It was after the great deluge, the entire earth was submerged under the waters.  Narayana was absorbed in the Yoganidra after Mahapralaya.  He was reclining on the great serpant Adhisesha and the entire universe had been withdrawn into him and it lay dormant in him like fire in a piece of wood.

The three Gunas were in equilibrium and there was no action.  And so it was for a long while.  Then Time caused a disturbance in the three Gunas and when the balance was upset, out of the Navel of Narayana emerged a thin stalk which was the manifestation of Rajoguna. This grew into an immense Lotus and illuminated everything around it.

Into that Lotus entered Narayana which was another form of Brahma. Considering himself to have been born on his own,  Brahma found himself to be well versed in the Vedas and he found that he was alone.  He looked around him in all the four directions with eyes wide open, and he found that he had four heads pointing in the four directions. He saw nothing but a large expanse of water all around him and the noise he heard was made by the immense waves of the sea.  He looked down and he found that he was seated on a lotus and he could not discern the beginnings of the Lotus stalk.  He entered the stalk and travelled downwards but found nothing at the end of it.  He came back to the original place and around him the waters made noise and it seemed to him as though they said "Tapa! Tapa!". "Perform Tapas".   "Perform Tapas and you will find what you seek."  Bhrahma performed Tapas seated on the Lotus for a hundred years.  For a hundred years he was absorbed in meditation.

All of a sudden, he saw the form of Narayana in his mind.  The Lord was reclining on Adhisesha who was white like the stalk of a lotus.  Brahma realized that he was the Purusha.  The moment he saw the Lord, Brahma obtained wisdom.  He knew what he had to do. He was made to come out of the Lotus to create a new world.  He worshipped Narayana with words which came to him, without being taught them (this is a very clear statement of transfer of knowledge and events from the subconscious to the concious mind).   Narayana said: "Ihave set you the task of creating the world and the beings on it".  Brahma said "So be it".

Out of the mind of Brahma was born the four Rishis  Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanatkumara.  When they were born, Brahma said "Take up the work of creation and multiply".  The four Rishis were bent on attaining the feet of the Lord and so they refused to take up the work of creation.  Brahma was very angry with them.  But he controlled his anger.  Though his reason held it in check, his anger took up a form and emerged out of his forehead.  It was a child reddish blue in hue and he began to cry as soon as he was born.  "Please give me a name and place where I can stay", cried the new born and Brahma said "Do not cry. since you cried the moment you were born, I will call you Rudra.  The heart, the senses, life, the sky, air, fire, water, the earth, the sun, the moon and Tapas: these are the places assigned to you.  You can go now and produce many in your image".

Guṇa - Wikipedia (Sanskrit: गुण) means 'string' or 'a single thread or strand of a cord or twine'. In more abstract uses, it may mean 'a subdivision, species, kind, quality', or an operational principle or tendency.^[1]

In Samkhya philosophy, there are three major guṇas that serve as the fundamental operating principles or 'tendencies' of prakṛti (universal nature) which are called: sattva guṇa, rajas guṇa, and tamas guṇa. The three primary gunas are generally accepted to be associated with creation (sattva), preservation (rajas), and destruction (tamas) (see also Aum and Trimurti).^[2] The entire creation and its process of evolution is carried out by these three major gunas.^[1][3][4]

The Triguna appear prominently in the discourse of Krishna to Arjuna upon the battlefield of Kurukshetra that is the backdrop for the Bhagavad Gita. All three gunas are held to delude the World:

त्रिभिर्गुणमयैर्भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत्‌।

मोहितं नाभिजानाति मामेभ्यः परमव्ययम्‌॥ ७.१३॥

tribhirguṇamayairbhāvairebhiḥ sarvamidaṁ jagat|

mohitaṁ nābhijānāti māmebhyaḥ paramavyayam|| 7.13||

The World deluded by these Three Gunas does not know Me:

Who is beyond these Gunas and imperishable. (7.13)

In Nyaya philosophy, 24 guṇas are enumerated as properties or characteristics of all created things, including śábda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, and gandha.

1. rūpa: appearance(shape and color).
2. rasa: taste.
3. gandha: smell.
4. sparśa: feeling (touch).
5. sāṃkhya: amount.
6. parimāṇa: dimension.
7. pṛthaktva: distinctness.
8. saṃyoga: conjunction.
9. vibhāga: disjunction.
10. paratva: remoteness.
11. aparatva: proximity.
12. gurutva: gravity.
13. dravatva: fluidity.
14. sneha: viscidity.
15. śábda: sound.
16. buddhi/jñāna: enlightenment/knowing.
17. sukha: pleasure.
18. duḥkha: pain.
19. icchā: desire.
20. dveṣa: aversion.
21. prayatna: effort.
22. dharma: merit or virtue.
23. adharma: demerit.
24. saṃskāra: the self-reproductive quality;

In Samkhya philosophy - Wikipedia

In Samkhya philosophy, a guṇa is one of three "tendencies": tamas, sattva, and rajas. These categories have become a common means of categorizing behavior and natural phenomena in Hindu philosophy, and also in Ayurvedic medicine, as a system to assess conditions and diets. For this reason Triguna and tridosha are considered to be related in the traditions of Ayurveda. Guṇa is the tendency, not action itself. For instance, sattva guṇa is the tendency towards purity but is not purity itself. Similarly rajas guṇa is that force which tends to create action but is not action itself. Each of the three gunas is ever present simultaneously in every particle of creation but the variations in equilibrium manifest all the variety in creation including matter, mind, body and spirit.^[1][4]

All creation is made up by a balance composed of all three forces. For creation to progress, each new stage "needs a force to maintain it and another force to develop it into a new stage. The force that develops the process in a new stage is rajo guna, while tamo guna is that which checks or retards the process in order to maintain the state already produced, so that it may form the basis for the next stage".

• Sattva (originally "being, existence, entity") has been translated to mean balance, order, or purity. Indologist Georg Feuerstein translates sattva as "lucidity".^[5]
• Rajas (originally "atmosphere, air, firmament") is also translated to mean change, movement or dynamism.^[2][6] (Rajas is etymologically unrelated to the word raja.)
• Tamas (originally "darkness", "obscurity") has been translated to mean "too inactive" or "inertia", negative, lethargic, dull, or slow.^[6] Usually it is associated with darkness, delusion, or ignorance.^[7] A tamas quality also can refer to anything destructive or entropic. In his Translation and Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains "The nature of tamo guna is to check or retard, though it should not be thought that if the movement is upward tamo guna is absent".^[3]