haihayo nahuṣo veṇo
rÄvaṇo narako 'pare
Å›rÄ«-madÄd bhramÅ›itÄḥ sthÄnÄd
deva-daitya-nareÅ›varÄḥ

 haihayaḥ nahuá¹£aḥ veṇaḥ - Haihaya (KÄrtavÄ«rya), Nahuá¹£a and Veṇa; rÄvaṇaḥ narakaḥ - RÄvaṇa and Naraka; apare - others also; Å›rÄ« - due to opulence; madÄt - because of their intoxication; bhramÅ›itÄḥ - made to fall; sthÄnÄt - from their positions; deva - of demigods; daitya - demons; nara - and men; Ä«Å›varÄḥ - rulers.


Text

Haihaya, Nahuá¹£a, Veṇa, RÄvaṇa, Naraka and many other rulers of demigods, men and demons fell from their elevated positions because of infatuation with material opulence.

Purport

As described by ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«, because Haihaya stole the desire cow of Lord ParaÅ›urÄma’s father, Jamadagni, ParaÅ›urÄma killed him and his impudent sons. Nahuá¹£a became puffed up when he temporarily assumed the post of Indra. When out of pride Nahuá¹£a ordered some brÄhmaṇas to carry him in a palanquin to an illicit meeting with Lord Indra’s chaste wife, ÅšacÄ«, the brÄhmaṇas made him fall down from his position and become an old man. King Vena was similarly mad, and when he insulted the brÄhmaṇas they killed him by loud incantations of the syllable hum. RÄvaṇa was a famous ruler of the RÄká¹£asas, but out of lust he kidnapped Mother SÄ«tÄ, and thus her husband, Lord RÄmacandra, killed him. Naraka was a ruler of the Daityas who dared to steal Mother Aditi’s earrings, and for his offense he was also killed. Thus throughout history powerful leaders have fallen from their positions because they became intoxicated with their so-called opulence.