---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.2"
id: sthiti
title: "Sthiti — स्थिति"
iast: "Sthiti"
devanagari: "स्थिति"
description: "Cosmic maintenance: the active sustaining of the manifest cosmos during a Kalpa; Viṣṇu's primary function in the Trimūrti schema; not passive conservation but the continuous upholding of the conditions for dharma and liberation to operate; the middle term of the Sṛṣṭi-Sthiti-Saṃhāra triad."
darshana:
  - Purāṇic
  - Vaiṣṇava Vedānta
school_scope: "The Sṛṣṭi-Sthiti-Saṃhāra framework is pan-Purāṇic; Vaiṣṇava schools give Sthiti primacy by associating it with the supreme Viṣṇu; Śaiva schools redistribute these functions across Śiva's five acts (pañcakṛtya)"
text_source: "BhP 1.2.23; BG 4.7-8; Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.2"
tags: [cosmology, sthiti, vishnu, trimurti, dharma, avatara, puranic]
not:
  - term: "stasis / the status quo"
    why: "Sthiti is not passive preservation of existing conditions. It is the active, intelligent, continuous effort to maintain the cosmic order (dharma / ṛta) that makes liberation possible. Viṣṇu's Avatāras — periodic descents to restore dharma — are expressions of Sthiti: they occur precisely because Sthiti requires active intervention when adharma threatens."
    instead: "Translate as 'cosmic maintenance' or 'sustaining function'; note that Sthiti is active, not conservative."
  - term: "preservation of the universe against destruction"
    why: "Sthiti is not in opposition to Saṃhāra; all three (Sṛṣṭi, Sthiti, Saṃhāra) are necessary parts of one cycle. Viṣṇu does not 'fight' Śiva. Sthiti maintains cosmic conditions within a Kalpa; Saṃhāra is the natural conclusion of that Kalpa. They are sequential phases, not opposing forces."
related:
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/samhara.md
  - /concepts/trimurti.md
  - /concepts/avatara.md
  - /concepts/pralaya.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Sthiti — स्थिति

**Not:** stasis / the status quo, preservation of the universe against destruction

## Sthiti as Active Upholding

Sthiti (from the root sthā, to stand, to remain) is the cosmic maintenance function — the continuous sustaining of the manifest cosmos throughout a Kalpa. It is Viṣṇu's primary role in the Trimūrti schema.

What Sthiti maintains is not merely physical existence but the conditions for dharma to operate and liberation to be pursued. The cosmos is not maintained for its own sake but as the arena in which jīvas move toward Mokṣa. When those conditions are threatened — when adharma rises to the point that the pursuit of liberation becomes impossible — Sthiti requires intervention: this is the mechanism that generates Avatāras (BG 4.7-8).

## Sthiti and the Avatāra Principle

Bhagavad Gītā 4.7-8 is the locus classicus for the Avatāra-Sthiti connection:

> "Whenever dharma declines and adharma arises, O Bhārata, I project myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, for the firm establishment of dharma — I appear in Yuga after Yuga."

Each Avatāra is not a separate creation-event but an expression of Sthiti's self-correcting mechanism. Viṣṇu does not create (that is Brahmā's function) or dissolve (that is Śiva's) — he maintains, which sometimes means actively restoring what has degraded.

## Sthiti in the Pañcakṛtya Framework

In Śaiva cosmology, the five cosmic acts (pañcakṛtya) are: Sṛṣṭi, Sthiti, Saṃhāra, Tirodhāna (veiling/concealment), and Anugraha (grace/revelation). Sthiti is the second of the five. In this framework, all five are performed by Śiva alone (not the Trimūrti); the Trimūrti's three functions are the first three of these five acts.

The Śaiva pañcakṛtya framework includes Tirodhāna and Anugraha — the concealing of Brahman's true nature within Sthiti's maintained cosmos, and the grace that lifts that veil. This adds two dimensions to the Vaiṣṇava three: why, if the cosmos is maintained for liberation, do beings not immediately know their nature? Because Sthiti also maintains Māyā's operational conditions.

## Audience Metaphor

Sthiti is like a gardener who did not plant the garden (Sṛṣṭi) and will not eventually harvest and clear it (Saṃhāra), but who maintains it continuously — watering, pruning, clearing weeds, and occasionally dealing with invasive species (adharma). The garden's purpose is not its own perpetuation but the fruit it yields (liberation for the jīvas within it). The gardener intervenes actively when the garden's purpose is threatened.

## Citations

1. Bhāgavad Gītā 4.7-8 — the Avatāra principle as expression of Sthiti
2. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.2.23 — the three divine functions and Viṣṇu's Sattva-dominant maintaining role
3. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.2 — Sthiti as Viṣṇu's cosmic function; see references/vishnu-purana.md
