Every great journey begins with a small, often frightened step. Sometimes it is the stubbornness of a child, sometimes the restlessness of a rishi (sage), and sometimes just the admission that now one simply has to begin. This path is for those first steps, where you need not know everything. To set out is enough.
If you are new to this canon, this door is for you too. We will first look at the map of the whole world, then go to Ganesha, worshipped at every beginning, and then to that one word of Patanjali with which all the teaching of yoga opens: now. After that the path starts to open on its own.
The stories that follow assure us that having few resources at the start is no obstacle. Dhruva had only his stubbornness, and the first morning of creation had only a single resolve, and from that alone this whole vast world rose up. Each stop opens in the original Hindi.
- Foundations · The map of the canon
Where to begin is the hardest question of all, so first take a look at this map of the whole canon, and then every step ahead will show its place clearly and there will be less wandering. - Ganesha Atharvashirsha
Ganesha is remembered at every auspicious beginning not without reason. He is the deity of that discernment which removes the obstacles of a new road in advance, and settles the mind into stillness. - Yoga Sutras · Pada 1: Samadhi Pada
Patanjali opens the whole teaching with a single word, now, and it reminds us that the right hour to begin is not tomorrow, it is this very moment lying in front of you. - Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 1: The Yoga of Arjuna’s Despair
The Gita begins with a breaking, where Arjuna’s hand trembles, because the greatest journeys often set out from our weakest moment, and it is there that the turn comes. - The tapas of Dhruva
A boy’s being turned away becomes his greatest beginning, and Dhruva shows us that before a firm resolve both age and resources fall short. - The discontent of Vyasa
Even after composing so much, Vyasa’s mind stays incomplete, and this very restlessness becomes the seed of a new beginning, because every true search is born from the sense of something missing. - Shiva Purana · Creation and the manifestation of the Shivalinga
This story of the first morning of creation is the story of the greatest beginning of all, and it reminds us that at the root of every beginning rests a beginningless ground, one that never itself began.
You do not need to understand everything at once. Just open the first page, and the rest of the road will open by itself, step by step, the way morning light spreads slowly.