Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.10.21
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
The universe is by nature dense darkness, and therefore the total creation is called tamas, or darkness. The night is the real feature of the universe, for then one cannot see anything, including oneself. The Lord, out of His causeless mercy, first desired to see Himself and all the creation as well, and thus the sun became manifested, the power of vision for all living entities became possible, and the objects of vision were also manifested. This means that the whole phenomenal world became visible after the creation of the sun.
When there was no vision (nirālokam) within himself (ātmani), desiring to see himself and other objects (ca), the location called the gross eye, the sun devatā and the eye (subtle sense organ) which experiences form (guṇa) appeared. Form is the sense object. Nirālokam (devoid of vision) is an indeclinable word, like nirmakṣikam (free from flies).
My note
Source: vedabase.io