Chanting a mantra, for certain amount of times? Options

I am currently researching on tantra sadhana. Can anybody explain why a mantra has to be recited 313 times, 21,000 times or x times for x days please? How significant is it? Thx (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yeah. When I was learning mantras, they mentioned there was an energy center on the right side of the chest, about heart level, that was an entryway for soul. (There's one on the left side too, that is somehow part of the ego, on the left. "The man of sin" mentioned in Magic of Kali, I think.) Anyway, they said there were 108 Nadis in that center. So chanting something 108 times cleared that energy center completely 1 time.

I can't verify that personally, but that's what they told us. The overarching number of repetitions was, as Vagrant Dreamer mentioned, the threshold for creating a permanent change of some kind. Although, that depends on the mantra and it's intended use, as well. I think the mantra is only fully activated for your use after you've cleansed the nadis, made the connections, worked out your rhythm and pronunciation and charged it that number of times. Then it really starts to go. I can't say I've ever had the discipline to completely activate one.

Some of the Root kali mantras are quite powerful, and supposedly activate in only 10,000 or so reps, as opposed to hundreds of thousands. The upside being that you see the results of the work quickly. The downside being that you see the results of your work quickly.