He hears our prayers
Baba held Rama, Krishna, and Hanuman etc. in great reverence as God. Hence He would refuse to sit on the same level with them. For saints like Gnyaneshwar, Eknath and Tukaram, He had the highest regard. And He would sit up, join His palms in front of His chest in token of reverence and close His eyes as soon as arati of any of them was commenced. About Eknath, He would say that Eknath was an excellent Brahmin the like of which you do not come across these days.
Sai Baba was a Puma Jnani and an adept par excellence in yoga. Kharida yoga is a practice which one in a billion among yogis knows. Baba was that rare yogi, the yogi among yogis. So He would guide seekers of Gnana yoga and Raja yoga and Hatha yoga who would seek His personal help and guidance. Their experiences being personal may not come before the world.
Knowing the operation of the law of cause and effect in the universe, 'What you sow, so you reap' was the truth underlying the tales and parables that the narrated. For the laymen, He advocated the Bhakti marga, the path of devotion, of which devotion and chanting the Name are the main planks. Worshiping, serving and loving God are its chief features. He stressed by word and example the importance of developing this devotion to one's Guru.
The saint sincerely worked for the spiritual uplift of mankind, healing the sores of suffering of humanity by the extraordinary power of His spiritual attainments and shuffled off His mortal coil on October 15, 1918.
But is Baba really dead? No. From His Samadhi, He hears our prayers and supplications and grants them with a generous heart. It is this generosity of Baba that is responsible for the unqualified success of the Baba Mission. The saint is as alive today with His body in His Samadhi, as He was while in flesh and blood. He inclines His ears unto our prayers today from His samadhi as vigilantly as He did while He was in our midst in His physical body.
When Baba is ever willing and ready to favour the devotee with his grace, it is incumbent on the devotee, and it becomes his sacred duty to become a fit receptacle to receive such grace. He can become eligible to receive such grace by leading a chaste, pure, simple and virtuous life. Sincere repentance and confession will wash away the feeling of guilt. He has to look up trustfully and sincerely to the Guru to operate or work on him and raise him higher and higher through various experiences till at last he is taken to the distant goal as a culmination of his sadhana.
