Upasni Maharaj became known as Sai Baba's spiritual heir or chief disciple, and as his fame spread, some of Sai Baba's devotees became jealous and conspired to find ways to harass him. Some even plotted to murder Upasni. To ease the hostile situation, Upasni took the excuse of undergoing a second operation for hemorrhoids and with Sai Baba's consent went to the town of Miraj, where the surgery was performed. After recovering, Upasni did not return to Shirdi for some time but traveled to several places in India where he would discourse to people on spiritual subjects. After the tension had eased in Shirdi, he returned.
It was during December 1915 that the young Zoroastrian from Poona to whom Sai Baba had uttered "Parvardigar," wandered in a dazed state to the Khandoba Temple. Upasni Maharaj had been fasting and was reduced to a skeleton. He was sitting outside on the steps of the temple as the young man slowly walked forward with folded hands (his palms together in a gesture of namaskar ). Looking directly at him, Upasni picked up a stone, stood up and threw it at the young man, striking him on the forehead with such force that the wound bled.
Age pondered his curious behavior. "Was Upasni Maharaj angry with this young man?" it wondered. "No! His face has a sweet victorious smile and the young man's bloody face does too!"
The young man did not run away but approached closer to Upasni. Upasni led him inside the Khandoba Temple, where they stayed alone for two days. Afterwards, Upasni lovingly sent the young man back home. No one knows exactly what transpired in the Khandoba Temple during those two days, but we can surmise that Upasni Maharaj revealed to the young man the youth's own divine identity as the Ancient One.
During July 1917, a man named Shankar Patil took Upasni Maharaj to Sakori, an impoverished village about three miles from Shirdi. He requested that Upasni move out of the Khandoba Temple and reside in Sakori permanently. Sai Baba and he consented to this move; however, Upasni stayed on the outskirts of the village by the Hindu cremation grounds. The villagers built a mud hut for him there and his following began to increase. The cremation grounds turned into a place of darshan and blessings. After some time, a small temple was built opposite the hut in which photographs and paintings of Sai Baba and Upasni Maharaj were adorned.