I think due to the following reasons the traditions of Baba Guru Nanak remain significant even today :

(i)    Guru Nanak was a great humanitarian, believed in secularism and communal harmony. In 21st century India is a secular state and we want that communal harmony should prevail in India.

(ii)    Baba Guru Nanak believed in existence of one God or Wahe Guru. According to him God is everywhere and can be worshipped in any form. He was a true democrate in the field of religion. For him the Absolute or rub does not belong any particular gender or form. He advocated a form of Nirgun Bhakti. He firmly repudiated the external practices of the religions he saw around him.

(iii)    Twenty first century is a scientific century. It’s progress is based on latest knowledge, scientific discoveries, inventions and technology. We know science rejects sacrifices, blind faiths, wrong traditions and superstitions.

During his life time, Baba Guru Nanak rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both Hindus and Muslims.

(iv) Guru Nanak believed in simple living and high thinking. Definitely this idea does not suit to western ideological thinkers and supporters of materialistic culture. But he was in favour of language of common people in the field of religion. About him certain writers had written that Guru Nanak Dev proposed a simple way to connect to Divine by remembering and repeating the Divine Name, expressing his idea through hymns called “shabad” in Punjabi, the language of the region.