Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 12
Secondary Creation Begins: Brahmā’s Productions, the Guṇas, and the Emergence of Orders of Beings
मैत्रेय उवाच दैवेन दुर्वितर्क्येण परेणानिमिषेण च । जातक्षोभाद्भगवतो महानासीद् गुणत्रयात् ॥ १२ ॥
maitreya uvāca daivena durvitarkyeṇa pareṇānimiṣeṇa ca jāta-kṣobhād bhagavato mahān āsīd guṇa-trayāt
弥勒耶说道：当三种自然属性（古那）的均衡，因不可思议的天意、因摩诃毗湿奴的推动，并因不眨眼的时间之力而被搅动时，便生起了“摩诃特”（mahat-tattva）——一切物质要素的总体。
The cause of the material creation is described here very lucidly. The first cause is daiva, or the destiny of the conditioned soul. The material creation exists for the conditioned soul who wanted to become a false lord for sense enjoyment. One cannot trace out the history of when the conditioned soul first desired to lord it over material nature, but in Vedic literature we always find that the material creation is meant for the sense enjoyment of the conditioned soul. There is a nice verse which says that the sum and substance of the conditioned soul’s sense enjoyment is that as soon as he forgets his primary duty, to render service to the Lord, he creates an atmosphere of sense enjoyment, which is called māyā; that is the cause of material creation.
FAQs
Mahat-tattva is the first major manifest principle of creation—cosmic intelligence—arising when the three modes of nature become agitated under the Lord’s supreme arrangement.
Because the Lord’s initiating will and the workings of divine time and providence cannot be fully grasped by ordinary logic; creation begins by His supreme potency beyond material reasoning.
By observing how sattva, rajas, and tamas agitate the mind and choices, one can cultivate sattva through discipline and devotion, and gradually transcend all three by bhakti to the Supreme Lord.