This introductory chapter sets the stage for the monograph by reflecting on the pervasive role of list-making in South Asian gnostic literature and its philosophical and therapeutic significance. It argues that lists are not merely organizational tools but essential to the cognitive and social processes of categorization that shape human perception, knowledge, and spiritual practice. The author explores the importance of taxonomy within religious, philosophical, and psychological contexts, situating the study of South Asian Gnosticism within a broader, cross-cultural framework of knowledge. By theorizing a ‘taxonomological’ approach, the author presents list-making as a key element in the gnostic spiritual exercises aimed at self-transformation and renunciation. These exercises, deeply embedded in metaphysical and ritual practices, use categorization to guide practitioners towards the ultimate goal of liberation, achieved through the complete negation of false identifications with external and internal objects. Drawing from the tradition of philosophy as therapy, the chapter highlights how the monograph, as a whole, critiques the narrow historiographical focus of Indological scholarship and calls for a philosophical approach that emphasizes the transformative, therapeutic dimensions of gnostic practice.