Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “In that meeting, King Śiśupāla was also present. He was an avowed enemy of Kṛṣṇa for many reasons, especially because of Kṛṣṇa’s having stolen Rukmiṇī from the marriage ceremony; therefore, he could not tolerate such honor to Kṛṣṇa and glorification of His qualities. Instead of being happy to hear the glories of the Lord, he became very angry.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī mentions that the reason Śiśupāla did not object when Sahadeva proposed Kṛṣṇa for the agra-pūjā is that Śiśupāla wanted to ruin King Yudhiṣṭhira’s sacrifice. If Śiśupāla had argued earlier against Lord Kṛṣṇa’s receiving the first worship and another person had been selected, the sacrifice would have then proceeded normally. Therefore Śiśupāla allowed Kṛṣṇa to be selected, waited until the worship was over, and then spoke up, hoping in this way to demonstrate that the sacrifice was now spoiled. Thus he would ruin the endeavor of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. In this regard the ācārya quotes the following smṛti reference: apūjyā yatra pūjyante pūjyānāṁ ca vyatikramaḥ. “In the place where those who are not to be worshiped are worshiped, there is offense to those who are actually worshipable.” There is also the following statement: pratibadhnāti hi śreyaḥ pūjyapūjya-vyatikramaḥ. “Improperly understanding who is to be worshiped and who is not to be worshiped will impede one’s progress in life.”