What was the symbolic connection between grinding wheat and the cholera epidemic in the village?

The connection between grinding wheat and the cholera epidemic was entirely symbolic and part of Sai Baba's divine play to protect his village. The source material from Chapter 1 clarifies that the wheat itself was not ordinary grain but was treated as a stand-in for the deadly disease. The act of grinding it in the mill represented the destruction of the epidemic. When Baba had the women throw the resulting 'flour' on the village boundary near a stream, it symbolized casting out the disease from the community. The text confirms the success of this spiritual remedy, stating that from that moment, the disease began to recede and the "bad days ended."