Why did Sai Baba have the women throw the flour on the village boundary instead of letting them keep it?

Sai Baba had the women throw the flour on the village boundary because the act was not about making food but was a divine play to save the village. As Chapter 1 explains, the wheat was not merely grain; it was a representation of the cholera epidemic that plagued the area. By grinding the wheat, Baba was symbolically crushing the disease. He then had the women cast this 'flour' on the boundary to expel the epidemic from the village. His anger towards the women stemmed from their greed and misunderstanding; they saw the flour as property to be looted, while Baba was performing a compassionate act of healing. The chapter clarifies that once the flour was thrown near the stream, the disease began to recede.