To the Occidental mind this will doubtless appear to be the result of keen observation, the priest being able to see from the appearance of the animal that he was fed on straw. They will believe, perhaps, that the priest expressed his observations in the manner described to more fully impress the driver, but this conclusion will be erroneous. The priest, possessing the enlarged or all-inclusive consciousness which in the west is termed "cosmic," actually did speak to the horse. Nor is this fact one which the western mind should be unable to follow. Science proves the fact of consciousness existing in the atoms composing even what has been termed _inanimate_ objects. How much more comprehensible to our understanding is the consciousness of an animate organism, even though this organism be not more complex than the horse. There is a Buddhist monastery built high on the cliff overlooking the Japan Inland sea, which is called a "life-saving" monastery. The priests who preside over this temple, possess the power of extending their consciousness over many miles of sea, and on a vibration attuned to a pitch above the sound of wind and wave, so that they can hear a call of distress from fishermen who need their help. This fact being admitted, might be accounted for by the uninitiated, as a wonderfully "trained ear," which by cultivation and long practice detects sounds at a seemingly miraculous distance. But the priests know how many are in a wrecked boat, and can describe them, and "converse" with them, although the fishermen are not aware that they have "talked" to the priest. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the latest incarnation of God in India, and the master to whom the late Swami Vivekananda gives such high praise and devotion, lived almost wholly in that exalted state of consciousness which would appear to be more essentially _spiritual_, than _cosmic_ in the strict sense of the latter word, since _cosmic_ should certainly imply all-inclusiveness, rather than wholly _spiritual_ (spiritual being here used as an extremely high vibration of the cosmos). We learn that Sri Ramakrishna was a man comparatively unlettered, and yet his insight was so marvelous, his consciousness so exalted that the most learned pundits honored and respected him as one who had attained unto the goal of all effort--liberation, _mukti_, while to many persons throughout India to-day, and indeed throughout the whole world, he is looked upon as an incarnation of Krishna.