Given that the author admits to being 'mischievous, talkative, cynical, and critical,' why should a reader trust his account of Sai Baba's life?

The author's admission of his past flaws is central to the narrative's claim of authenticity and transformation. As described in Chapter 2, by establishing his initial persona as cynical and logic-driven, he positions his subsequent devotion as a powerful testament to Sai Baba's influence. The text deflects concerns about his personal credibility by asserting a divine authorship, quoting Sai who says, "He is merely a pretext; I myself shall write my own story!" This suggests the reader's trust should not be in the flawed human author, but in the divine force that is supposedly writing through him after his ego has been surrendered, making his past cynicism a marker of the journey's starting point rather than a reason for distrust.