Acharya Prashant explains that there are two aspects that differentiate compassion ('karuna') from pity ('daya'). Firstly, in pity, you consider the other person's suffering to be real. You believe it is real because you consider your own suffering to be real. This leads to sympathy, as you yourself are caught in the swing of happiness and sorrow, which you deem very real and valuable. The one who is swinging in the pendulum of their own happiness and sorrow gets very moved upon seeing another's suffering, saying, "Oh, the poor one." The second aspect of pity is that you believe the suffering has befallen the other person, while you, at least for now, are distant from it. The other person is pitiable, but you are not. The other is a recipient of your help because your situation is better than theirs, so you show them pity. Thus, pity contains a sense of superiority. In contrast, compassion does not affirm that suffering is real. Compassion knows that the suffering and tears are false. It understands that the affliction you experience is baseless, like someone being scared in a dream. The experience of fear is present, but its foundation is unreal, merely a dream. Compassion does not carry the arrogance of superiority. A compassionate person says, "Even if your tears are false, I will still wipe them, because I too have passed through this state." Compassion recognizes that your state is false, and because it is false, there is immense potential beyond it. It's like telling someone crying in a dream, "If you wake up, you too are like the compassionate Buddha." This is the compassion of a Buddha. Compassion says two things simultaneously: "The tears are false," and "Though they are false, I will still wipe them." The illness is unreal, but I will still treat it. Compassion is knowing the reality of the illness, which is why it can also provide a cure. In pity and sympathy, the illness itself is not understood, so no treatment is possible. If suffering is an illness, pity does not understand it and therefore cannot cure it; it might even increase it. Compassion, however, can cure suffering because it understands it. Compassion has understanding ('bodh') inherent in it, whereas pity and suffering do not. Compassion grows with understanding. Therefore, if you feel you lack compassion, it means you lack understanding. As understanding increases, compassion will arise on its own.