Jay Shetty, Indian-origin life coach, lied, plagiarised social media posts: Report

Jay Shetty, a British-Indian life coach and a best-selling author, is hugely popular on social media with over 15 million followers on Instagram including India’s star cricketer Virat Kohli. He shares inspirational videos on social media and is also an award-winning podcaster.

Shetty, who made headlines for his achievements, is now in the news for “wrong reasons” after a report in the British media accused him of lying about his life story and plagiarising social media posts.

‘Living with monks in India’

According to Shetty’s website, he has “made an indelible impact on hearts and minds worldwide”.

“During his school years, Jay Shetty spent vacations living with monks in India, immersing himself in their wisdom and teachings,” states his website.

Further, it said, “Born and raised in London to his Indian parents, Jay Shetty was a shy and introverted young boy who always yearned to make a positive difference in the world. His life took a remarkable turn when he received a last-minute invitation to listen to a monk speak.”

He is the author of the bestselling book “Think Like A Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day”.

Shetty says he graduated from Cass Business School in London in 2010 with a 1st Class Honors Degree in Management Science, but “felt uncertain about how his degree aligned with his purpose”.

“It was then that Jay Shetty made the decision to embark on a three-year journey as a Hindu monk in India and the UK. He traded his suits for robes, shaved his head, and embraced a minimalist lifestyle,” as per his portal.

What a British media report said about Shetty

However, a report titled “Uncovering the higher truth of Jay Shetty” in The Guardian has now raised questions about Shetty’s background.

“Celebrities call him ‘amazing’ and fans pay thousands – but what exactly do they get from this self-help guru with an iffy origin story?” it said.

According to the report, “people close to Shetty have questioned whether his conversion to a life of monkhood was quite so dramatic”.

“I began researching and found multiple allegations of Shetty using people’s content without consent or attribution and distorting details about his past as a monk,” journalist John McDermott said in the report.

Shetty, according to the newspaper, had said, as an 18-year-old his life changed after listening to a lecture by an ISKCON monk named Gauranga Das. However, in this too there are inconsistencies, the report said. “Shetty tells conflicting versions of the story. He often changes the age he says he was when the lecture occurred, telling different news outlets that he was 18, 21 or 22 years old when he attended the talk.”

Das told the newspaper that the lecture Cass Business School had happened in 2007. At the time, Shetty would have been at least 19 years of age, the report said.

Questions over his three-year ashram stay in India

Shetty has said he lived as a monk for three years, from 2010 to 2013, in a Hindu ashram in India. But some who knew Shetty at the time say he spent the majority of this period as a monk at Bhaktivedanta Manor, a sprawling Tudor estate in Watford, a town just outside London, and visited India only occasionally, McDermott wrote.

“Though he markets himself as a spiritual leader, Shetty’s output isn’t overtly religious. He occasionally references ancient Hindu texts, but the vast majority of his content is generalized, secular pop psychology, the likes of which you can find from any number of competing self-help personalities. He’s pulled off a seemingly impossible contradiction: branding himself as a spiritual guide without ever specifying the religious tradition he practices,” the report said.

Shetty has been praised by famous personalities, and he has interviewed Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian and others on his podcast “On Purpose”. Last year, he attended a US State dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House. In 2020, he officiated the wedding of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

Shetty and his wife, Radhi Devlukia-Shetty live in Los Angeles, USA. "Together, they continue on their shared mission of spreading love, purpose, and transformation to individuals around the world," his website says.