154
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 8, Ch. 5]
garland from his own neck. Indra, however, being too puffed up, took the garland, and without respect for Durvāsā Muni, he placed it on the trunk of his carrier elephant. The elephant, being an animal, could not understand the value of the garland, and thus the elephant threw the garland between its legs and smashed it. Seeing this insulting behavior, Durvāsā Muni immediately cursed Indra to be poverty-stricken, bereft of all material opulence. Thus the demigods, afflicted on one side by the fighting demons and on the other by the curse of Durvāsā Muni, lost all the material opulences in the three worlds.
To be extremely opulent in materialistic advancement is sometimes very risky. The materially opulent person does not care about anyone, and thus he commits offenses to great personalities, such as devotees and great saints. This is the way of material opulence. As described by Sukadeva Gosvāmī,  dhana-durmadāndha : too much wealth makes one blind. This happens even to Indra in his heavenly kingdom, and what to speak of others in this material world? When one is materially opulent, he should learn to be sober and well-behaved toward Vaiṣṇavas and saintly persons; otherwise he will fall down.
TEXTS 17-18
निशाम्यैतत् सुरगणा महेन्द्रवरुणादयः ।
नाध्यगच्छन्स्वयं मन्त्रैर्मन्त्रयन्तो विनिश्चितम् ॥१७॥
ततो ब्रह्मसभां जग्मुमेरोर्मूर्धनि सर्वशः ।
सर्वं विज्ञापयाश्चक्रुः प्रणताः परमेष्ठिने ॥१८॥
niśāmyaitat sura-gaṇā
mahendra-varuṇādayaḥ
nādhyagacchan svayaṁ mantrair
mantrayanto viniścitam
tato brahma-sabhāṁ jagmur
meror mūrdhani sarvaśaḥ
sarvaṁ vijñāpayāṁ cakruḥ
praṇatāḥ parameṣṭhine