Chapter 36 begins with salutations to Ganesha, Saraswati, and Sitaramachandra. Does this mean these were the specific deities that Sai Baba himself worshipped?

The salutations at the beginning of Chapter 36, including those to Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswati, and Shri Sitaramachandra, are part of the author's traditional invocation and not a description of Sai Baba's personal worship practices. This is a common feature in many sacred Hindu texts, where the writer begins by paying homage to various deities and their Guru before starting the narration. The author explicitly says, "Now begins Shri Sai Satcharitra" and follows with these salutations as a preamble. The text later describes Baba as being "indifferent to the 'I am He' (So-ham) attitude" and as an "incarnation of the knowledge of Truth," focusing on his transcendent nature rather than his specific religious rituals.