When God Himself Came to Stop the Death Sentence

A brief discourse from Pujya Maharaj Ji — listen to the full discourse by watching the video above.

Full Discourse

There was a devotee of Sri Ram's name. He was very compassionate. When a devotee has compassion and mercy, he was the treasurer of the emperor. If someone came and said, "Maharaj, I am a poor man. My daughter has to get married," he would give from the treasury. Although he should have sought the king's permission to give from the treasury. The king's permission—because he was not so merciful and compassionate that he would grant permission for all the poor. So he would do it anyway. Slowly, the Qazi came to know. When an investigation was done, the matter was confirmed. And he admitted that without the king's permission, he would give from the treasury. Making it an offense, the king, the emperor, sentenced him to death by hanging.

He was a great devotee, a worshiper of God, filled with great compassion. When he remained within the king's orders, but he was a sant—his character manifested Sri Ram's character. He smiled. When the order for hanging came, he smiled. His presiding deity was Vittal God, who dwells in Maharashtra. Vittal God was his beloved deity. So the emperor asked, "As Vittal's grace.. What is your final wish?"

He said, "Let me stand before Vittal God once. I mean, let me see him once."

They put him in chains and took him before Vittal God, and he said, "Are you willing?"

He went. "Are you willing? If you are willing that I should hang, then I am willing.

Whatever my beloved does, whatever, brother.. If you feel, beloved, that now my body should end by hanging, it doesn't matter."

Meanwhile, God appeared before the emperor—a boy of about fifteen or sixteen years of age. With lotus eyes, smiling, he greeted the emperor.

When the emperor saw the jewels for the first time, he was amazed. The boy said, "Listen, you have sentenced our master to death by hanging because of the treasury. See these jewels and gems—your treasury is nothing compared to these. Take these, and immediately order that my master be released."

The boy said, "My master is Sri Ram. I am his servant, God."

The emperor said, "But Sri Ram never told me this." The boy said, "It is so secret—do not ask about it. We were forbidden to serve anyone else. We do not have treasures with jewels and gems like our master has."

Now the emperor immediately began to order: "Go! Stop him at once! They are taking him to the execution ground. We must prevent him from being hanged!" The horsemen rushed to stop him. At that very moment, God disappeared.

Now the bewildered emperor cried out, "Where did he go? Where did he go?" The emperor clasped his hands and said, "Show me your servant once. Let me have his darshan."

The boy said, "Which servant of ours? We are your servant." The emperor said, "No, the one named Bittu." The boy had said his name was Bittu, and he was about that same age. When the emperor gave the jewels, tears came to his eyes.

He exclaimed, "This is not a servant! This is Vittal God, the Lord of all universes, who came before you like this to protect us!"

This text is taken from auto-generated captions of the video—there may be errors in transcription. Please listen to the video for the authentic discourse.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)