The text mentions Baba is in Samadhi. Does this mean he is dead, or is there a different understanding of his state?

The text explicitly challenges the idea that being in Samadhi is equivalent to being dead. Chapter 33 poses the question rhetorically: "Being in a body means being alive; being in Samadhi means what - dead?" It then clarifies that Sai is beyond the concepts of birth and death and remains steadfastly ever-present. An analogy is used, comparing Sai to fire hidden within wood: not visible, but contained within and capable of becoming manifest. For devotees, Sai is always present and responds to their call, which is hungry only for exclusive, undivided love.