He can be known only through single-pointed devotion. By no other means can God be reached. He can never be attained by the intoxicated and the proud. Pretense and ego are only self-deception. The purpose of solitude, of forest-dwelling, of vows, austerities, and rituals, is to reach God. All these bore fruit for the cowherds through their accumulated merit. God saved them without their even knowing it; their past was known to the Infinite One. He came as Narayana to give what was due, to repay His debt to the parents and cowherds. Says Tuka, the joy of the cowherds is beyond the reach of even Brahma and the gods.