Some time after this event, Kakasaheb Dixit replaced the original mud floor with tiles and the work was complete.

When Sri Sai Baba moved into the mosque permanently, he had already been in Shirdi for a number of years, staying mostly under the neem tree, with an occasional night at the mosque or in the near vicinity. It could be said that Baba's settling in the mosque marked a turning point in his life, or rather, in that of the village itself, as the shift brought him into closer contact with the local people.

Although Baba had been healing people since his early days in Shirdi and was sometimes called "Hakim" (Doctor), it was a specific and dramatic event which brought him to the attention of the local populace, and it took place in the mosque. Throughout his life Baba displayed a fondness for lights and lamps and would regularly light panatis (small earthenware pots with cotton wicks and oil) in the mosque and certain local temples, in accordance with the Hindu and Muslim view that places of worship should be illuminated at night. For this he depended on the generosity of a few local shopkeepers from whom he used to beg oil. One day, however, his suppliers brusquely refused to give him any oil, claiming that they were out of stock. Baba took this calmly and returned to the mosque empty-handed. The shopkeepers followed him in the gathering gloom, curious to see what he would do. What they witnessed brought them to their knees in awe and wonder. Baba took some water from the pot kept in the mosque, and put it in the jar he used for collecting oil. Shaking it up he drank the oily water, then took another jar of water and filled the four lamps with it. Next he lit the lamps, and - to the shopkeepers' astonishment - they not only burned, but remained alight all night. Afraid of being cursed by a man of such powers, the shopkeepers begged Baba's forgiveness. This was freely given, but Baba pointed out the importance of speaking the truth - if they did not want to give, they should simply say so directly and not lie about it.

The wondrous nature of this event, which is said to have taken place in 1892, and the many such leelas which followed, precipitated an influx of visitors to the Shirdi mosque that has never stopped growing. To this day, lamps are burnt continually in Dwarkamai, providing us with an unbroken link to Baba and the lamps that he himself started and lovingly kept alight.

During Baba's time Dwarkamai was always referred to simply as "the masjid" or mosque. The name "Dwarkamai" came into popular vogue only after Baba passed away but was first coined when a devotee once expressed a wish to make a pilgrimage to Dwarka, a town in Gujarat sacred to Krishna. Baba replied that there was no need to go as that very mosque was Dwarka. "Dwarka" also means "many-gated", and "mai" means mother, hence "the many-gated mother" (and Baba did often call it the "masjid ayi"). The author of the English adaptation of Sri Sai Satcharitra, N. V. Gunaji, identifies another definition of Dwarka as given in the Skanda Purana - a place open to all four castes of people (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras) for the realization of the four corresponding aims of human existence (i.e. moksha or liberation, dharma or righteousness, artha or wealth, and kama or sensual pleasure). In fact, Baba's mosque was open not only to all castes, but also to untouchables and those without caste. All these interpretations of the name are appropriate for Sai Baba's mosque, but the association that is dearest to the heart of a sentimental Sai devotee is that pointed out by Sri Babuji - dwar-ka-mai: the mother (mai) waiting at the door (dwark) to nourish her child. Just as a loving mother will allow her child to continue playing happily until he or she gets weary or hungry, and will then offer whatever her child needs, so our motherly Sai Baba is waiting to receive us.

Appropriately, Dwarkamai remains open all night (the lower level, that is) so we may go there at any time. During festivals and weekends the mosque may be deluged by devotees, but at other times, especially late at night, it will be less crowded. Three days a year, during the festivals of Ramnavami, Gurupoornima and Vijayadasami, the upper level is also kept open for twenty-four hours continuously.