Chapter 3.5 narrates how Lord Maha-Vishnu created the five basic material elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth), as well as their properties (sound, touch, form, taste, and smell) and the predominating deities of these elements.
The function of these deities is to assist the Lord in the creation of the universe, and they were eager to do so, however, seeing themselves incapable of creating the material manifestation by themselves, they prayed to the Lord.
It happens that the material elements and even their predominating deities have no power to create for themselves, just like factory workers have no ability to produce a new car alone. Unless there is a project and a manager to guide them, nothing will be done. Similarly, the predominating deities of the material elements can only offer their work in manipulating the building blocks of the material manifestation. For the cosmos to manifest, a project is necessary, as well as competent managers who can oversee the construction. Both things have to be provided by the Lord. In this sixth chapter, we will see how the Supreme Lord provided these two components, so the process of creation could be completed.
Srimad Bhagavatam #20: The blueprint of the Universe