Hare Krishna! Vaisnava culture of respect and honour
ISKCON is more or less unique in vaisnava history, being an institution that is dedicated to spreading Krsna consciousness. During vedic times you would have what devotees often term as the traditional guru disciple relationship brahmacari guru-kule vasan danto guror hitam, a disciple living in a local village, where a local guru would teach the children of those who lived in the village, and more or less those villagers who stayed in the village with everyone living a simple lifestyle with no institution. However as we know that is not the model given to us by Srila Prabhupada and as ISKCON is the institution of Srila Prabhupada, in essence the devotees serving as gurus within ISKCON are first and foremost initiating devotees into the institution of their spiritual master.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=7315