Baba refers to Himself as ‘Sai Baba’ and to the Sai Baba of Shirdi as ‘My previous Body’. He speaks of His having come down, like Rama and Krishna, for the restoration of Truth and Morality, Peace and Love among mankind, for instilling faith in God among men who deny Him through pride and ignorance, and for saving the good from the talons of the bad.
He had announced that till the age of sixteen He would be mostly engaged in sportive pursuits, and that from then on until the age of thirty two, He would be drawing people to Him by means of Mahimas or miracles; for, as He has so often said, without these ‘visiting cards’, no one can gauge even a fraction of His Glory. ‘I shall give you what you want, so that you may want what I have come to give’, is what Baba has said, at Shirdi, while in His previous body. These miracles range from revealing to those who go to Him their past and future, to shaping their future as He wills it to be; by a wave of His hand, He changes empty air into sacred ash, sweets, images, idols, flowers, fruits, books, bowls, rosaries, crucifixes, drugs, dolls - in short, all things that man is accustomed to, as well as many that he has not known. (SSSm Vol.2, p. 12)
Do not give importance to miracles. Do not exaggerate their significance. The greatness of My power does not lie in this miracling. It consists only in My Prema - Love. It is true I can change heaven into earth and earth into heaven. But Divine Power does not fritter itself thus to reveal itself. It is only for the sake of love that Divinity descends as an Avatar. All the ostensible miracles are only droplets of that Ocean of Love. Do not be dazzled by the droplets. Recognise the ocean and come to dip yourselves therein. (BSS Part II, pp. 88-89)
Besides being spontaneous tokens of my love, my so-called miracles are to plant the seed of faith in the minds of unbelievers and to foster humanity and veneration towards a Higher Power. (DG, p. 75)
My miracles are part of unlimited powers of God and are in no sense the product of yogic powers which are acquired, They are natural, uncontrived. There are no invisible beings helping me. My divine will bring the object in a moment. I am everywhere. (EL, p. 67)