Link of Web Resource/Blog/Video : indiachan.com
Is Dharma external then? Something forced onto a person?
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Also isn't it that one should not have any desire is desire itself?
Dharma doesn't exactly mean religion. Dharma is not an imposition. It is the true nature and identity of a soul. The human life is an opportunity to search for that. The Bhagwad Gita (or any other scripture) benefits us best if we read it as "guide book".
You're right about "wanting not to have any desire" itself being a desire! Therefore somewhere it is clarified, "anya-abhilashita-shunyam", not just "abhilasha-shunyam"!
I was using Dharma to mean duty. How can someone know what their duty is without having desire to find the duty?
No the Gita isn't fatalistic.
It just states the facts, as they are. If you do this, this will happen. Like, if you drop your glass, it may break!
It analyzes work, effort and all the interplaying factors and how result is produced. It also tells us which factors are under our control and which one's aren't. It then goes on to say that we must still do our duty.
Doesn't it seem to be forced by our external circumstance, however the impulse to restore dharma in our life arises from within?