Gita Group Discussions #5

We start with defining desire and understanding the meaning of happiness = no desires. We then separate out and understand how to reconcile the difference between the end goal of 'no desires' with 'what to do when we have desires'. We discuss karma yoga concepts again - the idea of 'prasada buddhi' - of acceptance. Examples from work life, home life and how to handle conflicts, likes & dislikes are discussed from our personal examples. In short, this is a good discussion on karma yoga, likes & dislikes, desires... We are connecting the dots...and articulating with solid personal examples to nail down concepts like: desire, attachment /detachment, work without desire, karma, karma yoga, attitude, Prasada Bhavana, pratipakshabhavana, likes/dislikes (I prefer the Sanskrit word - raga & dwesha - attachment & repulsion, as a rough translation)..... We also talk of a way to measure our progress in the form of a formula FIR - Frequency of incidents, Intensity of incidents, the Recovery period from the incidents that cause mental agitation for us as a clear indicator that we are following karma yoga in our lives. Note: For non-Hindi language speakers, we have used a word, 'karela' in the discussions - it is a vegetable, bitter-gourd.