God gave His devotees the bliss of His own Self. The gopis, those virtuous women, were embraced by Him. God owed them a debt across many births. When they sulked, He soothed them, taking oaths and performing acts of atonement. He told all the gopis, 'I shall never leave you.' 'You are in My heart with your whole being.' 'Let your devotion toward Me be as Mine is toward you. I am truly the same for you.' 'Let your own hearts be your witness. Narayana is the guarantee for us both.' He pledges His own oath. God speaks truth according to each one's devotion, bringing it into experience. He consoles each one in a different way. What one knows, the other does not. No two share the same devotion. God receives each one's offering distinctly. He does not let it be known that He is equally present everywhere. To all of them, in all conditions, He is the same. Whatever desire each one holds in her heart, the Dark-Hued Lord fulfills it. He fulfilled the heart's desire of each gopi, and of all the people of Gokul. He planted the seed of longing in Gokul's people, settling Govinda in their hearts. He even stole away their minds, every one of them. The love they bore for their cowherds was beyond measure. Says Tuka, they loved the Lord of Vaikuntha. They forgot everything else.

He shows the easy secret to the simple cowherds; He wears the garlands they offer around His own neck. They claim their turn first, and He gives them honor; God takes their demand as a joy. Their crude shouts and teasing He counts as sacred chants; the water they splash on Him He counts as His bath. They spread their clothes and coarse blankets on the ground and seat Vanamali, the Lord of the Forest, on top. He whom the three worlds cannot reach even in thought, He runs to round up their cattle. He wears the flowers of their words on His head; the food He asks of them is a morsel from their hands. He snatches the morsels from their mouths and eats their leavings to the full. He weaves a crest of peacock feathers, and dances and claps to their tune. Those with whom Hari dances forget the body. When the body's sense is forgotten, that itself is the whole worship of Narayana. He takes the faithful one's worship without their knowing; unasked, He shows His own dwelling. To give them that place He goes wandering after them. Tuka says: He goes in the company of His devotees.