Jay Shetty is a well-known social media influencer with around 15M followers on Instagram,he is a motivational speaker and an author of two best selling books. The credibility of his identity as a self help guru has been called into question, including his life as a monk and even his contribution in the mental health arena. He is also accused of plagiarising social media posts and lying about certain aspects of his early life. All this was revealed in an article released by the Guardian.
"Cancer of the Mind: Comparing, Complaining and Criticising" - Jay Shetty
Jay Shetty has shared a lot about his personal ‘Past-life’ with his audiences or more accurately his entire personality is based on a story he tells on talk shows, in advice videos, and in his two best-selling books,"Think Like a Monk" and "8 Rules of Love”.
The Story: His life as a Monk?
What was the story? Shetty says that while he was in London's business school, he attended a lecture given by the Iskcon monk Gauranga Das, he then experienced a profound spiritual awakening and spent three years of his life in seclusion in an ashram in a "village near Mumbai '' and skipped his graduation ceremony.
In a 2011 post on Shetty's blog Essence, he indicated a brief visit to India, stating, "Came back from India>>>went to see a few people at City University (was a good laugh)>>>then planned an action-packed weekend>>>but got sick>>>stuck at home in bed for 10 days (few nice souls came and visited)>>>came back to stay at the temple where I've been busy going to programs, distributing flyers and books on the streets all over the UK and enjoying festivals!... After almost four months in India, I realized that there was so much to process from my trip."
Shetty decided to become a monk and gave up materialistic success after graduating. According to his website, “During his school years, Jay Shetty spent vacations living with monks in India, immersing himself in their wisdom and teachings.”
His three-year journey was a transformative phase in his life, wherein he practised eight hours of daily meditation and “delved into the ancient practices of breath and mindfulness”, while dabbling with philosophies and sciences of the east.
However, in 2013, Shetty left the monastery to return to London. He was also invited by various college classmates to speak at the companies they were working for, where he shared his insights as well as “practical applications of his monk learnings in the workplace”.
What does the Report by The Guardian reveals?
The Guardian's investigation raises doubts about the credibility of Shetty's account, supported by interviews with numerous sources, including Iskcon members, acquaintances, and academics.
In different interviews, Shetty has stated his age as 18, 21, and 22 when recounting the monk's lecture that had a profound impact on him. However, Gauranga Das and Shetty's legal team affirmed that the encounter occurred in 2007, suggesting Shetty was either 19 or 20 at the time.
Shetty's former associates reveals that rather than staying at Indian ashrams, Shetty spent the majority of the time at a London estate during the period he claims to have lived as a monk.
Virabhadra Dasa, a Krishna devotee residing at Iskcon's Soho Street temple in central London from February 2011 to September 2012, claims to have encountered Shetty multiple times during visits to Bhaktivedanta Manor, located in Watford, a town near London, throughout this period.
Even the authenticity of the motivational speaker's educational background is also called into doubt by the investigation. The report reveals that the business school he attended does not offer a degree in behavioural science, as stated in his resume.
"Multiple allegations of Shetty using people's content without consent or attribution and distorting details about his past as a monk" were also cited in the Guardian piece.
Social media influencer Nicole Arbour claimed in a 2019 video that Shetty became well-known on the internet by taking information from other people and editing motivational quotes from accounts with fewer followers to look like original stuff. Arbour told The Guardian that he received a barrage of emails from writers and digital artists accusing Shetty of copying their work and without providing due credit. After that, Shetty's posts were subjected to a thorough attribution examination, and one hundred of them were removed. Thereafter, a vigorous crisis PR campaign was launched.
In addition, His ‘The Jay Shetty Certification School’, which grants organisations and people certifications in life coaching, as his website states that more than 2 million students have taken his courses, and his "Genius Community" has taught thousands of people in more than 100 countries each week about the fundamentals and practices of health and wellbeing. However, the investigation casts doubt on the accuracy of the statements made regarding the "Jay Shetty Certification School" accreditation.
Moreover, the report states that Shetty made enormous sums of money by adopting a false identity as a spiritual guru. Though he is by no means the first self-help guru to inflate his spiritual credentials in order to attract followers, Shetty charges enormous sums of money for his advice. Shetty has established a number of subscription and educational services using his spiritual authority, such as the life-coaching school that charges $7,400 per term for "Postgraduate Diploma (Level 7) qualifications," which are comparable to a master's degree.
Lastly,Shetty's connection with the Hare Krishna movement remains uncertain, likely influenced by controversies surrounding the organisation.
About Jay Shetty’s Rise to Fame
Shetty has now transitioned into a well-known public self-help figure. Shetty's success is primarily based on his success story of rising from poverty to prominence. According to his website, Shetty began his journey by creating short YouTube videos, which caught the attention of Arianna Huffington, leading to him hosting Huffpost Rise in New York in 2016.
Three years later, he launched his own podcast, "On Purpose with Jay Shetty," in 2019, which has since had crossed over 35 million monthly downloads and features numerous celebrity guests such as Oprah Winfrey, President Joe Biden, Selena Gomez, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, Tom Holland, Kendall Jenner, and Kim Kardashian. The podcast has consistently ranked in Spotify's Top 5 Podcasts globally and Apple's Top 20 Podcasts of the Year.
He had attended prestigious events like the White House state dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, interviewed President Joe Biden on mental health initiatives, and featured in campaigns for Gap and Jennifer Lopez's "This Is Me…Now."
Amid the controversy, Shetty has yet to directly address the accusations, leaving his response to the unfolding situation unclear.
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