What was the author's self-described personality and mindset before becoming a devotee?

In Chapter 2, the author, who would be known as Hemadpant, provides a very critical self-assessment of his character before his spiritual transformation. He describes himself as having been mischievous, talkative, cynical, and critical. He admits to being arrogant about his knowledge, which he ironically calls an "'impurity' of knowledge." According to his own account, he was ignorant of the greatness of a Satguru, possessed a bad intellect, and had a logic-driven mind. He was consistently proud of his own wisdom and was prone to argumentation, a trait he later learned to overcome.