Both the renunciation of actions and the yoga of action, the performance of them, bring about the highest good, work liberation, by being causes of the arising of knowledge. Yet, though both bring it about, of these two causes of the highest good the yoga of action is distinguished above the mere renunciation of action; and so He praises the yoga of action. Why? He says.

The Blessed Lord spoke. Renunciation, the discipline of knowledge, and the discipline of action, both of these, even for one able for the discipline of knowledge, bring the highest good, each independent of the other. But of the two, the discipline of action is more distinguished than the renunciation of action that is the discipline of knowledge. Why? To this the Lord speaks.

This renunciation is not the renunciate order, as the texts say, 'rather than renunciation by the giving up of the pairs of opposites, the worship of Me is the weightier', and 'those austerities are indeed the lower; renunciation alone surpassed them all'. The Naradiya says, 'the fourth order, named the actionless, with its own duties, is true renunciation; there is no dharma in the world higher than it. But whatever a devotee of Mine may attain, that householder is not the more meritorious. Devotion to Me and dispassion are declared to be the qualification for it, and when the qualification is present, even a celibate student may go forth'. And there are 'let him go forth straight from studenthood' and 'on the very day he becomes dispassionate, let him go forth' (Jabala Upanishad 4; Yajnavalkya Upanishad 1). The Brahma text says, 'in the fourth, in renunciation, My delight is the very greatest; for those who have the qualification here there is no action; such is the settled verdict'. Therefore it is not the renunciate order that is called renunciation here.