अमृष्यमाणः पुनरुग्रतेजा निशम्य तन्नास्तिकवाक्यहेतुम्।
अथाब्रवीत्तं नृपतेस्तनूजो विगर्हमाणो वचनानि तस्य॥
amṛṣyamāṇaḥ punar ugra-tejā
niśamya tan nāstika-vākya-hetum
athābravīt taṁ nṛpates tanūjo
vigarhamāṇo vacanāni tasya
amṛṣyamāṇaḥ = intolerant; punaḥ = again; ugra-tejāḥ = of fierce prowess; niśamya = thought; tat nāstika-vākya-hetum = of the argument that the soul does not exist; atha abravīt = and spoke; tam = to him; nṛpateḥ tanūjaḥ = Prince Rāma; vigarhamāṇaḥ = while criticizing in His mind; vacanāni = words; tasya = his.
Intolerant of the argument that the soul does not exist, Prince Rāma of fierce prowess again thought and spoke to him while criticizing his words in His mind.1
1 “The argument that the soul does not exist” refers to the argument upholding the concept that there is no soul that reincarnates according to karma. This is one of the meanings of nāstikya.
Rāma had text 2.108.15 in mind:
yadi bhuktam ihānyena deham anyasya gacchati
dadyāt pravasataḥ śrāddhaṁ na tat pathy-aśanaṁ bhavet
“If the food eaten by one here goes to someone else’s body, śrāddha can be given to a traveler, [for] that would be his food for travel. But that is not seen to occur anywhere.”