What was Sai Baba's philosophy on fasting for spiritual gain?

Sai Baba was strongly against the practice of fasting for spiritual purposes. As explained in Chapter 32, he himself never fasted and would not permit his devotees to do so either. His reasoning was that the mind of a person who is fasting is not peaceful, which he considered a major obstacle to achieving any spiritual benefit. He taught that one cannot attain God on an empty stomach and that the primary step is to 'first satisfy the soul of the self.' The chapter illustrates this with the story of a woman who came to fast, a resolve that Baba knew was counterproductive to true spiritual seeking.