit of their actions. Having performed a hundred sacrifices Indra earned the kingdom of heaven. Rigorous penance alone paved the way of the ascetics into the land of the immortals" thus Rama convinced Jabali.

Though provoked by Jabali's sacrilegious concepts, Rama condemned them silently. Veiling his displeasure, he spoke respectfully. "Truth, dharma, might, compassion, words or grace, reverence towards Brahmins and guests, are considered the pathways that lead to heaven. So the Brahmins should be united in the execution of these. Jabali! I condemn your failure to protect the Vedic injunctions and I look down upon this act of my father that ordained you into his services. You! An atheist, revile the minds of men."

To Rama's incensed declarations, Jabali replied gently, "Rama I am no atheist, nor do I believe that there is nothing beyond this manifest world of reality. Rising to the occasion, sometimes I take the role of a man of faith and some times that of a non-believer. Whenever dharma is challenged, I may still resort to these contradictory methods to test the fallacy, or truth of the situation. My efforts should not be branded as atheistic and I instigated this controversy to establish you in this world as one who would never deviate from the path of truth."