Is the path of knowledge only for scholars?

No. Its central concern is discernment about self, action and reality, not the accumulation of academic information.

Does resigning from a job count as renunciation?

Resignation is an outward change. It may be responsible or evasive depending on motive, duties and consequences.

Will non-attachment reduce the quality of work?

Not necessarily. It releases total self-investment in an outcome; it does not remove preparation, feedback or correction.

Bhagavad Gita

Action, knowledge or renunciation: why the Gita does not let the three paths eliminate one another

Renunciation and the yoga of action both lead to the highest good, but of the two, the yoga of action is superior to renouncing action.Bhagavad Gita 5.2

The direct answer: they address different layers of the same bondage

Verse 5.2 grants that renunciation and the yoga of action can both lead to the highest good, while judging action-yoga generally preferable. Knowledge and renunciation are not dismissed. Merely leaving outward action may leave attachment to outcome and identity untouched. Action supplies a field of testing; knowledge clarifies agent, act and consequence; renunciation loosens possessiveness towards the result.

The question begins as a real dilemma

Arjuna asks in 5.1 why Krishna sometimes praises renunciation and sometimes action. The answer in 5.2 preserves the distinction while giving a practical priority. Verses 5.4–6 then resist treating the disciplines of knowledge and action as absolute rivals. At maturity, the insight cultivated through one becomes visible in the other.

Three questions locate the present need

Ask: do I lack facts and discernment, or do I already know and refuse to act? Is my “letting go” freedom from self-interest, or escape from a real duty? Can this action be completed without claiming ownership of every result? Study where knowledge is absent, act where responsibility is present, and practise release where control has ended. These disciplines correct each other; they are not personality types.

A failed project shows the combination

After failure, knowledge investigates facts rather than explaining everything as destiny. Action repairs what can be repaired and accounts to affected people. Renunciation accepts that the outcome is no longer fully controllable and that one failure is not the entire self. Action alone may become frantic escalation; knowledge alone, delay; renunciation alone, a spiritual disguise for avoidance.

Boundary: action-yoga is not limitless labour

“Action is superior” does not mean every assignment should be accepted or that an employer may demand boundless devotion. Dharma, role, consequences and capacity still require judgement. Leaving a harmful duty or refusing an unjust command may be the fitting action. The related guide to why inaction is still a choice helps preserve responsibility without turning the Gita into an instruction to remain perpetually busy.