To have scars means to have some physical marks. To be scarred means to feel insecure and inferior because we let those marks define us. We may be scarred not just by bodily marks, but also by any resentment-inducing material limitation.

How can we avoid becoming scarred?

By understanding that we are more than our bodies. The Bhagavad-gita (02.13) states that we are unchanging souls living in changing bodies. The body acts like a vehicle carrying us souls on our multi-life journey of spiritual evolution towards our eternal destination: our all-attractive, all-loving Lord, Krishna. To keep evolving, we need to focus on our destination.

Suppose we rent a car that has some scratches. Though we will notice those scratches, we won’t let them affect us inordinately, knowing that they don’t hamper the car’s capacity to take us to our destination.

Similarly, our scars don’t hamper our body’s capacity to take us towards Krishna.

We can progress towards him by practicing bhakti-yoga, wherein we serve him with all our present material resources, including our body. He looks beyond our looks to our outlook. If we serve him with a devotional attitude, he is pleased by whatever service we do with whatever we have. And he rewards us with deep spiritual realizations.

One precious realization is that every body comes with some weakness; our scars are just one such weakness. What if some people obsess over those scars? We don’t have to be one of them, nor do we have to take them seriously. Then, how can we fulfill our need for relationships and belonging? By connecting with Krishna’s devotees. Like him, they look beyond looks with a devotional outlook and encourage us to do the same.

By cultivating spiritual knowledge internally and spiritual association externally, we can transcend our scars.

Think it over:

  1. What is the difference between having scars and being scarred?
  2. How does spiritual knowledge change our vision of our scars?
  3. How can we avoid being affected by people who obsess over externals?