Analyze Sai Baba's interactions with Balasaheb Deo in the mosque. What might the requests for money and the subsequent dialogue signify?

Chapter 41 describes Sai Baba's profound and seemingly cryptic interactions with Balasaheb Deo. Baba first asked for a rupee, then immediately demanded twenty. The next day, he asked for another twenty. Later, noticing Deo in a corner, Baba called out, 'Where is the companion? He is hidden in a difficult place,' and upon Deo identifying himself, asked, 'Then why did you run away?' This entire sequence signifies Baba's method of engaging a devotee's inner state. The repeated requests for Dakshina could be a test of surrender, while calling him out from his 'hidden' spot and asking why he 'ran away' was a direct spiritual metaphor for Deo's tendency to retreat from his spiritual goal. By inviting him to 'sit near with a calm mind,' Baba was physically and spiritually drawing Deo out of his self-imposed isolation and preparing him for grace.