In plain words
Kāma, Krodha and Lobha Are the Very Causes of the Fall
How great Rāvaṇa was in the Rāmāyaṇa! He lacked nothing in wealth, gold, goods and vehicles. In learning, he had studied the sixty-four branches of learning. And he had practised much tapas and won the grace of God. Such a great person, because he fell prey to kāma alone, brought about the downfall of everything. In the sacred, divine and splendid Rāmāyaṇa, Rāvaṇa has been cast as a great fool. The cause is these desires alone. Through these very desires he destroyed the fruit of his tapas.
And then in the Bhāgavata, Hiraṇyakaśipu — Hiraṇyakaśipu's krodha — Hiraṇyakaśipu held the five elements under his control. Hiraṇyakaśipu was a great scientist. He even tried to stop the earth from turning. Today's scientists have gone to the sphere of the moon. Hiraṇyakaśipu travelled to the very sphere of the sun. Even though he was such a great scientist, because of krodha he achieved nothing at all. What can bear fruit for one who has anger?
For one who is given to anger no work bears fruit, and harm befalls him; doing sinful deeds, he earns being told, ‘Shame, be off!’
It brings his wealth to ruin, it burns away the honour he has, it sets him apart from his own people; for men, through anger, all is spoiled.
In this Bhāgavata, Hiraṇyakaśipu took on the form of krodha. And then in the Bhārata, Duryodhana was the miser.