According to the Riga Veda the One Supreme God did not create the Universe by fashioning it from preexisting material, but transformed himself into the Universe.
Having discussed the philosophy of Creation from the Upanishads, it is worthwhile to examine in some detail what the Riga Veda has to say about it. There are four important hymns about Creation in Chapter X. Since this is the last chapter it would be reasonable to assume that the hymns would portray fairly evolved Vedic thought. One has to realize that the hymns portray Creation in the figurative language of poetry.
All four hymns speak unequivocally of One Creator – the Supreme God. In the Hymns LXXXI and LXXXII the Creator is named as Visvakarma. In other hymns the Supreme God is given other names. The names are not important. In later Puranic mythology Visvakarma becomes the architect for the demi-Gods and is the creator of many illustrious cities. In the Hymns CXXIX and CXXX, which are more specifically dedicated to Creation, the Creator is not named.
Hymn LXXXI asks the rhetorical question, “What was the tree, what wood in sooth produced it, from which they (Visvakarma’s arms) fashioned out the earth and heaven? Ye thoughtful men inquire within your spirit whereon he stood when he established all things.” The obvious answer is that before the Creation of the Universe there could not have been any material to form the Universe, nor any place to stand on, hence the Universe could not have been “created” in this manner. Hymn CXXIX is more specific – “…whether he formed it all or did not form it, …”. By reading the four hymns together one can get a sense of how the Universe was “created”. Again be reminded not to take the imagery literally. In the beginning was darkness and chaos, which was the unmanifest “form” of the Supreme Being. Out of the Warmth of the Supreme Being there arose Desire in the form of a “primal seed and germ of Spirit”. This seed contained the forces and energy required for the formation of the manifest Universe. Hymn LXXXII says that all the Gods were present in the primal seed. The Sanskrit word used is Devas, which has been translated as Gods, because in Hindi today Deva is used for God. In the Riga Veda Deva signifies “Giver” from its fundamental root. It stands for the forces of nature which have “given” life to mankind and are deified as demi-Gods. Hymn CXXIX specifically states that the exact mechanism of “creation” is known only to the Creator - Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?
Hymn LXXXII says that the primal seed rested on the “Unborn’s navel”. This is perhaps the source for the Puranic versions that depict Creation starting with the emergence of a Lotus from Vishnu’s navel.
The four hymns referred to can be read in their entirety at the web site of Sacred Texts. The translation by Ralph T.H. Griffith is used.
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