Observing that the king is unable to give a positive, decisive answer to the requests of sage Vishwamitra (as he was dangling on the horns of a dilemma, not being able to decide whether or not to allow Lord Ram to go with the sage), his Guru, sage Vashistha, reasoned with him in various ways (using different logics and arguments to convince the king to send Ram to the forest with the sage, and assuring him of the Lord’s absolute safety with Vishwamitra).