พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าต้องเริ่มจากอินทรีย์ 5 ให้เต็มส่วนก่อนกำลังแห่งพละจึงจะเพิ่มได้ พร้อมยกเรื่องท้าวสักกะและอุบาสกที่บรรลุอรหันต์ก่อนถูกวัวขวิดตาย เป็นตัวอย่างว่าอินทรีย์และพละต้องบริบูรณ์ทั้งคู่จึงจะบรรลุผลได้Pra Ajarn explains that the five faculties must first be brought to fullness before the five powers can grow, illustrating this with the stories of King Sakka and a devoted layman who attained Arahantship just before being gored by a bull — showing that both faculty and power must be complete together for the fruit to be attained.
Following up on Pra Ajarn's talk two days earlier about the five powers, someone asked: how can we increase the five powers within ourselves, and how do we upgrade what works behind the scenes?
Increasing the powers requires first having the faculties (indriya) — mastery over oneself. Only once are complete can the strength of the five powers begin to grow; without that mastery, the power simply cannot increase. We must start from the — , faith, wisdom, concentration, and effort — bringing them to fullness. These five spheres, once operating normally, draw in pure energy to complete our mastery over ourselves. Once that mastery is whole and complete, the sphere of the powers appears bright and clear, the fruit of these five spheres, bringing about the fulfillment of our aspirations. The five faculties build the mastery that lets us act without being controlled by 's fear of failure. Effort — viriya, from vīra, meaning "hero" or "the brave one" — needs mindfulness, faith, wisdom, and concentration to drive it into courageous, decisive action, willing to push through difficulty. Without enough strength in the powers, there is no mastery, and no courage to decide anything.
Pra Ajarn told the story of King Sakka in the time of the Buddha, who descended from Tavatiṃsa heaven to hear the from the Buddha, arriving at the entrance of the Gandhakuṭī. Yet the Buddha, knowing this through his , chose not to come out, because King Sakka's faculties were not yet complete. Even though , as the ruling force, had been powerful enough to bring King Sakka there, his powers were not yet complete, so he could not attain the fruit — even hearing the Dhamma would not have brought realization. He had to wait until fully ready, so King Sakka returned to Tavatiṃsa, and only once his powers reached fullness did he descend again — this time the Buddha emerged from the attainment of ceson to teach him, and he attained the fruit of a noble one.
Another story concerns a lay devotee who traveled many yojanas from a distant city, day and night, hoping to hear the Dhamma from the Buddha. He arrived while the Buddha was on almsround, and begged to hear even a single line of teaching, though it wasn't the proper time. The Buddha delivered one passage of teaching, and the layman attained Arahantship instantly, his faculties and powers both having reached fullness together. Yet due to the force of past kamma that determined he would die at that very time, shortly after attaining the fruit he parted ways and was soon gored to death by a bull — drawn to that by the force of that kamma. Everything, in every case, is simply the mechanism of at work.
Both stories show that time is required for the tools of the wholesome to work until the powers reach fullness — which explains why the Grandmother Teacher had to practice diligently until the full moon of the tenth month, and why the Buddha attained enlightenment on the full moon of the sixth month: there is a precise timing calculated by the automatic system of the wholesome. Likewise, some people can sit in meditation for only an hour, others for two to six hours, and still others through an entire day and night — all according to differing strength in the powers. The strength of the powers has two stages: the first allows one to begin acting at all; the second determines how far that action can go — both depending on the completeness of the faculties and the powers together.