Sadhu Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Demographics and lifestyle== Unlike skilled workers and professionals, there is no certification for sadhus. So, it is very difficult to determine the exact number of sadhus. According to various assumptions, there are 4 to 5 million sadhus in India today.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Sadhus are widely respected for their holiness.<ref>Dolf Hartsuiker. ''[http://www.adolphus.nl/sadhus/ Sadhus and Yogis of India] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015040933/http://www.adolphus.nl/sadhus/ |date=15 October 2007 }}.''</ref> It is also thought that the austere practices of the sadhus help to burn off their [[karma]] and that of the community at large. Thus seen as benefiting society, sadhus are supported by donations from many people. However, reverence of sadhus is by no means universal in India. For example, [[nath|Nath yogi sadhus]] have been viewed with a certain degree of suspicion particularly amongst the urban populations of India, but they have been revered and are popular in rural India.<ref>{{Citation | last =White | first =David Gordon | year =2012 | title =The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India | publisher =University of Chicago Press | pages=7–8}}</ref><ref>David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz (2012), Yogi Heroes and Poets: Histories and Legends of the Naths, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-1438438900}}, pages x-xi</ref> There are naked ([[digambara]], or "sky-clad") sadhus who wear their hair in thick [[dreadlocks]] called ''jata''. Sadhus engage in a wide variety of religious practices. Some practice asceticism and solitary meditation, while others prefer group praying, chanting or meditating. They typically live a simple lifestyle, and have very few or no possessions. Many sadhus have rules for alms collection, and do not visit the same place twice on different days to avoid bothering the residents. They generally walk or travel over distant places, homeless, visiting temples and pilgrimage centers as a part of their spiritual practice.<ref>M Khandelwal (2003), Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Renunciation, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791459225}}, pages 24-29</ref><ref>Mariasusai Dhavamony (2002), Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Theological Soundings and Perspectives, {{ISBN|978-9042015104}}, pages 97-98</ref> [[Celibacy]] is common, but some sects experiment with consensual [[tantric sex]] as a part of their practice. Sex is viewed by them as a transcendence from a personal, intimate act to something impersonal and ascetic.<ref>Gavin Flood (2005), The Ascetic Self: Subjectivity, Memory and Tradition, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521604017}}, Chapter 4 with pages 105-107 in particular</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page