What was the moral or essence of the story involving Pundalikrao and the coconut?

According to the narrative in Chapter 51, the incident with Pundalikrao losing the coconut was merely an excuse for a deeper spiritual lesson from Sai Baba. The advice Baba gave served to clear Pundalikrao's distressed mind and free him from the play of ego and pride. The text explicitly states that the essence of this story is to demonstrate a fundamental spiritual principle: the more one can achieve a non-egoistic state, the more authority one gains on the spiritual path. This state of non-egoism is what allows a person to easily cross the metaphorical ocean of existence.