MONK ROCK
HEAR JAY SHETTY BEFORE I SEE HIM. “HEY BEN,” HE SHOUTS FROM MY BLANK SCREEN BEFORE BURSTING INTO PICTURE ON OUR ZOOM CALL. HE BEGINS BY APOLOGISING PROFUSELY FOR BEING A LITTLE LATE. “I DON’T LIKE KEEPING ANYONE WAITING,” HE TELLS ME, HIS ASTONISHINGLY GREEN EYES ILLUMINATED BY THE AFTERNOON SUN POURING THROUGH THE WINDOW OF HIS HOTEL ROOM IN SANTA BARBARA, WHERE HE’S TAKEN HIS TEAM ON A COMPANY RETREAT.
To be honest, you expect a certain level of solicitousness from a former monk, if not, perhaps, from a global superstar. Particularly one who’s become the spiritual guru of choice for celebs like Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez, who wrote a New-York Times best-selling book, Think Like A Monk, hosts the world’s number one health and wellness podcast, On Purpose, is the chief purpose officer for the meditation and relaxation app, Calm, and has over 50 million followers across his various social media channels.
The somewhat jarring dichotomy of who Shetty once was and who he is now and the ways in which he’s managed to straddle the yawning chasm between a life defined by asceticism and service and one that’s earned him significant fame and fortune, is what makes him such an intriguing figure.
He was, perhaps, meant for both lives. Dressed in a light blue shirt with a white Tee that doesn’t quite hide a tattoo creeping up his neck, Shetty’s green eyes and neatly trimmed beard lend him a mystical aura befitting one who might devote themselves to a life of sacrifice, service and, frequently, silence. Those same mesmerising eyes have also proved perfect instruments to beam out of screens and phones on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, where he’s passionate and persuasive in articulating the benefits of a monk mindset to regular Joes and Jennies.
Shetty acknowledges the paradox of his past and present and the inevitable and inherent contradictions in trying to take the tenets of ancient spirituality to the masses through digital devices. He’s in a constant battle, he says, to body-slam his ego
