What was the real motive behind Sai Baba's fondness for lighting lamps, and what miraculous event occurred when he was denied oil?

While it appeared to be a mere fondness, Chapter 0 clarifies that Sai Baba's practice of lighting many lamps in the Masjid and temples had a deeper motive: doing good for the people. It was not to satisfy a personal whim. When the village oil-men and grocers one day refused to provide him with oil, Maharaj's routine was not disrupted. He proceeded to fill the lamps with water. In a display that astonished the onlookers, he lit the water-filled lamps with a match, and they stayed burning brightly all through the night, proving his divine power and dispelling the villagers' belief that he was mad.