Dear br. Mr. Green,
You say that we are influenced by others only to the extend that we allow them to influence us, or we programme ourselves. It will be very good if it were like this, because it happens that sometimes we don't want at all to be influenced/ Consciously we don't want. Consciously we like to programm ourselves in certain way. But in reality we get influenced even against our intention. Or our mind does not fit the programm we fixed for it. This is because if we don't have full authority over ourselves. If we have not become masters over ourselves, then we are influenced. We cannot escape the influence, yes the aim is to be non influenced, but if we have not yet reached the aim then we can also neutralize the influence. Maybe there is only one soul that is never influenced by anyone and all the rest are, but in their striving to achieve his stage the influence goes away.
You also say that you have had abilities even before Gyan and it is not strange, because here we don't study something new at all. We are all souls who have forgotten our identity. So this stage also depends on our past. The more we make effort for this stage now, then in the drama also we maintain it and the more in the drama we had maintained it in the past the more now we can maintain it. You know - The Cycle.
Baba via Virendra Dev Dixit also gives the example that some students study at school and don't need extra tution. Some study at home as well, take a private teacher but still cannot learn. The Knowledge also makes a lot of difference to some. It comes as turning point in their life and changes them completely. Other just hear it in one ear and out the other.