How is the author's role described in Chapter 36? Is the author taking credit for telling these stories?

Quite the contrary, Chapter 36 emphasizes the author's humility and lack of agency. The narrator explicitly questions their own authority, stating, "What authority do I have? I am truly aware of this." The chapter explains that the ego or "I-ness" of the speaker is set aside, and it is the "playful Sai himself" who takes over, making his own qualities known to devotees through the narrator. The text describes both the listener and the speaker as a "mere pretext" that Sai Baba uses to fulfill the desires of his devotees. Essentially, the author is presented as a simple instrument or channel for Sai's grace, not the originator of the tales.