Despite the villagers developing faith in him, why did few people have a close relationship with Maharaj in the early days?

Even after the whole village came to have faith in Maharaj following the lamp miracle, very few people maintained a close relationship with him. As stated in Chapter 0, this was primarily because of Maharaj's sharp nature. This quality made people hesitant, and no one dared to be overly familiar with him. As a result, visits to the Masjid where he stayed were infrequent. The text mentions that at this particular time, it was Madhavrao Balwant from the Deshpande family who began to visit more frequently than others, indicating that most kept a respectful distance.