You praise renunciation, the relinquishing of the actions enjoined by scripture, the particular things to be carried out; and again you praise yoga, the very performance of those actions, as something that must be done. So a doubt arises for me as to which of the two is the better: is the performance of action the better, or the giving-up of it? Therefore tell me, with certainty, the one of these two, the renunciation of action and the yoga of action, which you hold to be the better, the one whose performance would bring me the highest good; for the two cannot be carried out together by one person. Setting out His own intent, to settle the matter, the Blessed Lord said.

Arjuna spoke. You commend the renunciation of actions, the discipline of knowledge, and again the discipline of action. This is what is meant: in the second chapter, having set forth that a seeker of liberation should first do the discipline of action alone, and that one whose inner taint has been worn away by the discipline of action should bring about the beholding of the self by the discipline of knowledge; and then again in the third and fourth, you commend the standing in action, saying that even for one who has reached the state of qualification for the discipline of knowledge the standing in action is the better, and that it alone, independent of the standing in knowledge, is the single means to the attaining of the self. Therefore, of these two, the discipline of knowledge and the discipline of action, both being means to the attaining of the self, tell me which one, by its ease and its swiftness, is well determined to be the better, the more excellent.

In this chapter Krishna unfolds the very discipline of action that was stated in the third chapter, both the renunciation spoken of in 'content with what comes unsought' (4.22) and the rest, and the discipline of action spoken of in 'do action alone' (4.15) and the rest. He is 'Krishna' because, by governing and the rest, He draws all the worlds; so the Maha-kaurma says, 'since you draw the whole world, governing it, O Lord of the gods, therefore the sages who speak of Brahman call you Krishna'. The Lord Himself will state the meaning of the word 'renunciation'. The intent of Arjuna's question is this: if renunciation were the higher good, then war would somewhat conflict with renunciation.