Why is Polaris, aka Polestar, North star so significant?

The following quotes are taken from ancient Vedic literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

SB 9.16.24: The seven stars revolving around the POLESTAR at the zenith are called saptarṣi-maṇḍala. On these seven stars, which form the topmost part of our planetary system, reside seven sages: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bharadvāja. These seven stars are seen every night, and they each make a complete orbit around the POLESTAR within twenty-four hours. Along with these seven stars, all the others stars also orbit from east to west. The upper portion of the universe is called the north, and the lower portion is called the south. Even in our ordinary dealings, while studying a map, we regard the upper portion of the map as north.

SB 5.23.1: Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, 1,300,000 yojanas [10,400,000 miles] above the planets of the seven sages is the place that learned scholars describe as the abode of Lord Viṣṇu. There the son of Mahārāja Uttānapāda, the great devotee Mahārāja Dhruva, still resides as the life source of all the living entities who live until the end of the creation. Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Kaśyapa and Dharma all assemble there to offer him honor and respectful obeisances. They circumambulate him with their right sides toward him. I have already described the glorious activities of Mahārāja Dhruva [in the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam].

SB 5.23.2: Established by the supreme will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the POLESTAR, which is the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, constantly shines as the central pivot for all the stars and planets. The unsleeping, invisible, most powerful time factor causes these luminaries to revolve around the POLESTAR without cessation.

SB 5.23.3: When bulls are yoked together and tied to a central post to thresh rice, they tread around that pivot without deviating from their proper positions — one bull being closest to the post, another in the middle, and a third on the outside. Similarly, all the planets and all the hundreds and thousands of stars revolve around the POLESTAR, the planet of Mahārāja Dhruva, in their respective orbits, some higher and some lower. Fastened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the machine of material nature according to the results of their fruitive acts, they are driven around the POLESTAR by the wind and will continue to be so until the end of creation. These planets float in the air within the vast sky, just as clouds with hundreds of tons of water float in the air or as the great śyena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.

WHO IS Dhruva Mahārāja?

Dhruva Mahārāja was son of king Uttānapāda who had two wives. Aggrieved at the harsh words of his stepmother, who told him that he was not qualified to sit on his father’s lap nor the kings’s throne, at the age of only five years, Dhruva went to the forest at the age of only five years and under Narada Muni’s direction underwent severe austerity. Narada Muni gave him precise instructions on how to perform devotional service to Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because Dhruva was completely determined and fixed in his vow, after undergoing austerity for six months, Lord Visnu appeared before him granting him a kingdom on earth, and after death a planet called Polestar which is actually Viṣṇuloka (abode of Lord Viṣṇu within this material world which continues to exist even after the dissolution of all other planets, and it is worshiped by all other planetary systems).

Here is what the Lord said to Dhruva at that moment:
SB 4.9.20-21: The Supreme Personality of Godhead continued: My dear Dhruva, I shall award you the glowing planet known as the POLESTAR, which will continue to exist even after the dissolution at the end of the millennium. No one has ever ruled this planet, which is surrounded by all the solar systems, planets and stars. All the luminaries in the sky circumambulate this planet, just as bulls tread around a central pole for the purpose of crushing grains. Keeping the POLESTAR to their right, all the stars inhabited by the great sages like Dharma, Agni, Kaśyapa and Śukra circumambulate this planet, which continues to exist even after the dissolution of all others.

From the purport:
Dhruvaloka, or the POLESTAR, is the abode of Lord Viṣṇu within this material world. Upon it there is an ocean of milk, and within that ocean there is an island known as Śvetadvīpa. It is clearly indicated that this planet is situated above the seven planetary systems of the ṛṣis, and because this planet is Viṣṇuloka, it is worshiped by all other planetary systems. It may be questioned here what will happen to the planet known as Dhruvaloka at the time of the dissolution of this universe. The answer is simple: Dhruvaloka remains, like other Vaikuṇṭhalokas beyond this universe. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has commented in this connection that the very word nāvartate indicates that this planet is eternal.

Entire story on how King Dhruva was taken to Polestar, i.e. back to Godhead, read here:http://vedabase.com/en/sb/4/12

From: http://coraskywalker.wordpress.com/why-polaris/