Text 15
śrī-śukra uvāca
kutas tat-karma-vaiṣamyaṁ
yasya karmeśvaro bhavān
yajñeśo yajña-puruṣaḥ
sarva-bhāvena pūjitaḥ
śrī-śukraḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukrācārya said; kutaḥ — where is that; tat — of him (Bali Mahārāja); karma-vaiṣamyam — discrepancy in discharging fruitive activities; yasya — of whom (Bali Mahārāja); karma-īśvaraḥ — the master of all fruitive activities; bhavān — Your Lordship; yajña-īśaḥ — You are the enjoyer of all sacrifices; yajña-puruṣaḥ — You are the person for whose pleasure all sacrifices are offered; sarva-bhāvena — in all respects; pūjitaḥ — having worshiped.
Śukrācārya said: My Lord, You are the enjoyer and lawgiver in all performances of sacrifice, and You are the yajña-puruṣa, the person to whom all sacrifices are offered. If one has fully satisfied You, where is the chance of discrepancies or faults in his performances of sacrifice?
In Bhagavad-gītā (5.29) the Lord says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram: the Lord, the supreme proprietor, is the actual person to be satisfied by the performance of yajñas. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.9) says:
varṇāśramācāravatā
puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān
viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā
nanyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam
All the Vedic ritualistic sacrifices are performed for the purpose of satisfying Lord Viṣṇu, the yajña-puruṣa. The divisions of society — brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa — are all meant to satisfy the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. To act according to this principle of the varṇāśrama institution is called varṇāśramācaraṇa. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.13), Sūta Gosvāmī says:
ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā
varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ
svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya
saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
“O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging his prescribed duties according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.” Everything is meant to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, since Bali Mahārāja had satisfied the Lord, he had no faults, and Śukrācārya admitted that cursing him was not good.