Desire as it's own entity: Kama is desire itself (a different word than Karma, which means actions stemming from desire), and is one of the two primary emotions (along with ahamkara). Kama is the mother of all other desires. It gives rise to both the desire to satisfy the senses, and the beneficial desire to help others selflessly.

Desire is a single process: Regardless of the particular object being desired, the process of Desire itself is the same. The same wanting, wishing, or longing, etc., is there. Think of examples in your own life and you will see this clearly, that there is a fundamental wave of Desire, which then associates with particular objects.

Kama, not Karma: Note the the word for desire is kama (without the letter "r"), and that the word for actions is karma (with the letter "r"), which are two different words and concepts.

Think of your favorite desires: Whether the desire is for your favorite food, the comfort of family life, success on your job, money in the bank, or a new car, the desire itself is the same. With some reflection, it becomes easy to see the way in which the prime desire allies itself with the particular objects. This is not bad, and is not to suggest that one should suddenly attempt to abandon all desires in the world. Rather, it means being aware of how the unconscious process of karma works so that those desires do not make you a slave to their intensity.

Kama is the prime desire: Kama is the prime desire, and from this impelling force arise all of the other, specific desires. It is this prime force of kama which motivates a person to do anything and everything. Kama is blind desire that has not yet been related with any particular objects or thoughts. It is the nature of kama that it has no sense of discrimination, judgment or understanding. Kama then associates itself with deep impressions (Samskaras), and that combination then motivates one to do something simply to fulfill that desire—solely because it exists. 

Desire pulls one outward: All of these desires draw one outward, into the domains of mind and the physical world, so as to seek to fulfill the desires, either in Dreaming or Waking states. The fulfilling of these desires is Karma, stimulated by kama. 

One desire stands alone: There is one desire that stands alone as different. That is, the desire for Truth, Reality, Self, or God, and this desire alone draws the attention inward, past all of the other desires, conditionings of Samskaras, Karma, and Primitive Fountains. (See the paper on the koshas.)

Association of Desire and objects is key: By seeing the way this uniform process of Desire associates with numerous objects, we come to see a universal need to gain some degree of mastery over the process of Desire itself. If we can do that, even to a small degree, we can start to regulate our actions and speech, which alters our consequences in beneficial ways. This changes the Deep Impressions or Samskaras in the basement of the mind.