Michael Zhang spotlights the portrait series, “Holy Men,” of religious ascetics from around the world, by photographer Joey L:

Joey traveled to India (for the third time) in March 2011 and spent a month creating more photos of wandering monks in Varanasi, the holiest of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism and one of the oldest cities in the world.

Joey explained the project to Zhang:

I began the Holy Men collection with a photo series from the North of Ethiopia focusing on Coptic Christianity. In this new series, Sadhus and religious students are the featured subjects. Although Coptic Christian monks and Sadhus live in different corners of the world, the connection all these subjects have to each other is profound. Almost every major religion breeds ascetics; wandering monks who have renounced all earthly possessions, dedicating their lives to the pursuit of spiritual liberation. Their reality is dictated only by the mind, not material objects. Even death is not a fearsome concept, but a passing from the world of illusion.

Follow Joey's work on his blog, Twitter and Facebook or watch a documentary on his series, here.

(Vijay Nund performing morning rituals in the Ganges River, the most sacred river in Hinduism.)