Sai Baba was very fond of lighting lamps every evening in the Masjid and other temples. For the oil needed in those little earthenware lamps that he lit, he depended on the generosity of the grocers of Shirdi. So he would call on the grocers for donations of some oil everyday. One day as he approached the grocers they bluntly refused to oblige him, saying they had no fresh stocks. Without a word of protest Baba returned to the mosque and kept the dry wicks in the lamps. The local vendors were watching him with curiosity. Baba took some water in the tin pot that contained very little (a few drops) of oil, and filled all the lamps with it and lighted them. To the surprise and dismay of the watching local vendors, the lamps began to burn, and kept burning deep into the midnight.

Vendors who refused to give oil were stunned to see the miracle and fell at Baba’s feet and sought forgiveness for their wickedness. Baba readily forgave them and advised them to never tell a lie, and said “Falsehood displeases God”. He said that their conduct was unsociable and unwanted. He asked them never again to take pleasure in other’s distress.

Surprisingly, the first public miracle of Christ was turning water into wine and the first public miracle of Shirdi Sai Baba was turning water into oil (Guruji Shri C.B.Satpathy).