How did the author's initial character traits clash with Sai Baba's teachings on self-knowledge?

The author, who later became known as Hemadpant, describes a significant clash between his original personality and Sai Baba's spiritual guidance. In Chapter 2, he admits to being initially mischievous, cynical, critical, and prone to argumentation. He was proud of his own wisdom and possessed a logic-driven mind. This directly conflicts with Sai Baba's advice to avoid argumentation and dualistic explanations, which Baba identified as signs of ignorance and Maya. Sai taught that such a mind is unfit for self-knowledge and leads only to unhappiness. The author's journey, therefore, implicitly involves overcoming these very traits to embrace the surrender Sai required.