Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.7.11

"From the agitation of the original modes within the unmanifest material nature, the mahat-tattva arises. From the mahat-tattva comes the element false ego, which divides into three aspects. This threefold false ego further manifests as the subtle forms of perception, as the senses and as the gross sense objects. The generation of all these is called creation."

---

https://vedy.online/en/sb12/7/11