Abstract

Brazilian pilgrims linked to Vedanta and yoga groups in Rio de Janeiro, who travel to India in spiritual search, are the starting point of this anthropological research on the meanings attributed to devotion (bhakti) and conversion. Drawing on participant observation and interviewees' accounts, the author questions the prevailing reading that ties contemporary spirituality to an individualism detached from social bonds, arguing that devotional experiences in India reveal a search for belonging and connection with others and the cosmos rather than an isolated assertion of the self.