DESTINY AND DESIRE

Our destiny and desire are actually interconnected  and this is realised  when we are sensitive to our surroudings. However when we lack sensitivity we are superimposing our desire which is not our destiny, and hence there is a clash between desire and destiny.

There are two kinds of desires:
One kind of desire is born out of subltle influences caused by our previous samsakaras, or effects of the past.

The other kind of desire is born out of impositions  made by strong influences of our immediate surroundings.
In this scenario our desire and our destiny are in clash, and they cause continuous conflict.
For eg:- One may have the destiny to became an artist and he shows these strong traits from childhood but his desire based upon the strong influence of his surrounding tells him that he should be a doctor. He may become a doctor, but his destiny to be a artist keeps haunting him. Such a person loses the satisfaction of being a doctor even though he may be famous doctor .
The  craving that I should have become an artist keeps troubling him.

Krishna addresses this dilemma in the  Bhagvat Gita- he says it is better to perform one’s own duty imperfectely than to pefrom some one else’s duty perfectely.

Therefore it is better to pursue those desires which are destiny based as compared to those desires which are immediate surrounding based.

This was the clash between Duryodhana and Yudhisthira.  Duryodhana’s desire to be king was born not out of his destiny rather it was a  desire born out of his surrounding-
Shakuni’s ill advice....
Dhrithrasthra's ambition ...
His personal stubbornness to ignore  the call of destiny.
Yudhisthira’s desire  was destiny centred and so he ultimately got what he was supposed to get.

One difference between destiny- based desires and influence based desires is that destiny based desires give contentment and increased responsibility, whilst surrounding based desires give some temporary excitement, irresponsibility,and ultimately dissatisfaction and distress.

It is better to struggle to fulfill our destiny based desires and feel responsbilie like Yudhishtira than to suffer like Duryodhana who was influenced by his surrounding based desires for he got nothing but cruel death in the end.