[HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13th September 2012, Pretoria, CC Madhya 12. 120]
A self-realised person is detached, but is not cold. He understands that the suffering people are going through, is real for them. He can see that they could be free from this so easily, but he knows that you can’t just do it in a moment. So he’s full of compassion for the suffering of people who are in maya.
In one way, the whole world is maya. It’s maya, but to emotionally just walk away from it like that… you can’t do it! Only if you’re completely transcendental, but at the same time full of compassion for the feelings of others.
So when you become hard and cold and don’t care for the sufferings of others, then you are too detached.