Podcaster and life coach Jay Shetty is under severe scrutiny after reports emerged that he plagiarised his Instagram posts and lied about his past life. According to his website, “During his school years, Jay Shetty spent vacations living with monks in India, immersing himself in their wisdom and teachings.” However, a report from The Guardian claimed that Jay Shetty falsely claimed about staying in a temple for three years in India.

The investigation also cast a doubt on the accuracy of Jay Shetty’s own narrative and his educational qualifications. 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.”

The report also alleged that Shetty lied about certain aspects of his biography, including the story where he heard a lecture from a monk at the age of 18 after which his life changed completely. It added that Mr Shetty's resume includes a degree in behavioural science from a business school that doesn't even offer the course. The report claimed that Mr Shetty uses his spiritual identity to make huge sums 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.”

It must be noted that Shetty has faced allegations of plagiarism for several years now and the report even states that he removed more than 100 posts from YouTube and Instagram after YouTuber Nicole Arbour exposed the original sources of 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.”

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