When you think of an international podcaster and author who has changed the way we look at life, one name that comes to mind is Jay Shetty. The popular podcaster, author, and life coach may be in some serious trouble as the credibility of his claims of living a monk's life in India may be in question.

Jay Shetty has often shared that he was a business student before his life took a drastic and dramatic turn after he attended a talk by a monk. He also claimed that his spiritual realization awakened after he spent time in an ashram in a village near Mumbai.

However, a recent report by the Guardian suggests otherwise. The magazine's claim comes after interviewing a couple of people, including some high-ranking members of Iskcon, people who knew Shetty personally, his classmates, his colleagues, his former employees, and students who study Hinduism from his life-coaching school.

Did Jay Shetty lie about being a monk in India?

In several interviews, the podcaster had different statistics that added to the suspicion. He mentioned his age as 18, 21, and 22 at the time of the monk's talk, which changed his life.

His legal team confirmed that the lecture took place in 2007, when Jay Shetty would have been 20 years old. He further claimed that he lived as a monk for three years, from 2010 to 2013, in a Hindu ashram.

However, a Krishna devotee named Virbhadra Dasa, who lived in Iskcon's Soho Street temple from February 2011 to September 2012, mentioned that he saw the British life coach several times during this tenure whenever he visited Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, a town just outside London.

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Jay's blog dating back to 2011 narrated an episode of his short trip to India. In the same way, he mentioned he was in the country for four months.

'Came back from Indiagtgtgtwent to see a few people at City University (was a good laugh)gtgtgtthen planned an action packed weekendgtgtgtbut got sickgtgtgtstuck at home in bed for 10 days (few nice souls came and visited)gtgtgtcame 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!hellip After almost four months in India, I realized that there was so much to process from my trip.' read his blog.

While this was about his lie about living as a monk in India for over three years, the Guardian also claims to have found 'multiple allegations of Shetty using people's content without consent or attribution and distorting details about his past as a monk.'

Who is Jay Shetty?

A self-proclaimed former Hindi monk, Jay Shetty grew up in north London. He is a British-based podcaster, author, and life coach who is extremely active on social media.

In 2017, he was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Class for being a game changer in media. Born in 1987, the 36-year-old started a podcast focusing on mental health called On Purpose.

The podcast has seen prominent guests like Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, Matt Damon, and Priyanka Chopra, among others. He is the author of the best-selling books Think Like a Monk and 8 Rules of Love.