I turned my back on the City to become a monk... and found my purpose!
A LONDON-BORN former monk who has become a global social media star has told how he once idolised the super wealthy like David Beckham and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson until a chance encounter made him realise money cannot buy happiness.
Jay Shetty was destined for a career in the City but his life took an unexpected path when he reluctantly attended a talk by an Indian monk as a first year undergraduate at the top Class Business School and questioned his purpose in life.
Now, after years living simply as a Hindu monk in India, Jay, 33, has written a book to share what he has learnt to help people have a “happy, more peaceful, calm and meaningful life”. He says the book is more poignant than ever for people coping with the pandemic.
The motivational speaker now lives in California with 37.5 million social media followers and his podcast On Purpose is ranked No 1 in the health and wellness category with more 70 million downloads. Guests include Eva Longoria, Khloe Kardashian and Novak Djokovic.
Says Jay: “I was a north London boy through and through and I never thought of being a monk or even meditating.”
As a student he attended talks by businesspeople or those that became successful and only agreed to accompany a friend to the mon monk’s talk if they went to the bar aft afterwards. He was initially cy cynical about what he would l learn from monks as “they have not gone from nothing to something, they have gone from nothing to nothing”.
But listening to Gauranga Das, who attended the Indian I Institute of Technology in B Bombay before leaving to serve hum humanity, setting up food prog programmes for children and buildin building sustainable villages, he felt an unfamili unfamiliar thrill.
“It penetrated my heart that someone could live their life driven by service,” he says. “I realised most people that were rich, beautiful, knowledgeable, athletic, were not really happy. But this monk had a purpose in life.”
After volunteering during the holidays he announced he was to become a monk on graduating. “I definitely felt my extended family and friends could not understand,” he says. “They said, ‘You realise you will never get a job or make money. You are ruining your life’. My parents thankfully were trusting and supportive. One of the great things of a monk’s life is it’s there to help you understand yourself and get a deeper understanding of who you are.” He learnt to recognise a routine can be a powerful part of your life, to become adaptable and resilient, and understood his purpose. It meant that Jay knew when the time was right to leave his life as a monk and find a “new path”. He says: “I had given up normality for three years and all of a sudden it did not work out and that was a painful decision to accept. I realised I had to find a new path, recalibrate.” After a stint with management consultants Accenture, who encouraged him to share his teaching and mediation with colleagues, he embarked on sharing what he had learnt to a wider audience.
Jay says that thinking like a monk can help today with the uncertainty created by
Covid-19.
“It is a big thing for people, to uncover their purpose at the moment,” he says. “People are reflecting on whether their purpose is fulfilling.
“It is about finding our passion, strength and then our compassion and how we can make a difference and serve the world.”
‘You invest everything in one person... when that is gone you feel it has taken your youth’ GILLY DA SILVA
Think Like A Monk (Thorsons, £16.99)