How does the story of the two gentlemen from Goa illustrate Sai Baba's teachings on detachment and karmic debt?

The incident with the two gentlemen in Chapter 36 serves as a powerful practical lesson on Sai Baba's core teachings. By accepting fifteen rupees from one man and rejecting thirty-five from another, Baba demonstrates his detachment from worldly wealth. He explains this to Shama by asking, "What house do I have, or what family life? Why would I need wealth? I am certainly detached in every way." This act, which seems like partiality, is revealed to be an intervention in the realm of karma. Baba states, "Mother Masjid demands what is owed, and the giver becomes free from debt." This implies the first man had a pre-existing karmic debt that was settled through the offering. The story thus illustrates the profound principle mentioned in Chapter 36: that debt, enmity, and murder are inescapable and follow a person across time, and that a Sadguru like Sai can act as a facilitator in resolving these deep-rooted karmic accounts.