Sri Ramakrishna tells the parable of the frog to illustrate the delusion arising from wealth: A frog lived in a hole by the wayside. One day he came across n shining silver rupee on the road; he was fascinated by it and took it to his hole. With the possession of the rupee, he became a different frog. One day, an elephant chanced to pass by his hole. The frog became furious and thought to himself how impudent it was of the elephant to pass by his hole. He quickly came out of the hole and gave vent to his anger with a few kicks at the back of the elephant’s leg. Having   thus demonstrated his importance, he went back to his hole and gazed at his rupee. All the while, the elephant was blissfully unaware of the very existence of the frog.

The finite sense-world has become a prison to him instead of a field in which to cultivate spiritual awareness. So imprisoned, he does not see anything beyond; nor does he care to see either, for he has much at stake in that sense-world; its wealth, power, and pleasure hold him in thrall. Conditioned by time as he is, and also by the world which possesses him, and fully satisfied with his state, he does not get even a glimpse of the unconditioned and timeless dimension of his being. He has wealth which can purchase the pleasures of the sense-world; and starting with possessing wealth and pleasure, he ends up in being possessed by them; and the power of wealth deludes him into thinking that whatever cannot be purchased with it is not worthwhile or true. He firmly believes that pursuits other than profit, power, and pleasure are illusory. But he is a deluded child, says Yama; absorbed in his attractive toys of variegated colors and various types, he does not seek anything else. Worldliness had entered into him and filled him, like water filling a boat; his spiritual freedom and free movement are lost, just like the free mobility of that boat, and it spells his spiritual death.

Source: The Message of Upanishads by Swami Ranganathananda