Can you explain the connection between Sai Baba and the deity Vitthal, based on the experiences of his devotees?

Chapter 4 illustrates a profound and multifaceted connection between Sai Baba and the deity Vitthal. Baba explicitly assured Das Ganu that Vitthal would appear to a devotee filled with faith, placing his hand on his chest as if to say Vitthal was within him. This was proven when Das Ganu later had a vision of Vitthal in Shirdi. Similarly, when Kakasaheb Dixit had a meditative vision of Vitthal, Baba confirmed it by asking, "Vitthal Patil had come, right?" He further reinforced his identity with the deity when scolding Bhagwantrao Kshirsagar for neglecting his family's Vitthal idol, stating, "He keeps Vitthal hungry too, that’s why I brought him to Shirdi." These accounts show that Baba presented himself not just as a devotee of Vitthal, but as being one with him, treating worship offered to Vitthal as worship offered to himself.