The spiritual order that Partho and Debjani were attached to does not advocate prolonged fasting or believe in life after death, its members told Metro on Sunday.

The De siblings were members of Yogoda Satsang Society of India that follows the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, an Indian guru who had taught meditation in the US and other countries between 1920 and 1952. His book Autobiography of a Yogi contains his teachings and experiences.

Two photographs of Yogananda were found beside the skeleton, believed to be of Debjani's, in Partho's room in the family's Robinson Street house on Thursday.

Debjani became a member of Yogoda Satsang Society - which has an ashram on UN Mukherjee Road in Dakshineswar, beside the Hooghly - in 1997 and brought Partho along with her three years later.

Some of Partho's diary entries and statements to police suggest Debjani had fasted to death, possibly following the instructions of a guru.

"Our society teaches the importance of meditation and we never advocate anything like prolonged fasting or any other form of penance," Shri Brahmachari Achyutananda of the Satsang said.

Yogananda's teachings, he pointed out, occasionally talk about fasting for a day or two, but with the caveat that it should be done in consultation with a doctor.

The family followed spiritual advice from other sources, too. A recording of US evangelist Joyce Meyer's sermon was playing in the house on Thursday when the police went there to look for Debjani.

Checking records stored at the Ranchi headquarters of the order, Achyutananda said Debjani had first come to the Dakshineswar math in 1997 and enrolled for a four-year membership by paying Rs 280 and bought Yogananda's autobiography.

The association sent the 182 lessons of Yogananda - four lessons each month - to her Robinson Street address till the end of 2001.

Each instalment had four lessons on life, meditation and Kriya Yoga, which has been described in the autobiography as "a form of meditation that consists of a number of levels of Pranayama accomplished by disjoining the course of inspiration and expiration intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development".

In 2000, Debjani had brought Partho to the math and made him a companionate member. A companionate member can share lessons with another member.

"Partho was registered as a companionate member in 2000.... Neither Debjani nor Partho was a frequent visitor to the math," Achyutananda said.

The last record about Debjani the ashram has is a letter she had written seeking permission to attend a three-day birthday celebration of Yogananda at the Ranchi headquarters in 2001. "She had attended the programme between January 3 and 5, 2002, alone," Achyutananda said.

Functionaries of the association said they do not preach anything about "life after death". Some of Partho's statements indicate he believed that his sister would come back to life.

He also apparently served food to the skeleton believed to be of Debjani's.