What does the story of the neglected reading teach us about Sai Baba's omniscience and his methods of guidance?

This story powerfully demonstrates Sai Baba's omniscience and his compassionate, indirect methods of guidance. Chapter 18 reveals that Baba knew the narrator's 'inner thought' about having neglected his morning reading out of laziness, a fact 'surely known' to Maharaj. Instead of a direct rebuke, Baba used a pretext—sending him for Dakshina—to guide him back to his duty. The seemingly chance encounter with the Nath Bhagawat at Shama's house, opening to the precise unfinished portion, was no accident. It was Baba's way of enforcing discipline, which the text defines as regular reading. This illustrates that Baba, like a 'most merciful mother,' sees our faults but engineers circumstances to help us correct them and maintain our spiritual practices.