The stuff at Xilinx is so enormous that its confusing. I don't think fpgas are as straight forward as micros. Can you elaborate the steps involved in making an applications with FPGAs

Babar, for a moment forget about FPGA, the software for (C)PLDs is the same. Then forget about VHDL and verilog.
Keep it simple in the beginning.
Get hold of a software that support CUPL or ABEL (Lattice does) and a datasheet for the 22V10. With that in hand you can learn all the basics in one day by yourself with the manual and a flashbased 22V10. Once you have mastered this, move up to a more complex chip staying with CUPL/ABEL and when that is going smoothly you CAN switch to VHDL or verilog (I never saw the reason, these programs are written for cases far beyond what pedestrians like me need).

If you start off with a 200+ pin FPGA/CPLD and VHDL you will lose it before you even get started.

Erik