In plain words
The Rāmāyaṇa, the book of ideals
The chief book for the people of Bhārata, the book of ideals, the book that wakes us every day, the book that gives an ideal to every family, is the Rāmāyaṇa. In this Rāmāyaṇa, at one point, Rāma answered Vasiṣṭha in order to make known His own natural character and His duty. When He was on the mountain of Citrakūṭa, Bharata and Śatrughna went with the whole retinue to see Rāma. After all the talk with Him was over, Bharata said, “Rāma is the eldest son, He is pure and He is worthy, so no one but Rāma has the right to rule this kingdom; I have none.” “How can you leave aside Rāma, the noblest and the eldest, and crown me? In everything I am lower than Rāma,” said Bharata. Out of his Prema for Rāma, Bharata went on pleading with Him in this way. Rāma spoke. “My dear! For us, the word is what matters most. For us, the word is life itself. In the line of the Ikṣvākus no one has ever been seen to break the word he gave. Born into this line of the Ikṣvākus as the eldest and the noblest, I will not bring on Myself the disgrace of breaking My word. I will gladly give up even My life. But My word I will not break,” He said.
The sage Jābāli was there at the time. Intending somehow to send Rāma back to Ayodhyā and have Rāma's reign established, this Jābāli, though a maharṣi, kept arguing as an unbeliever would. “Rāmacandra! You are being a great fool. Old King Daśaratha, in his infatuation with a woman, gave Kaikeyī a boon, and you try to carry out that boon: is there any sense in this? How can you say that Daśaratha is a good man? He sold his son and bought his wife. That is, he sent his son to the forest and bought his wife. This is not right. Not only that. Daśaratha is no more. Why do you hold on so stubbornly for the sake of a dead man's word?” he said. Then Rāma said, “The body may stay or may fall away, may burn or may crumble, but the word never crumbles. The body made of the five elements may drop at any time. Satya has no form. It fills everything everywhere. It holds good through all three times. In past, future and present alike it stands safe and secure.