From among his loose change, Kashinath selected an old blackened rupee coin and gave it to the fakir. Accepting it, Sai Baba examined the coin and then exclaimed, "Look at this coin this fellow has given me. He purposely chose the blackest coin for me!"
Kashinath was embarrassed because it was true and pleaded, "Return the coin and I will give you another."
But the Master replied, "I want only this coin. Let this black rupee be with me." Later he added, "Although you have given me this worthless coin, I will see to it that you realize the Truth!"
During his dinner, Kashinath was deeply disturbed and, selecting a new rupee coin, went back to the mosque. He handed the coin to Sai Baba, saying, "It was a grave mistake on my part to give you the black rupee. I have brought you a new one. Please accept it and forgive me."
Sai Baba took the coin, and as he was tying it in his cloth bundle, a man named Haribhau Chaubal came and handed a large wad of rupees to Sai. The old fakir looked angry and demanded more money from Chaubal, but he had given all he had. Sai Baba then instructed Chaubal to return home immediately and bring back all the money in his possession. The man left quite pleased, for he had been given the opportunity to surrender all his wealth to Sai Baba. Seeing this, Kashinath went to get all the money he had and handed it over to Sai Baba.
Daily before his arti was performed, Sai Baba would discourse and dwell on spiritual topics that only those to whom they referred could follow. Kashinath found that most of what Sai spoke about was in regard to him personally and of incidents that had happened in his life. Gradually, Kashinath became convinced that the Master was omniscient.
In this manner two months passed. Kashinath did not like to be a burden to anyone, and since he had no money, he wished to leave Shirdi and stop living off what Sai Baba gave him. He asked a close disciple, a teacher in the local primary school named Madhav Rao Deshpande, to speak with Sai on his behalf and obtain his consent. When Deshpande did so, Sai replied, "Tell Kashinath that consent to leave will be given when all accounts are settled." Sai Baba was referring to all of Kashinath's karma.