After initially opposing his uncle's conversion, Upadhyaya began to study under a Catholic priest and sought conversion, but being denied, sought and received baptism at the hands of an Anglican, after which he was conditionally re-baptized and admitted into the Catholic Church. After his conversion, Upadhyaya dropped "Brahmo" from his name for religious reasons, and called himself "Bandhab Upadhyaya".
A great intellectual like his uncle, Upadhyay helped lead the effort at bridging the cultural gap between Westernized Christianity in British India and proselytes. Upadhyaya became famous for dogging Annie Besant and following up on her lectures on Theosophy by giving lectures against Theosophy and in usually the same venues. Upadhyaya also sought to Indianize Christianity within the limits of orthodoxy. He portrayed himself as a Hindu Christian, positing Hinduism as cultural, not religious, and founded an ashram in Bengal to follow-up on his ideas and experiments.
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