Question: I would like to know if detachment is in humility or if humility is in detachment and which one comes first.

Sri Chinmoy: First things have to come first. If there is no humility then one cannot make any progress. And if we cannot make any progress, how can we achieve detachment? Detachment is very difficult to achieve. So if one wants to make a choice between humility and detachment, humility should come first and humility should always remain. Otherwise if you start with detachment, today you will be detached and tomorrow you will be full of attachment. But if you start with humility, then one gets an inner knowledge, inner wisdom.

These are two divine qualities, humility and detachment. There are people who are very good seekers, the best seekers, but who are attached. They can be humble but they are very attached. Humility and detachment are in the same room. Both are absolutely necessary. My hand is necessary; my legs are necessary. They need not come together. Sometimes when I am working, I use my hand. Sometimes while I am here sitting, I may use my leg and not my hand. But you have to know that my hands and my legs are equally important, especially when the time comes for them to work together. So in this case, these are two divine qualities, but we must know that humility should come first.