Old Sadhu Squatting In Front Of A Temple, Mahabalipuram, India, 2008 (photo)

Sadhus are ascetic and wandering Hindu monk, they are considered as renouncers who have decided to live apart from society and give up all material and sexual attachments so as to devote their lives to spiritual practice; they are practitioners of meditation, in particular yoga; Sadhus dedicated their lifetime to reach Moksha or Mukti, which is the fourth and final ashrama (stage of life); this level corresponds to the extrication of the soul from samsara (the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth, reincarnation) in order to bring to an end all the sufferings involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and rebirth; this state could only be reached through meditation and contemplation of Brahman; Sadhus are dressed with ochre-coloured clothing, symbolizing their Sannyasa and display paintings on the face made of ashes and powders; they live in caves, forests and temple, they also have made vows of poverty and rely mostly on donations of people live in caves, forests and temple; Sadhus are considered as embodiment of the divine and perfect examples of what human life should be about in Hinduism, religious illumination and liberation from the cycle of birth and death