The truth of renunciation, oh mighty-armed one, I desire to know, and also of abandonment, separately, oh Hṛṣīkeśa, oh slayer of Keśin.

Arjuna begins the final chapter with a crucial question: what is the difference between saṃnyāsa (formal renunciation, order of life) and tyāga (abandonment, internal renunciation)?

He invokes Kṛṣṇa as Hṛṣīkeśa (lord of the senses) and Keśi-niṣūdana (slayer of the demon Keśin). The theme is renunciation — external and internal — and how it relates to action.