Jay Shetty, a British podcaster and life coach, is under fire after allegations surfaced that he duplicated social media posts and lied about his life story. Jay Shetty’s official website claims, “During his school years, Jay Shetty spent vacations living with monks in India, immersing himself in their wisdom and teachings.” According to The Guardian, Mr Shetty, author of the best-selling book ‘Think Like A Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day’, erroneously claimed to have spent three years at an Indian temple.
The 36-year-old, who was born in London and attended business school, hosts the “On Purpose” podcast
The 36-year-old, who was born in London and attended business school, hosts the “On Purpose” podcast, which has featured guests including Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and the late Kobe Bryant, among others. He also manages the Jay Shetty Certification School, where “students pay thousands of dollars to learn the Jay Shetty discipline”. However, the investigative research questions the veracity of Mr Shetty’s own story and educational credentials.
The report stated, “After graduating, Shetty forgoes a life of material success to live as a monk himself. Three years later, he has another revelation: his purpose in life is not to live the humble life of a monk but to use his preternatural oratory skills to share wisdom with the world. Thus begins his transformation into a public self-help personality and his swift rise to fame. Shetty’s success is largely predicated on this riches-to-rags-to-riches backstory.”
“Shetty is hardly the first self-help guru to embellish his spiritual credentials to amass followers, but he demands huge sums of money for his guidance”
According to the investigation, Mr Shetty falsified certain portions of his biography, including the story about how his life transformed at the age of 18 after hearing a monk’s speech. It also stated that Mr Shetty’s resume includes a degree in behavioural science from a business school that does not even offer the course. According to the study,he leverages his spiritual persona to make large quantities of money.
It stated, “Shetty is hardly the first self-help guru to embellish his spiritual credentials to amass followers, but he demands huge sums of money for his guidance. Shetty has used his spiritual authority to launch a number of subscription and education services, including the life-coaching school, which charges $7,400 a term for “Postgraduate Diploma (Level 7) qualifications” – equivalent to a master’s degree.” Regarding his association with the Hare Krishna movement, Mr Shetty has been reportedly reserved, possibly due to controversies surrounding the organisation. “Shetty avoids mentioning Iskcon, instead describing himself as a “Vedic monk”,” stated the report.
It must be noted that Jay Shetty has been battling with accusations of plagiarism for years now. The report stated that in 2019, Jay Shetty removed over 100 posts from YouTube and Instagram after YouTuber Nicole Arbour exposed the original sources behind his stories. Talking about the plagiarised social media content, the report said, “Many of Shetty’s “original” videos were based on pre-existing parables and social media posts that had gone viral years earlier.” It added, “After Arbour’s video, Shetty ordered his employees to go through all posts and include attributions to content that had been taken from elsewhere. He deleted more than 100 posts. He also hired a crisis PR firm, which launched a robust search engine optimization campaign, according to a former employee of Shetty’s.” Most recently, Mr Shetty officiated the wedding of Hollywood stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
