Arjuna asks
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 5.1“Please tell me with certainty which of these is the superior one.”
Praśna No. 5
Kṛṣṇa answers
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 5.2“…of the two, Karma Yoga surpasses renunciation of actions.”
Both paths lead somewhere. Doing goes further.
Arjuna wants a straight answer: walk away from action, or act? Kṛṣṇa says both can lead to the highest good, and then chooses. Acting, without clinging to the result, goes further.
Ask the Gītā your own question.
Arjuna asked his. Samvāda answers yours with the Gītā's own verses.
Samvāda is software, an AI companion tuned to the Bhagavad Gītā. It is not a person. It answers from the verse and shows you which one, and it never pretends to be Kṛṣṇa.
The verses
Arjuna asks
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 5.1अर्जुन उवाच
संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनर्योगं च शंससि।
यच्छ्रेय एतयोरेकं तन्मे ब्रूहि सुनिश्चितम्।।
arjuna uvāca sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punar yogaṁ ca śansasi yac cchreya etayor ekaṁ tan me brūhi su-niścitam
Arjuna said, "O Krsna, you praise the renunciation of actions, and then you also praise Karma Yoga. Please tell me with certainty which of these is the superior one, leading to the ultimate good.
Kṛṣṇa answers
BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ · 5.2श्री भगवानुवाच
संन्यासः कर्मयोगश्च निःश्रेयसकरावुभौ।
तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो विशिष्यते।।
śrī bhagavān uvāca sannyāsaḥ karma-yogaś ca niḥśreyasa-karāvubhau tayos tu karma-sannyāsāt karma-yogo viśiṣyate
The Lord said, "Renunciation of actions and Karma Yoga both lead to the highest excellence; however, of the two, Karma Yoga surpasses renunciation of actions."
The count
5.1 is verse 205 of 700, and verse 1 of 29 in chapter 5.
Arjuna asks at 5.1 and Kṛṣṇa answers in the very next verse, 5.2.
Sannyāsa (renunciation), in any form, appears in 13 verses of the 700, first at 5.1 and last at 18.49.
Counted by Vāṇi on the 700-verse text at getvani.app/gita.
Going deeper
Chapter 5 begins with a doubt that Arjuna has carried out of chapter 4. That chapter ends at 4.42, telling him to cut his doubt with the sword of knowledge, to practise yoga and to rise. 5.1 shows the doubt still alive. He says Kṛṣṇa has praised renouncing action and then praised karma yoga, and he asks for a certain answer about which is better. 5.2 answers in two steps. Renunciation and karma yoga both lead to the highest good. Of the two, karma yoga is better than renouncing action. 5.3 then says who counts as a true renouncer: someone who neither hates nor desires, and is beyond the pairs of opposites. That makes the answer to whether to quit practical, because what matters is what is happening inside while you act. Read more at chapter 5 and what the Gītā says about karma.