Why do great souls like Sai Baba take on a physical form, and are they affected by birth and death?

Chapter 43 reveals that great souls who incarnate by their own will do so with the "sole desire for the welfare of devotees." They take on various avatars for the sake of their followers' protection and salvation. The text emphasizes that these beings are not touched by birth and death, which are considered false imaginations for them. Sai Baba, for instance, appeared in Shirdi due to the past merits of devotees, filled with devotion in an unmanifest form. His physical form was a temporary manifestation, and he was not subject to the normal cycles of life and death that bind others.