What was Dev's own explanation for why he failed to recognize Sai Baba in the form of a Sanyasi?

After learning the truth from Jog, Dev felt deep remorse and analyzed his own failure to recognize Baba. As detailed in Chapter 40, Dev reasoned that his delusion was caused by a prior encounter with the same Sanyasi. Before the Udyapan invitation was even sent to Sai, this Sanyasi had visited Dev to collect funds for cow protection. Because of this previous, mundane context, when the Sanyasi appeared for the meal, Dev's mind did not infer that it could be Baba in disguise. He lamented, "if this first meeting happened... only for food, my vision would not have been so confused." He also admitted to forgetting Baba's specific clue that He would come with two others.