If saints like Sai Baba are beyond the cycle of birth and death, why do they take a physical body in the first place?

Chapter 43 explains that great souls like Sai Baba, who are inherently beyond birth and death, incarnate in physical form for a specific, selfless purpose: the welfare and protection of their devotees. The text highlights that they take on various avatars by their own will, with the "sole desire for the welfare of devotees." Baba's appearance in Shirdi is described as an event gathered by the past merits of his followers. These beings are personifications of the form of Brahman, and once their intended task for the people is complete, they merge back into their true, unmanifest form, having fulfilled their purpose.