Does Chapter 26 say anything about the difference between just knowing something spiritually and actually experiencing it?

Yes, Chapter 26 makes a very clear distinction between intellectual knowledge and direct experience. The author prays to Sai Samarth to make spiritual knowledge meaningful through personal experience, emphasizing that without it, "the exhaustion of speech achieves nothing in spirituality." This suggests that simply talking about or reading about spiritual truths is insufficient. The chapter highlights a deep yearning for the Guru's grace to transform theoretical understanding into a lived reality. The devotee asks Baba to grant the gift of the natural state of union (Sayujya), which is the ultimate personal experience of the knowledge being discussed.