How did Sai Baba perceive and react to the author's hidden feelings of jealousy?

Chapter 18 provides a clear account of Sai Baba's omniscience. When the author silently felt jealous of another devotee, Sathe, thinking, "Sathe gets the fruit with little effort, while years of mine have passed," Baba immediately knew this inner thought. The text confirms this, saying, "The thought that arose in my mind at that time, He immediately knew it." Instead of rebuking him, Baba, acting like a "most merciful mother," devised a gentle lesson. He sent the author on a seemingly unrelated errand to Shama to fetch fifteen rupees, orchestrating a situation that would teach the author a valuable spiritual lesson without direct confrontation.