Was Hemadpant chosen to write the stories because he was already a pure, ego-free devotee from the beginning?

On the contrary, the author describes his initial nature as being far from pure and ego-free. As detailed in Chapter 2, he admits to being "mischievous, talkative, cynical, and critical." He describes himself as having a "bad intellect and a logic-driven mind," being "always proud of his own wisdom," and prone to argumentation. It was Sai Baba's instruction to "dissolve his ego and surrender it at my feet" that was a prerequisite for receiving Baba's full assistance in writing the story. The transformation, rather than an initial state of purity, is a key part of the narrative.