Wellness Guru Jay Shetty Has Raised Some Doubts. Including His Own.

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Interview – "Wellness Guru Jay Shetty Has Raised Some Doubts. Including His Own."

The New York Times · Host: David Marchese · Guest: Jay Shetty
Air date: February 21, 2026

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Overview

This in-depth conversation between New York Times host David Marchese and Jay Shetty, the popular wellness influencer, podcaster (“On Purpose”), bestselling author, and former monk-turned-entrepreneur, explores Shetty’s approach to blending Eastern spiritual wisdom with modern self-help, the tensions between his monk background and high-profile influencer status, and public skepticism regarding his backstory and professional practices. The episode pursues a probing, sometimes skeptical tone, with Marchese pressing Shetty on criticisms, the responsibility of influence, and the authenticity and adaptability of his teachings.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jay Shetty’s Core Philosophy & Mission

• Four Fundamental Questions: Shetty frames his work around four life questions:

  1. How do I feel about myself?
  2. What do I do for work?
  3. Who do I choose to love and receive love from?
  4. How do I choose to serve the world?
     (04:00–05:07)

• Not Teaching, But Encouraging Reflection:
  “I wouldn't even say I'm trying to teach... All of my work is dedicated and devoted to helping people reflect on and answer these questions for themselves.” – Jay Shetty (04:00)

2. Universal vs. Personal Wisdom

• Adaptability: Shetty distinguishes between timeless, universal wisdom and advice tailored for the individual:

  “There's timeless wisdom... And then at the same time, there's very specific, timely advice... My approach is to always try and meet the person if I really can get to know them and actually be present with them.” (05:34–06:24)

3. Spirituality and Secular Self-Help: The Synthesis

• Integration of Ancient and Modern:
  Shetty explains how foundational Eastern concepts like sun salutations parallel modern Western notions like circadian rhythm research, illustrating his belief that much in wellness is rediscovered wisdom.

  “Pretty much every modern growth idea... can be traced back to [Eastern texts like the Bhagavad Gita].” – Shetty (07:44–08:57)

4. Appropriating Spiritual Concepts

• “Fast Food” Spirituality?:
  Marchese questions whether Shetty’s and others’ mainstreaming of spiritual practices renders them shallow.

  “Sometimes someone's starting point in a deep practice may be really simple, easy, and potentially even surface level... what a beautiful thing that people have gone on to, like, travel and maybe go on a meditation retreat.” – Shetty (09:42–10:46)

5. The Monk-to-Influencer Arc & its Contradictions

• Turning Point: Shetty recounts his inspiration to pursue monastic life after encountering monk Karanga Das, motivated more by embodied tranquility than content.

• Material Success vs. Monk Principles:
  Marchese probes whether Shetty’s wealth and status now contradict monastic renunciation.

  “We tend to idolize or demonize things... ultimate truth is to be able to utilize everything for a higher purpose... I love being reminded of how far I have to go...” – Shetty (13:10–14:49)
  "It's partly why I wrote a book called Think Like a Monk, not Live Like a Monk. That was intentional." (14:56)

• Self-Awareness of Tension:
  Shetty acknowledges these contradictions right alongside his critics:

  “I have questioned that many times, yeah, and I continue to question it.” (14:56)

6. Boundaries: Thinking vs. Living Like a Monk

• Can You Separate Them?

  “If every person in the world started to think like a monk, things would just improve... How can we take these mental practices and apply them to our everyday lives to improve our sense of peace and purpose?” (16:47–17:29)

7. Guest Credibility & Responsibility

• Range of Guests:
  Shetty describes balancing audience interest and research when choosing guests—ranging from top psychologists to controversial figures like psychic mediums.

• On Responsibility:

  “My job is to be curious... and also to allow [my audience] to be involved in finding people that they believe are important for their healing, important for their growth...” (18:13)

• On Skepticism:
  Shetty remains both skeptical and curious, especially about guests/subjects like astrology:

  “It doesn't mean I always walk out of anything a believer... but I am fascinated for my audience.” (19:01)

• Defining Truth:
  Engaging on the boundary between subjective healing and objective truth, Shetty maintains space for different experiences:

  “I think it's really hard to call someone else's personal experience of healing with something as not true.” (21:44)

8. Addressing Criticism and Controversy

Guardian Article & Biography Questions

• On Simplifying The Narrative:
  Shetty insists he’s always been open about his monk training and timeline:

  “I've always been open and honest about that time in my life... The value I gained from that time is the teachings and the lessons I share.” (23:22)

• Did He Ever Mislead the Public?

  “No, not at all. Extremely clear about and open about my experience.” (23:55)

On Early Accusations of Plagiarism and Coaching Accreditation

• Acknowledge and Improvement:
  Shetty describes making changes and instituting a dedicated team:

  “We actually have a team now that's fully dedicated to crediting and sourcing... It's such an important thing for us.” (25:12)
  “There’s so much wisdom out there... it was never intentional... if there were any discrepancies, they were definitely cleared up.” (25:47)

• Learning from Criticism:

  “Intention is important... anything that comes your way is a mirror to see how you can improve in every way.” (26:13)

9. New Ventures & Aspirations

• Perfect Strangers Production Company:
  This is Shetty’s new media company, revealed for the first time in this interview. He stresses its purpose is storytelling for deeper connection—not just another destination for celebrity interviews but a vehicle for conversations that reduce isolation and spark meaningful dialogue. (27:19–29:09)

10. Detachment: Practiced or Performed?

• Did Shetty Demonstrate Detachment in the Interview?
  Marchese gently challenges Shetty on the objectivity in his responses about criticism:

  Marchese: “You gave answers that felt safe... rather than detaching from what's safe or comfortable.” Shetty: “My definition of detachment is am I able to be present here and be open and honest with you... I’ve tried to do that to the best of my ability.” (29:23–30:15)

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Part Two: Continuing the Conversation

11. Processing Criticism and Identity

• Vulnerability and Reconciliation:
  Shetty shares the personal discomfort of being misunderstood—balancing pastoral motivation and ambition:

  “When you’re being judged, the first point is not to push that person away, it's to see whether that exists in you... that's really vulnerable to say.” (31:33)

• Combining Spirituality & Success:

  “I want to be seen as someone who is striving spiritually and striving entrepreneurially at the same time... I don’t think spirituality and success are mutually exclusive. And even if they are... I’m open to that. But I'm excited by the experiment.” (34:05–36:01)

12. Why Shetty Left Monastic Life

• Personal Struggles & Health Issues:
  Shetty left because of compounding health problems and a dawning realization that he wasn’t suited to the monastic life long-term:

  “My health was taking a massive hit... I had had polyps... exhaustion, chronic fatigue. I was emaciated... Also, all that self-awareness made me realize I wasn't a monk and maybe I don't have what it takes.” (36:10–38:48)

13. The Demands of Online Influence: Titles and Algorithms

• Hyperbolic Video Titles:
  Marchese asks Shetty about the click-baity nature of his video headlines:

  “Do you ever feel a little funky about the fact that, like, to get people in, you have to kind of make these hyperbolic promises?” (39:54)

  Shetty admits to using such strategies as a necessity of the “attention economy,” and often uses the platform to challenge and expand on those ideas within the content itself:

  “I love writing something like that and then almost debating the concept in my video... if the promise and what's on the inside is valuable, that's actually what will make people stay.” (39:57–41:03)

14. Final Takeaway: No Wasted Experience

• What to Leave Listeners With:
  Shetty’s closing encouragement is to find value even in the difficult or supposedly “wasted” periods of life:

  “We have this habit of almost disregarding our experience... and now saying we found it. I would encourage people to reflect on those moments, to learn from them, to value them, no matter how difficult and painful they might be.” (41:48)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “There’s not many new things, but there are deeper ways of understanding the same thing.”
  – Jay Shetty (08:43)

• “If every person in the world started to think like a monk, things would just improve in general.”
  – Jay Shetty (16:47)

• “I don’t fault you for that skepticism... because I’ve felt the same internally. The paradox of my journey is something I’ve had to reconcile mentally, emotionally, spiritually, practically.”
  – Jay Shetty (34:05)

• “I think both spirituality and success are not mutually exclusive. And even if they are... I'm excited by the experiment and hypothesis of if it is possible.”
  – Jay Shetty (34:25–36:01)

• “Leaving [the monastery] wasn’t easy... I felt like I was failing. That at that point in time was one of the heaviest things I was going through. It felt like a divorce.”
  – Jay Shetty (36:10–37:14)

• “Sometimes I think it’s a way of debunking myths... We live in a attention economy... if the promise and what’s on the inside is valuable, that's what will make people stay.”
  – Jay Shetty (39:57–41:03)

• “I would encourage people to reflect on those moments, to learn from them, to value them, no matter how difficult and painful they might be.”
  – Jay Shetty (41:48)

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Episode Structure – Selected Timestamps

• [00:42] Introduction & framing of Shetty’s public image/controversies
• [04:00] Shetty’s core beliefs and mission
• [07:44] Interplay of Eastern wisdom and secular science
• [11:00] Shetty’s turning point as a youth
• [13:10] Monk values vs. LA influencer lifestyle
• [17:29] Choosing, vetting, and being responsible for guests
• [22:22] On the Guardian article and public narrative
• [25:12] On attribution and learning from mistakes
• [27:19] New production company, “Perfect Strangers”
• [31:33] Impact of criticism and how Shetty processes it
• [34:05] Reconciling monk/entrepreneur identities
• [36:10] Why he left monastic life
• [39:54] Hype in video titles and content authenticity
• [41:48] Final advice on honoring one's life journey

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Tone, Language & Host Approach

Marchese is direct, intellectually curious, and skeptically probing—never hostile but insistent on pushing for specificity and candor. Shetty is calm, gracious, and self-aware, balancing transparency with the careful language of a practiced public figure. The conversation maintains a respectful but challenging dynamic throughout.

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For listeners seeking:

• Insight into the personal and professional philosophy of Jay Shetty
• Nuanced exploration of blending spirituality with entrepreneurship
• An unvarnished discussion of public criticism and the ethics of influence
• Reflections on the self-help industry’s promises and pitfalls

This episode offers a rare glimpse of a wellness influencer earnestly grappling with the tensions, contradictions, and responsibilities of his public persona.

Transcript

[Commercial Narrator]

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[Interviewer]

From the New York Times, this is the interview.

[Narrator/Host]

I'm David Marchese. Jay Shetty is without a doubt a giant in the world of wellness and mental health influencers. His podcast On Purpose is incredibly popular and its related YouTube channel, which features interviews as well as Shetty's video essays about self improvement, has more than 5 million subscribers. His books Think Like a Monk and Eight Rules of Love were both bestsellers,

[Interviewer]

and he's also just launched a production

[Narrator/Host]

company called Perfect Strangers. Part of Shetty's success has to do with his message. It's a breezy blend of pop psychology and self help tips overlaid with some reassuring Eastern spirituality. Another part surely has to do with his backstory.

[Interviewer]

As Shetty tells it, he was a

[Narrator/Host]

wayward young man who went to a lecture by a monk from the ISKCON movement, better known as the Hare Krishnas, and then decided to change his life and become a monk himself. He eventually left that life behind and became an influencer, determined to, as he's put it, make wisdom go viral. While there's no doubt about Shetty's success, I did find myself with other doubts about him that I wanted to explore. They were partly to do with a 2024 article in the Guardian that raised questions about many aspects of Shetty's public life, including accusations of plagiarism on his platforms early in his career, some allegedly misleading certification information put out by his online life coaching school, and even the extent of his training as a monk. That's reporting that Shetty and his lawyers have disputed and which we talked about at length in our conversation. So there are those tensions. And there's also the seeming contradiction of a man who espouses monk like thinking while now living the glamorous life in LA as a superstar influencer, which turns out to be a tension he's been thinking about too. Here's my conversation with Jay Shetty.

[Jay Shetty]

Hey David.

[Narrator/Host]

Hi Jay, how are you?

[Jay Shetty]

I'm doing really well. I'm doing really well. How was your weekend?

[Narrator/Host]

It was good.

[Interviewer]

It was Mellow just stuff with the kids. How about you?

[Jay Shetty]

Oh, amazing. It was Grammys week, so very busy but fun and enjoyable. So it was good.

[Interviewer]

You know, it's funny, I've been watching so much of your stuff for honestly the last six weeks or something like that, really trying to immerse myself. And just yesterday I watched a video of yours that had a segment about how to have difficult conversations. I thought the most useful part of it was that you talked about being clear about one's own intentions during a conversation. And I think that's a very useful thing. And I feel like my intention with you and with everyone is to just understand as much as I can.

[Jay Shetty]

I love that. Well, thank you for sharing that with me. And my intention today is always to try and share myself as authentically as I can.

[Interviewer]

Good, because I hope I have some hard questions for you. So we'll see how that goes. But for people who aren't familiar with you and your work, which of your beliefs would you say are most fundamental

[Narrator/Host]

to what you do as a sort of wellness self help influencer?

[Interviewer]

What are you fundamentally trying to teach people about?

[Jay Shetty]

I wouldn't even say I'm trying to teach. The four things I really, I'm encouraging people to reflect upon are the four most important questions I believe that we all have to answer in life. The first is how do I feel about myself? It's a decision we make every day when we wake up and we look in the mirror. The second is what do I do for work? You know, what do I do with my time? The third is who do I choose to love and receive love from? And the fourth is how do I choose to serve the world? And so all of my work is dedicated and devoted to helping people reflect on and answer these questions for themselves. So whether someone comes and asks me, like, hey, Jay, like, I really want to find my purpose? Or I'm kind of stuck in my job right now, or maybe they're going through a breakup and they're looking for insight on what will help them heal. Or someone who says, jay, you know, your work helped me through a divorce or your work stopped me from committing suicide. Like, I think those are the kind of things people usually come to me with. And so that's what I find is usually the kind of questions and reflections and insights that people are looking for from me. And I'm always trying to help them think through those challenges.

[Interviewer]

How much do you find the answers

[Narrator/Host]

to those questions change depending on the individual circumstances?

[Interviewer]

Is it the case that, you know, broadly speaking, the same kinds of answers apply in most circumstances. Or it's more the case that depending

[Narrator/Host]

on the specific circumstances, the answers to say, you know, how can I find more purpose? Or how can I feel better about myself? Change.

[Jay Shetty]

There's two types of wisdom in my opinion. There's timeless wisdom, universal principles and language that affects all of our hearts and that we all resonate with. And then at the same time, there's very specific, timely advice that we all need in a really difficult moment. And so really it depends on how personally I'm in that space with someone. If someone's at an event of mine and they put up their hand and they're on the microphone, they ask a question, then I get to look in that person's eyes, I get to see their body language. I can ask them a follow up question. If I'm creating something like a podcast episode, then that's naturally more broad because it's me speaking from one to many. And so to me, it's about being adaptable and being personal and being specific. And so my approach is to always try and meet the person if I really can get to know them and actually be present with them.

[Interviewer]

So kind of the, to my mind, big differentiator for you or distinguishing factor

[Narrator/Host]

is the fact that you trained as a monk.

[Interviewer]

Your book of course, was called Think Like a Monk and specifically correct me if I'm wrong, but you trained within the ISKCON movement, colloquially known as the Hare Krishna, is that right?

[Jay Shetty]

So I trained as part of the Radha, Gopinath and bhaktivedantamana ashrams across India and the UK and Europe. And they are parts of that. Yes.

[Interviewer]

And you know, because of that training,

[Narrator/Host]

there is this sense of ancient or spiritual wisdom around your content.

[Interviewer]

And it's interesting because when I read your books or listen to your stuff, a lot of it reminds me of almost cognitive behavioral therapy material or self help material that I've encountered in lots of different places.

[Narrator/Host]

You know, like list making, gratitude, journaling.

[Interviewer]

You talk about the importance of breathing, but it's within this framework of spiritual thinking. Can you tell me a little bit more about the interplay between your spiritual training and more secular self help ideas that also comes up in your work?

[Jay Shetty]

Absolutely, yeah. I've always been passionate and fascinated by the intersection between ancient wisdom and modern science. And when I first read the Bhagavad Gita, which is the primary text that I reference in my books, which is a 5000-year-old text, and Eastern wisdom, to me, pretty much every modern growth Idea or personal development idea can be somehow traced back to it and found in it. And so I find it to be an incredible map and conversation starter for so much of the spiritual wisdom that I love to share. So, you know, recently we've been talking about the value of circadian rhythms and the need to see sunlight early in the morning. And to me, there's something known as sun salutations in the Eastern tradition of yoga, where that's exactly what you would do. Now, they didn't talk about it as a circadian rhythm starter, but that's exactly how you'd start your morning. So I've always found it fascinating to find this intersection because I'm personally deeply interested. I also find that it's really beautiful when there are really practical ways of showing how these old ideas have a lot of validity. Today, there's not many new things, but there are deeper ways of understanding the same thing.

[Interviewer]

You know, we hear about things like,

[Narrator/Host]

you know, mindfulness has kind of exploded over the last decade or so, or people will talk about karma or living

[Interviewer]

within one's dharma, which I think dharma

[Narrator/Host]

can basically be understood as one's life purpose.

[Interviewer]

And people talk about these concepts that are rooted in religious and spiritual practices. And sometimes I wonder if people maybe

[Narrator/Host]

mistakenly think that they can decouple the

[Interviewer]

spiritual practices or like, the true religious root of these things and just sort

[Narrator/Host]

of use them in almost like a

[Interviewer]

fast food kind of way. Like, it's a shortcut.

[Jay Shetty]

I have a different perspective that I'd like to share. Yeah, my. My perspective is that sometimes someone's starting point in a deep practice may be really simple, easy, and potentially even surface level. And that may be them just dipping their toe in the water. And that's how we all started something. Like, I'll give you an example. During the pandemic, I did around 40 days of meditation on Live, on Instagram, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live. And people could just join from their home. And the amount of people that I still meet today who will come up to me and say, jay, I started meditating because of you. Now, all these people had never meditated in their entire life. Is meditating on Instagram Live the deepest, most profound meditation? Probably not. But if that's their starting point, if that's the connection point, then what a beautiful thing that people have gone on to, like, travel and maybe go on a meditation retreat and maybe do more with their own life, with whichever teachers or practices that they love. I think to me, it's almost like it's a good thing yeah, I'm very

[Interviewer]

interested in people's turning points in their lives. So I'd like to ask you about what I think was your big turning point, which is, you know, you were a young man in London, I believe you were going to business school at the time or.

[Jay Shetty]

I attended Cass Business School, which is now known as Bayes Business School.

[Interviewer]

Yes. And you ended up kind of on a whim, going to a lecture by a monk whose name was. Was it Garanga Das?

[Jay Shetty]

Karanga Das? Yes.

[Interviewer]

And you were swept away, had this

[Narrator/Host]

epiphany that he was saying something that

[Interviewer]

you needed to hear. Can you tell me about what you heard in that moment that was so powerful to you that you thought, well, that. That it actually became kind of a life changing moment, really, David, it was

[Jay Shetty]

probably even beyond what I heard. It was seeing a man who externally was not attractive to me in any way. You know, as a, you know, seeing a man in robes with his head shaved within. Indian accent from India. And I didn't understand, even in that moment probably of why I was so attracted to him, but it was his sense of peace, his sense of ease, his sense of confidence in being so different. And I think at that age in your life, you know, you're always trying to fit in and. And here was someone who didn't fit in at all, but felt like the most comfortable person in the room. And to me, that was more important, I think, than anything.

[Interviewer]

He even said, I want to ask you something related to that, which is it's to do with kind of your arc. And I think one of the things that's particularly unusual about your arc is that it kind of looks from the outside like it's an inversion of like a typical monk's journey, where I think, you know, usually the typical version of

[Narrator/Host]

that is somebody decides to embrace monastic

[Interviewer]

life and then embraces a kind of asceticism or a renunciation of material things,

[Narrator/Host]

wealth, whatever it may be.

[Interviewer]

In some ways, it seems like you decided to pursue monastic life and then have moved towards, you know, your. I think you're probably doing pretty well for yourself financially.

[Narrator/Host]

You know, you hang out with glamorous

[Interviewer]

people, you know, you're a successful entrepreneur. Are there any ways in which you feel like the spiritual tradition in which you were training is in tension with the life that you're living now?

[Jay Shetty]

First of all, I'm not. Yeah, I. I'd say that there's a understanding in spiritual tradition which is all about how, as humans, we tend to idolize or demonize things and that the ultimate truth is to be able to utilize everything for a higher purpose. And I think that's what's often missed. And so there's a beautiful statement in the Gita, which I was talking about earlier, the Bhagavad Gita, that says attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin. And so I think we often, in our Western understanding, see detachment as better than attachment. However, the spiritual understanding is far more subtle and far more refined. That detachment doesn't mean aversion. Detachment means you can be close to anything in the world and use it for a higher purpose. Now, I'm not saying I'm doing that, and I'm not saying I live in that. I'm saying I try my best. And I'd say that's my aspiration. My aspiration is that every day I'm living in the quote, unquote, real world, or, you know, however we call it, I'm reminded of my flaws. I'm reminded of my. How far away I am from truly living up to the spiritual pursuits that I have and have had for most of my life now. And I love that. I love being reminded of how far I have to go. And so I would argue that I feel more close to growth in my current life than I ever did in the ashram. Because in the ashram, I could almost forget or think maybe I'd already found it.

[Interviewer]

Is there any part of you that thinks maybe that's an elaborate self justification?

[Jay Shetty]

I have questioned that many times, yeah, and I continue to question it. I think that the spiritual philosophy of 5000 years old is pretty clear on it. So I. I take that as my authority over myself. However, the other side of it, to be quite frank and honest, is I think it's also a graduation. It's like I'm. I'm married, I have businesses, we have teams, we have companies. I'm not a monk anymore. And I think it's almost like having to recognize that you've evolved, you've grown, your life has changed. And, yeah, I'm not living that way anymore. And it's partly why I wrote a book called Think Like a Monk, not Live Like a Monk. That was intentional because I think everyone can think like a monk. I don't think everyone, including me, can live like a monk for the rest of their life.

[Interviewer]

I think, you know, the think like a monk, live like a monk distinction is sort of related to what I

[Narrator/Host]

was asking about earlier, which is how usefully we can decouple sort of religious belief from Religiously inspired action.

[Interviewer]

And I know I keep asking you, like, where is the line here? But I'm interested in trying to understand where these boundaries are. But is there a point at which thinking like a monk, if you're not also living like a monk, stops being monk? Like, thinking. Do you know what I'm saying? Maybe that was my version of, like, a Zen riddle.

[Jay Shetty]

But it's a koan.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, it's a koan. Yeah, it's a koan. No, David, I really appreciate you. I can tell that you're really trying to understand it, and so I want to try and meet you there and help you with that. It's probably different across traditions, and everyone has their own version. It's. Wait, let me really sit with your question because. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How much can you think like a monk if you're not really trying to live like a monk? That's what the question is.

[Jay Shetty]

And my response to that, with sitting there and thank you for repeating it, is what if thinking like a monk was the beginning of that journey, and living like a monk could end up being a potential pathway for the person who tries to do that. Like, I'll give it, if. If every person in the world started to think like a monk, things would just improve in general. Right. So I don't want to force everyone to try to live like a monk, because that's not going to happen tomorrow or ever. I don't think that's ever been the goal. But it's. How can we take these mental practices and how can we apply them to our everyday lives to actually improve our sense of peace and purpose? I think that's the goal.

[Interviewer]

I'd like to ask a little bit more about your specific content. Now, when I watch your material, and mostly I watch it, you know, there are some guests, like, for example, an Adam Grant, you know, who is. I believe he teaches maybe at the Wharton School or something like that.

[Jay Shetty]

Yes, that's right. Yes, yes.

[Interviewer]

Highly credentialed psychologist. And then you also have on folks like John Edward, the Psychic Medium, who's. Let's just say his credentials are maybe more up in the air. Do you think about sort of what responsibility you have as far as the credibility of a given guest?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, absolutely. Our team does a lot of research. Our team works very hard on figuring out who we think would be great to introduce our audience. We think it's a responsibility that we take very seriously. At the same time, we're also listening to our audience as to who they'd like to learn from, who they'd like to listen from what kind of things they're struggling with and challenged by. And a lot of guests are guests that the audience wants to hear from that they're asking for in the comment section or writing to us on our website. And so I think, to me, my job is to be curious, and it's to be curious for my audience and community, and it's also to allow them to be involved in finding people that they believed are important for their healing, important for their growth, and important for their wellness journey as well.

[Interviewer]

Does skepticism fit into what you do at all?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's, you know, for example, like, I recently interviewed an astrologist, and that's something that I had a lot of questions about because it's not something that, you know, I'm. I've never really read a horoscope out of a magazine or, you know, and. And felt that it was valuable or valid necessarily. And so there's definitely my own personal interpretation that comes into it, but it's still coming from a place of wanting to learn and wanting to see where it goes. And it doesn't mean I always walk out of anything a believer or a, you know, a supporter in that sense. But I am fascinated for my audience. I think avoiding topics or putting them aside doesn't gain any value either.

[Interviewer]

But how do we figure out what's true? Like, isn't there also some value in trying to determine whether or not, you know, astrology or psychic mediumship is actually true and not just a pseudoscience? Like, truth is why we're here, to figure. To figure out what is what is, what is true or not.

[Jay Shetty]

Totally. And I don't disagree with you at all. I think you're absolutely right. I just think that truth, when it comes to healing, is really, really open. Healing doesn't look the same for everyone. And what helps some people won't help other people. And that's also true. And so it depends what your definition of truth is. And I think sometimes when we talk about truth, which is important and of course, the most valuable conversation, not every. It's like me saying to you, like, david, how long have you been with your partner?

[Interviewer]

17 years, something like that? 20 years.

[Jay Shetty]

Okay. Amazing, Amazing. Which is incredible.

[Interviewer]

She'll be mad. I didn't get that exactly correct.

[Jay Shetty]

I'm sorry to expose you like this. I apologize. Congratulations. Honestly, that's amazing. It's my wife and I's. It's our 10th wedding anniversary this year.

[Interviewer]

Oh, congratulations.

[Jay Shetty]

And 13 years together, so. But it's like, how do I prove that my love for my wife is true? Like, what. What. What proves that? I'm not saying that there isn't a way of answering that question, but it's a very hard question to answer as fact or fiction, because everyone will say something different. Or if I asked your wife, and you asked my wife, what proves to you that David loves you or Jay, what proves to you that, you know, your partner loves you? Like, they'd probably give very different answers, I imagine.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. I think you're mixing some things together that maybe shouldn't be mixed together. I mean, the answer to what is proof of my love for my wife? I think the proof would be my actions every day. But the truth of that proof is a very different kind of truth than,

[Narrator/Host]

is my broken bone healed?

[Interviewer]

Or can the stars tell me what's going on in my life? Or can we communicate with the dead? These are all different kinds of truth that require different levels of proof, for sure.

[Jay Shetty]

But the proof is not. I don't disagree with you at all. I mean, the questions that you're specifically looking at, I'm. I've been both curious and skeptical in. In those interviews. I guess what I'm debating with you and enjoying the discussion that we're having is, I think it's really hard to call someone else's personal experience of healing with something as not true.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jay Shetty]

And that is something that I'm not willing to put aside because that's an important thing that. That humans also need to be curious and skeptical about is. Is allowing space for that. I think it's easier to be like, yeah, true. We. You know, the facts are all that matters.

[Interviewer]

So, you know, I'm sure, you know, there was this Guardian article that came out in 2024 where the writer, you know, he sort of wrote about ways

[Narrator/Host]

in which he said you.

[Interviewer]

You know, you sort of fudge details, specific details about what your actual training was as a monk, how much time you actually spent in India, sort of when your entryway into spiritual thinking really began, and the timeline of how all that happened. But my question about that is whether you felt like you did have to try and simplify or elide details about your backstory so as to make your story more legible to more people. Like, if there was a story about Jay Shetty that you wanted to tell publicly, did you feel like you had to tell that story a certain way, even if maybe that way was not 100% factually accurate?

[Jay Shetty]

I've. I've always been open and honest about you know, that time in my life and clear about it. I mean, I lived as a monk for three years. I traveled across India, the UK and Europe. And I think what's fascinating to me is the value I gained from that time is the teachings and the lessons I share. And that's my focus, and that's what I'm really about, and that's what I'm really trying to deliver to the world.

[Interviewer]

Jay, I feel like we can go deeper with that answer. Were there things that you felt like you had to simplify or just tell in a more legible fashion?

[Jay Shetty]

No, not at all. I extremely clear about and open about my experience. It was three years. It was traveling. I was learning deep meditation in India and study and then traveling to London to share and teach, traveling to Europe to share and teach. That was part of our practice. And I think I've created my. Created so much content. And there's insights to this, you know, whether it's my books, my podcasts, everywhere. And it would be hard for anyone to consume all of that to really get the full picture. And so I think if someone was reading and listening and following me on Instagram and social media and everything, that they'd be able to very clearly see it as well. And they do.

[Interviewer]

And the other thing I wanted to

[Narrator/Host]

ask about from that Guardian piece was

[Interviewer]

there has been criticism of you in the past for earlier in your career sharing words of wisdom without attribution or your online coaching school.

[Narrator/Host]

There were questions about whether aspects of

[Interviewer]

its accreditation were misleading in various ways. And as far as I can tell, that stuff has all been cleaned up. But I guess my question to you is, what might account for those missteps? Was there any intention to mislead in some way?

[Jay Shetty]

I think if you look at my videos from day one, you'll see me quoting, sourcing, crediting appropriately all the time. And I value the work of so many other people that I share and wisdom from others that I've gained from and want to pass it on. And we actually have a team now that's fully dedicated to crediting and sourcing and researching to make sure that all of those things are kept intact. And I'm. I'm really proud of that because it's such an important thing for us to be doing to make sure that people who deserve the credit receive it.

[Interviewer]

But that was an issue earlier, right? Like the. What you're describing is a change in practices.

[Jay Shetty]

I think that at the time, there's so much wisdom out there. There's so many things being Shared. It was never intentional. It was never. My values are to be clear and transparent and simply share wisdom that I've gained and learned. And that's where if there were any discrepancies, they were definitely cleared up.

[Interviewer]

Are there things that you feel like you've learned from criticism of you that you've encountered over the years?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah. I've learned that intention is important, and I've learned that there's such a profound need to see anything that comes your way as a mirror to see how you can improve in every way. And so I think that whether it's feedback, whether it's criticism, I look at it from the perspective of, how can I be better? How can I improve? How can we be better? What can we do differently? And. And I'm always willing to, you know, take that responsibility to do that, because I think that's what my teachers would want me to do. That's what my training was, you know, geared towards me to do. And so anything that comes my way is. Is always a way of improving, a way of being better next time. I mean, I'm so excited about the production company we're building. I'm excited about all the exciting work that we're up to, because I almost can't believe that I get the opportunity to do this. I feel very grateful for it. I feel very fortunate, very lucky.

[Interviewer]

I was talking to someone about the

[Narrator/Host]

production company that you're.

[Interviewer]

Is it. Does it say you're launching it, or how would you describe what's in the.

[Jay Shetty]

We're announcing it with you. We're announcing it with you.

[Interviewer]

Perfect Strangers.

[Jay Shetty]

I haven't even talked about it yet.

[Interviewer]

It's the first time, but I was talking with someone about Perfect Strangers, and she said to me that one of the things that you're interested in doing is being, like, a destination for a

[Narrator/Host]

certain type of celebrity interview.

[Interviewer]

Is that accurate?

[Jay Shetty]

I'm not. Not sure. No. No. I. I would say on purpose already is that. I mean, I would. I would say that my podcast has already been established as a place when we find people of. Whether they're athletes, musicians, actors, artists, experts, thought leaders who really want to open their heart and have a space to really talk about things that they've never talked about before. And behind the scenes, whether it was Madonna last year talking about her spiritual journey or Emma Watson talking about the, you know, the behind the scenes of an incredible career, I feel on purpose is that destination. And I'm really grateful and proud that we've been able to create it, because I want to tell stories that make people feel less alone. David, did you see adolescence?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah. I don't know. I. I feel I was extremely moved by that. And I feel like that's like a gold standard of things that I'd love to be able to create and put out there. Stories that help parents have better conversations with their children, help partners have more efficient conversations with each other, create content that sparks conversation, allows people to have deeper conversations about mental health awareness and what it looks like to really raise awareness of these things in a way that isn't on the nose, that isn't maybe teachy in a traditional sense, but allows people to really brought into the heart of what's going on and what's happening at the root. And so I think that I'm glad that you've seen it because I think that's a really good example of something that I would aspire to, want to make.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. You know, you talk about the subject

[Narrator/Host]

of detachment in your work.

[Interviewer]

Do you think you've practiced detachment in this interview?

[Jay Shetty]

Have I practiced detachment in this interview? What's your definition of detachment in that question?

[Interviewer]

I think in some of my questions around sort of criticisms or controversies, you gave answers that felt safe and maybe a little more comfortable, rather than detaching from what's safe or comfortable and answering in a somewhat more objective or clear way.

[Jay Shetty]

That's why I ask, and I would, I would say that to me, my definition of detachment is am I able to be present here and be open and honest with you and clear with you, And I've tried to do that to the best of my ability.

[Interviewer]

I appreciate you speaking with me and I am very much looking forward to talking with you again. And I think it's just a couple days.

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, absolutely. I look forward to as well.

[Narrator/Host]

After the break, I talk to Jay again and we go deeper into the possible conflict between his monk like principles and being an influencer.

[Jay Shetty]

I don't fault you for that skepticism and that thought process because I felt the same internally.

[Commercial Narrator]

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[Interviewer]

Jay, I'm very happy to be speaking with you again.

[Jay Shetty]

Me too, David. It's good to see you.

[Interviewer]

Do you have any thoughts from our first Conversation, anything lingering?

[Jay Shetty]

I think there was, you know, something that maybe I didn't get a chance to share with you. And it was around this idea of just we talked a bit about any sort of criticism coming your way. And I think when I think about that, to let you in on that, it's like, for me, that's uncomfortable. It's hard because you're trying to do something with the best of intentions. And I think we all want to feel understood and we want to feel seen. And I think when you're misunderstood or not seen in the way that you would like, it's hard for everyone. And it's been very hard for me and difficult for me. And I think when you're being judged, the first point is not to push that person away, it's to see whether that exists in you. And I think when you actually look at yourself in that way, you can find everything exists in you. You can find, you know, and that's really vulnerable to say, it's really open to say that you can find that every intention exists within you if you really take a look in the mirror and if you're not scared of looking at that. And so when I look at my experience of all of that, I've kind of come to this conclusion of, well, I do want to be deeply spiritual and I want to be really successful. Like, I do want to be deeply connected to my monk principles and I want to do really well as an entrepreneur. And it almost feels like to me, the balancing of that or the aligning of that, very honestly and candidly speaking, is worth pursuing rather than this fixation we have specifically in the west of being like, I'm just going to be this. And this is how I define myself to the world and myself.

[Interviewer]

That answer has opened up so many questions for me. You know, I think I definitely have judged you in a certain way. And it's related to trying to reconcile the monkish principles with the entrepreneur influencer principles. And I think it's skepticism that comes from a particular type of perception of you. And I think that when I think of you as someone trying to operate within a spiritual or a mental health realm, then my skepticism kind of grows. If I think about you as someone operating within an entrepreneur or sort of influencer realm, then I feel like your sort of who you are is much easier for me to understand. But those are my own hang ups. I want to know how you think

[Narrator/Host]

you should be perceived.

[Interviewer]

What is the correct lens through which to understand?

[Jay Shetty]

Jay Shetty David, I want to be honest about that, going back to my earlier point that I was saying is, I don't. I don't fault you for that skepticism and that thought process because I've felt the same internally. Right. So, like, to. To be honest with you, it's like the reason why that's even interesting to hear for me is because I've had that conversation with myself. But the paradox or the paradoxical nature of my journey is something I've had to live through and I've had to reconcile mentally, emotionally, spiritually, practically. Like, it's something I'm wrestling with on a daily basis. And so when you say how I want to be seen. Yeah, it's not even an easy answer, because I'd say that I want to be seen as someone who is striving spiritually and striving entrepreneurially at the same time, because I don't think that. Yeah. I think both spirituality and success are not mutually exclusive. And even if they are, and that's what I discover at the end of my life, I'm open to that. But I'm excited by the experiment and hypothesis of if it is possible. That experiment fascinates me and pulls me closer to it. And I'll tell you why I believe it's a worthy pursuit is because the other choice is to say, okay, I think people can just be successful and not be spiritual. I don't know if you want to live in that world, David. I don't want to live in that world. I don't want to live in a world full of successful people who don't have deeply held values and have integrity and try and create a difference in the world and be of service and make an impact and do things that are valuable. I don't want to live in a world where people who are successful don't have those values. And I'm glad I get to pass that on and be the latest mailman for. And that's how I really see it. And so I think it's a bit of a weak argument because the alternatives are not ones that me or you would subscribe to either.

[Narrator/Host]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

I realized I didn't ask this earlier. I think it's an important part of your story.

[Narrator/Host]

But why did you stop training as a monk?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, it was one of the hardest points of my life, because it sounds crazy to say this, but it was my dream while I was at college. Like, and it's. And. And that wasn't because I lived a perfect life at college, at university, but it was like I'd made it Kind of like this thing of like, I really hope I can do this after I graduate. And I was actually at one point thinking of quitting university and doing it then. And the monk teacher said to me, no, you should finish your education and do it after that. Which I'm very grateful they did that. But it was one of the toughest things. I dreamed about it, I'd wanted it, I'd really believed that that was going to be my path. I really believed I was going to do it for the rest of my life. Whether that was me being naive or whether it was my youth enthusiasm, you know, at 22 years of age, I really believed that. And so leaving wasn't easy. It was. It was very difficult because I felt like I was failing. And that at that point in time was one of the heaviest things I was going through. Even though it. Because it felt like a divorce.

[Interviewer]

That's how I was there a precipitating incident. Like, why did you make the decision?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, no, no, no. So. So the why was. It was extremely rough on my health. My health was taking a massive hit.

[Narrator/Host]

You're fasting or.

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, I'd spent time in hospital during my time in the monastery, both in India and the uk, and I, I was, I was struggling. I had had polyps in my throat that had to be lasered out a year before I left. I had exhaustion, which was. Some doctors said it was chronic fatigue. It was. I was really, like, I was emaciated. I weighed around. I want to get the metrics right, but I weighed around like 60 kilograms, if that's right. Like, I was like, really, really emaciated and I'd lost a lot of weight.

[Interviewer]

So physically you were struggling?

[Jay Shetty]

Yeah, physically I was struggling. And. And so there was a massive health component that really hit me hard. And I think what's really interesting is when your physical health goes, it affects your mental health and your emotional health even more. So partly what I'm expressing is feeling like a divorce and a failure. I think it's also because my, my physical health was falling apart. That was a big part of it. The other side of it, funnily enough, at the same time was I genuinely, deeply believed that all of that self awareness made me realize I wasn't a monk and maybe I don't have what it takes. And that realization, I mean, I left now 30. It's been 13 years since I left, so it's. I'm a bit distant from that emotion now, but it still hit me. So that's like a collection of I'm letting you in on all of it because it's not as easy to be. Like, there was this. It was like there was health, there was my self awareness. Through all the meditation. There was emotional weakness, mental weakness, understanding of who I was. There was. It was. It was a complicated time.

[Interviewer]

I just have. I don't mean to belabor this. I have one more question about. Just one more. Just one more about kind of like attention. So, you know, I understand that one of your larger goals is to, like,

[Narrator/Host]

I guess you could say, like, bring

[Interviewer]

people into the tent where they might

[Narrator/Host]

encounter ideas that can help improve their lives.

[Interviewer]

But sometimes, like is the way that

[Narrator/Host]

you have to do that.

[Interviewer]

Can that feel a little bit funky for you? For example, the way you have to title your videos online, right? Just these are sort of algorithmic necessities for capturing people's attention. But they have titles like, you know, attract anything you want, Break free from your trauma, wake up. Completely different. Now, of course, you and I both know no one video can deliver on that promise. But I feel like your position is, no, but, you know, that's how you get them in.

[Narrator/Host]

And then we present them with information that can be helpful.

[Interviewer]

But is there. Do you ever feel like it's a little. I guess funky is the word that comes to mind for me. Like, do you ever feel a little funky about the fact that, like, to get people in, you have to kind

[Narrator/Host]

of make these hyperbolic promises?

[Jay Shetty]

It's a great question. I think that I love writing something like that and then almost debating the concept in my video. Like, for example, I debate this idea of manifestation. So I have many videos that have manifestation in the title. But as soon as it gets in there, I'm like, guys, there is no such thing as manifesting what you want simply by dreaming about it or writing, you know, whatever it may be, I'm actually breaking it down. And so sometimes I think it's a way of debunking myths. Sometimes it's a way of actually introducing people to new ideas. And I do agree with you that we live in a attention economy. We live in a space where we have to have the ability to help someone get through the door. That is just the way the world works. It's just the way things are today. And to me, if the promise and what's on the inside is valuable, that's actually also what will make people stay. So if it was simply just a title, the views and the transformation wouldn't be valid or value. It wouldn't happen.

[Interviewer]

Jay. I know. I'VE been sort of implicitly critical or skeptical of the idea of, like, quick hit fixes or easy answers. But what's one thing we can leave people with? Hopefully, then you know your answer. We can clip it and put it on our socials. It'll go viral. But what's the one we have to put the right title on it, too. But what's one piece of advice you want to give people here at the end of our conversation that you think could really help them when they go back to their lives?

[Jay Shetty]

Sorry, I'm taking my time because you've asked me such a big question and I don't want to be. I don't want to be. I think as humans we have this tendency to say, God, the last five years in that job were a waste of time. Now I found my path. Or you know what? That relationship just wasted three years of my life, and I don't know if I'll ever find love again. And we have this habit of almost disregarding our experience, our lessons, our emotion, everything we've been through and now saying we found it. And I would encourage people to reflect on those moments, to learn from them, to value them, no matter how difficult and painful they might be. And there'll be so much value in it. I don't think that clip's gonna go viral or give you what you want, but it' it's something that's been on my heart and mind a lot.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, well, you know, all I ever want is an honest answer. So thank you very much and good luck with everything in the future.

[Jay Shetty]

David, you too. Thank you so much for your time and energy, and I hope our paths cross again.

[Narrator/Host]

That's Jay Shetty. His podcast is called On Purpose, and his new production company is Perfect Strangers Media. To watch this interview and many others, you can subscribe to our YouTube [e-mail] the Interview Podcast. This conversation was produced by Seth Kelly. It was edited by Annabelle Bacon. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Dan Powell, Rowan Nimisto and Marion Lozano. Photography by Devin Yalkin. The rest of the team is Priya Matthew, Wyatt, Orme Paola Neudorf, Joe Bill Munoz, Amy Marino, Kathleen o' Brien and Brooke Minters. Our executive producer is Allison Benedikt. Next week, Lulu talks to Maggie Gyllenhaal, director of the new movie the Bride, about how Hollywood treats female directors.

[Commercial Narrator]

It's fine. Like when we make little movies.

[Narrator/Host]

Cute.

[Commercial Narrator]

It starts to get dangerous when women have their hands on a lot of money.

[Narrator/Host]

I'm David Marchese and this is the interview from the New York Times.

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