What was Sai Baba's view on heaven and the afterlife? Did he encourage followers to strive for it?

According to the teachings in Chapter 37 of the Shri Sai Satcharitra, the conventional idea of heaven as a place of sensual enjoyment is not the ultimate goal. The text questions the desire for a heavenly abode that lacks the remembrance and chanting of God's name. It even equates the pleasure found in heaven by a celestial being like Indra to that of a donkey on earth, suggesting they are fundamentally the same. Instead, Chapter 37 presents the true "heavenly state" as a state of consciousness—beholding the Cosmic Self-form, which is free from mental grief, disease, sorrow, and the fear of death. This state is achieved by overcoming unrighteousness, ignorance, anger, and hatred, not by accumulating merit for a temporary stay in a celestial realm.