ISSN: 2348-4667 Anthropological Bulletin 9 (2), 47-75, 2017 Psychological Facets of Spirituality: An Empirical Study of Pilgrims at Sufi Shrines Faisal Hassan * ABSTRACT Spirituality is a phenomenon that evokes personal transformation and corresponds to religious exemplification through practices and traditions deemed as spiritual; so as to find purpose of life, attain harmony and atonement. Beneath this phenomenon lies the conviction that spirituality is the essence of becoming one with nature through an awakening that renders insights. It is thus believed that without an innate awakening, it is almost impossible to achieve harmony with the environment in which an individual lives. Despite the fact that this premise has a cursory nature and difficult to be quantified, this research has attempted to answer questions that have haunted the behavioural sciences for a while. A spiritual life ensures peaceful mutual coexistence in a world which is continuously changing itself; as a matter of fact it has drawn individuals closer to the folds of spirituality for providing a more meaningful existence. This research aims at exploring the role of spiritual practices in experiencing spiritual transcendence and achieving meaning in life among 605 individuals who visited Chishti Sufi shrines regularly, based in Ajmer and New Delhi. Results showed that there are both significant and non-significant relationships between the variables including significant predictions. Keywords: Spirituality, Spiritual Transcendence, Spiritual/Religious Practices, Meaning in Life, Chishti Sufi Shrines INTRODUCTION Amidst the constantly shrinking walls of the world, human beings find themselves surrounded by new challenges in their lives. Striving for a place of their own, questioning their being, most of them experience the yearnings for finding answers to the questions put before them, as they struggle and soul search. Spirituality has become the new normal for the believers in the post-modernist world, in wake of lightning fast propagation of the „spiritual but not religious‟ notion. In these times when disbelief has secured the third place among the followers of world religions, it is imperative to understand where exactly spirituality stands (Pew Research Centre, 2015). There have been events when people have migrated from their respective faiths and chose to stay unaffiliated, and then in some cases, they returned to a completely new faith undergoing religious transitions, else staying non-religious. Such * Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India Email : faisal.hassan.rizvi@outlook.com