Man who’s held his arm in the air for 50 years explains why he refuses to put it down

After holding his hand in the air for more than 50 years, one Indian man shows no signs of wanting to stop.

Amar Bharati was just 28 when he decided to devote his life to achieving spiritual devotion and when questioning the best way to achieve this, he settled on keeping his right hand in the air at all times.

Now, you might have plenty of questions for Bharati, particularly when it comes to how he sleeps with his arm in that position but after so long, there is a possibility that he simply cannot lower it at this point.

Nobody would have had more questions for the father-of-three than his ex-wife, after he left her, their children and all other worldly desires in pursuit of this spiritual devotion.

But there's no questioning his commitment to the goddess Shiva, after more than five years in the awkward position, as well as his obvious faith and desire for world peace.

“I don’t ask for much. Why do we fight between us, why is there so much hate and enmity between us? I want all Indians to live in peace. I want the whole world to live in peace,” he said, per History of Yesterday.

Raising his arm above his head was his own form of protest against the violence and conflict in the world as well as being an expression of his religious devotion.

He isn't the only man in India to take on such a feat however, as there's also a man who hasn't sat down for over a decade now after dedicating himself to Shiva, and he's suffered some serious effects on his body from that.

As you can see from the photos below, Bharati's arm has seemingly lost all muscle, while he also hasn't cut his fingernails in that time, and they can be seen spiralling down towards his face.

His nails have also been allowed to grow wild (Getty)

Previous reports have suggested that Bharati suffered serious pain for the first two years of his challenge but after that, he started to lose all sensation in his right arm, with the muscle wasting away entirely.

"If you try to lower Bharati’s hand you will cause him real pain, not physical but spiritual, for he believes that his eternal salute does indeed promote world peace,” one source close to the man told the Jerusalem Post.

Although Bharati's intention was not to pursue fame, there is no doubt that he has become a well-known figure across the world over the past 50 years, with the images of him with his withered arms and hand testament to his incredible devotion.