What was Dev's justification for not recognizing Sai Baba when he appeared as a Sanyasi?

Dev's failure to recognize Baba was due to a specific sequence of events that created a delusion in his mind. In his reflections recorded in chapter 40, Dev realized that the Sanyasi had first visited him for his own purpose—collecting funds for cow protection—*before* Dev had even sent the Udyapan invitation to Sai Baba in Shirdi. Because this first meeting was for a different reason and occurred prior to the invitation, when the same person returned asking for a meal, Dev didn't infer that it could be Baba. Dev lamented that his vision would not have been so confused if the Sanyasi had appeared only after the invitation was made.