Learn the story of the man who has held his hand up for over 45 years

One day in 1973, Indian Sadhu Amar Bharati was uneasy about having a good middle-class life in a country with a majority of poor people. A devotee of Shiva, one of many Hindu gods, Sadhu quit his job, his wife and three children and abdicated material goods in honor of his deity.

He lived for three years as a beggar, depending on the charity to eat and taking with him only a metal trident known as the trishula - an instrument used by Shiva to destroy man's ignorance.

But Sadhu Amar was not satisfied - or thought Shiva would not be - and decided to appeal to something more radical: he raised his right arm to the sky and did not lower it anymore - normal thing!

Loving didn't do it just for the sake of Shiva. He told reporters that his attitude was a protest for world peace. From that day on, he experienced the typical numbness and tingling that every man feels in one arm while spooning with his girlfriend.

However, he endured the pain and discomfort that, according to his reports, diminished over time and his arm was already erect without any effort. The arm muscles atrophied and there was calcification in the joints, plus a noticeable size difference from the left arm - the heretic limb.

Amar didn't cut the nails on his right hand either, since raising his arm, as he would have to lower it to get it. Her nails have since grown, curling in a bizarre spiral out of her fingers and envying the coffin Joe.

To be afraid

While this may seem absurd to the mindset of the Western world, Indians are accustomed to religious who sacrifice themselves in the name of their deities and are highly regarded by the community, who reward them with recognition for bizarre but peaceful attitudes.

Sadhu Amar Bharati is considered by Shiva's followers to be a holy man, who has abdicated luxury and material comforts in honor of his god. He raised followers who also raised one arm, including some of them holding them up for 10 years.