Sai Baba says 'Sai's body is perishable' and that He is the imperishable Brahman. Why then does he encourage people to worship his physical form if it's just going to disappear?

This question touches on a key spiritual concept explained in Chapter 3. While Sai Baba states, "Sai's body is perishable; the Brahman is imperishable and worthy of worship," He does not forbid the worship of His form. In fact, an earlier passage in the same chapter expresses the devotee's hope that "the form with attributes (Sagun) be seen by the eyes and be firmly imprinted on the heart" as a means to foster devotion. Baba's teaching aims to guide the devotee from worshiping the physical, perishable form to understanding His true, all-pervading nature as the imperishable Brahman, the "eightfold nature" that fills the entire universe. The Sagun form acts as an accessible focal point to eventually realize the formless (Nirgun) reality.