This splendid holy man has kept his arm raised for 38 years ?

Indian Sadhu Amar Bharati claims to have kept his hand raised for 38 years in devotion to Hindu deity Shiva. One day in 1970, Bharati left his job, wife, and three children in order to pursue his devotion to Shiva; three years later he felt he was still too connected to the luxury of mortal life, and decided to raise his arm and keep it raised in order to disconnect himself from said luxuries of mortal life.

A respected Sadhu at the Kumbh Mela, in Haridwar, Bharati has inspired other Sadhus to raise their arms for peace and harmony, and some of them have kept them raised for the last seven, thirteen, even 25 years. But doing something like this doesn’t just mean giving up the functionality of an important body part, it also implies dealing with a lot of pain.

His raised arm is much more deformed than his other arm. Initially he dealt with immense pain for quite a while, but it eventually subsided and now he can’t even use the raised arm if he wanted, as it atrophied and is now stuck in its current raised position.