stayed in a temple at Kopargaon for a few days and used to visit Brahmachari Bua. One day, Brahmachari Bua again pressed him to go to Shirdi; and while this talk was going on, some persons came to Brahmachari Bua in a tonga (horse-cab) for darshana and told him they intended to go to Shirdi to Sai Baba. When they knew that Maharaj had been to Shirdi, they not only pressed him to come with them to Shirdi, but also offered to pay for his tonga fare. Maharaj was very reluctant to go, but at last yielded to the joint pressure of all who were present. In the afternoon, they all reached Shirdi and went in the Masjid (mosque) to Sai Baba for darshana. After darshana, Sai Baba asked him to tell the number of days which had elapsed after his last visit; and to his own surprise, Maharaj found after counting that he had returned exactly on the eighth day. When Maharaj told him that it was exactly the eighth day, Sai Baba reminded him that he had thought that it would not be possible for him to come back in eight days.

Maharaj said: "Baba, your ways of working are incomprehensible to me." Then Maharaj decided to live under the orders of Sai Baba, who asked him to stay at Shirdi, and like others he followed the daily routine of the darshana and Arti of Sai Baba. After a few days, Sai Baba asked Maharaj for dakshana (religious offering in cash for the service rendered). Maharaj brought for Sai Baba just one rupee, which had become black and green through chequered use, and gave it to Sai Baba, who on receiving it said: "Look at the kind of rupee which he has given me. From the rupees which he has with him, he has deliberately selected a dark rupee." Maharaj said: "Baba, kindly return that dark rupee to me; I will bring another one for you." Sai Baba said: "I did want a dark rupee; so let it remain." When Maharaj went back for meals, he felt very uneasy over what had happened; he therefore returned to Sai Baba with the best of the rupees which he had and gave it to him, saying, "It was a great mistake of mine to have given you the dark rupee; now I have brought for you the best one." Sai Baba accepted it and was tying it in the cloth, when Haribhau Chaubal appeared on the scene and gave him some rupees. Sai Baba asked him for more rupees, but he had none with him; so Sai Baba asked him to go back to his residence and bring all the money with him from his residence. When Maharaj heard this, he too offered to bring all the money he had with him; he brought with him all the rupees as well as the additional change and gave them to Sai Baba, soon after Haribhau Chaubal had handed over his money.

Before the time of Arti, Sai Baba often used to say many things which were intelligible only to those for whom they were meant. Maharaj found that many of the things which Sai Baba said described the detailed history