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00:00I gotta say, there is no other room in Hollywood that I would ever want to be in except this room right now.
00:08This is really special.
00:11I am so honored to be here to celebrate my good friend, Mr. Jay Shetty.
00:22Jay and I first connected over ten years ago when he reached out to me via social media.
00:27And I will be honest, when I saw the message, I thought,
00:32well, this is different.
00:34A monk sliding into my DMs.
00:37But that's Jay. He's always pushing the boundaries,
00:40and he's breaking the mold in the most sincere and earnest way possible.
00:45And when he moved to L.A., we finally got to connect in person.
00:48And we instantly, we went deep.
00:50Our conversations, they weren't about Hollywood or the business or networking
00:55or anything like that.
00:57They were about service and spirituality.
01:01We shared quotes from our respective faiths,
01:04and we talked about the necessity of bringing spirituality to Hollywood.
01:08We imagined what a room like this could be like.
01:11And we talked about it not about trying to make anybody else believe.
01:16We talked about, just as you said, about living it through our actions.
01:20That's what Jay does every day.
01:23About six years ago, funny story, I remember going to Hollywood to meet him,
01:28and he had this beautiful loft, which he shared with his lovely wife, Roddy,
01:32who is more stunning on the inside than she is outside, which is hard to do.
01:37And it was high up, and we stared out at the city.
01:41And I grew up in L.A., and I had never seen Hollywood from that perspective.
01:45And I remember that moment of looking out
01:48and thinking how peaceful Hollywood and Vine looked.
01:54It was like you couldn't, in that moment,
01:56you couldn't feel the loneliness and the sadness and the insecurity
01:59and all the things that overwhelm our industry.
02:04But there we were, we were sitting there together, right in the middle of it,
02:09but yet we were right above it, and it wasn't affecting us.
02:13And that's you, Jay.
02:15That is who this man is in a nutshell.
02:17He wants to be in the middle of it,
02:19and he's dedicated his life to service in a way that helps us all rise above it.
02:26Jay has also found a way to make ancient wisdom go viral.
02:30He's made it cool and practical.
02:33I remember he once told me about his morning routine
02:36that he learned in the monastery where he wakes up at four in the morning every day,
02:39and he prays and he meditates for two hours, and then he starts his day.
02:44And I just remember looking at you and being like,
02:46wow, you clearly don't have any children.
02:54But what truly sets Jay apart is his curiosity.
02:58And despite our different faiths, he'd always ask me,
03:01like, what's the Baha'i perspective on this?
03:03Or do you have a Baha'i quote about this, about something we were talking about?
03:07So I'm going to share one of my favorites, which reminds me so much of Jay.
03:12Baha'u'llah says, let your vision be world-embracing
03:17rather than confined to your own self.
03:20And Jay lives that every single day.
03:22He's not just curious about the world, he is committed to serving it.
03:26And through his podcast, On Purpose, Jay has created a space
03:29where people from all walks of life can ask life's big questions
03:33about love and purpose and failure and what it means to be human.
03:37And with over five billion views a year,
03:41his work is proof that wisdom shared with intention and sincerity and purpose
03:45can truly change lives.
03:47So brother, thank you for being a guide, a light, and a friend to so many people.
03:53Let's play this clip of On Purpose.
03:55What is the best advice you've ever heard or received?
03:59Throw deep, baby.
04:00There's blessing in the breaking.
04:02To turn your nerves into excitement.
04:04If you're unsure about something, take a moment.
04:06The world won't always like you, but you can't count on the world to like you.
04:11As cliche as it is, just don't give up.
04:13Really be present and make the most of your relationships
04:16because we're not here very long.
04:21It is my privilege to invite you to the stage, my friend,
04:24to accept this well-deserved award.
04:26Jay Shetty, everybody.
04:49I am so deeply humbled and grateful for this honor
04:54to Variety, to the Coalition of Faith and Media.
04:58And I want to start off by thanking my dear friend, Justin,
05:03not just for an introduction that brought tears to my eyes,
05:08but for the work that you do every day,
05:11the stories that you share,
05:13the conscious messages that you choose to put out there.
05:17There's no one doing it like you are.
05:19And I know it comes from a deep heart full of love, service, and gratitude.
05:24And I'm honored and grateful to call you my friend.
05:27So thank you for Justin, everyone.
05:34When you type in the words,
05:36will I ever into Google or chat GPT,
05:40the first thing that comes up is, will I ever find love?
05:46The second thing that comes up is, will I ever be enough?
05:52And the third thing that comes up is, will I am net worth?
05:57I'm being totally serious.
06:01And apart from the third one, or maybe that shows something as well,
06:05but it shows us our greatest worries about the future,
06:11how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about love.
06:17Two questions that in my heart and mind and life,
06:21only spirituality and faith can truly answer.
06:26When I posted my first video eight years ago on social media,
06:30the things that went viral were gossip, cats and dogs,
06:35which I'm not mad at, babies, also not mad at,
06:40pranks, and people taking their clothes off.
06:43Not much has changed.
06:45And at that time I had this naive intention of,
06:49how amazing would it be if ancient wisdom could be made relevant,
06:54practical, and accessible to the modern person?
06:57How amazing would it be if tools like mindfulness and meditation
07:01were available to anyone and everyone?
07:05I believed at that time, and I still do today,
07:08that we'd all be better professionals, parents, partners,
07:12and people if we had access to this wisdom.
07:16But at the time I was told that no one wanted spirituality and entertainment.
07:21There wasn't any demand for it.
07:25Obviously that was wrong, thanks to a variety spotlighting this today.
07:30But what I realized was this.
07:33Even if there is no demand,
07:36there is and will always be a deep need
07:40for spirituality and entertainment.
07:43As humans, we're good at two things.
07:46Number one, idolizing, worshiping, and celebrating.
07:52And number two, demonizing, criticizing, and vilifying.
07:59And the monks taught me that there was a third way,
08:04spiritualizing.
08:06They explained to me what spirituality actually means.
08:11They said the word spiritual represents the spirit behind the ritual.
08:18The energy and the intention with which something is done,
08:22and a heart full of service.
08:24Two people can perform the same ritual, the same act,
08:28but the spirit with which they do it can be totally different.
08:33Every day I try to ask myself,
08:36how can I do what I do from a heart of service?
08:39How can I do this from a deeper spirit?
08:42Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I fail.
08:45And that's why I think it's also important
08:48that we humanize spirituality and entertainment.
08:52I am not pure, but I'm trying to purify myself,
08:57and I know you are too.
09:00I am not healed, but I'm trying to help others,
09:05and you can do both at the same time.
09:09And I am definitely not perfect,
09:12but I'm a work in progress, and aren't we all?
09:16In my culture, we don't accept awards for ourselves.
09:20We learn to accept them on behalf of all our teachers,
09:24our guides, our gurus who invested in us over the years.
09:28And so I dedicate this award to my monk teachers, my mentors,
09:33my team who work tirelessly every day to create the impact across the world,
09:38and to everyone who has ever watched or shared our work.
09:42I dedicate this award to them and to all the storytellers in this room.