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)

I cannot speak to the exact correspondence of 313 or other numbers within that specific system but, I have a feeling that it is of some significance. Nearly every religion or spiritual practice has some repetitive method of meditation. The number is almost always significant.

There are the many names of shiva, allah, yhvh, and the practice of the rosary.

In all of these cases I have found some reason for the numbers of the repitition. For catholics( among Franciscans) the rosary is usually a number of "Hail Marys" equal to the length of Mary's life(in this case 72) and five "Our Fathers" for the five wounds of Christ.

As to the vast amount of repetition I feel it works as both a self-hypnosis and trance creating practice. It is easy to note the use of Mantras by various new age groups where the meaning is not even known but the mood established is noticed.

Purists may frown but I have found that even the repetition of gibberish can have an affect on the mind. (Try chanting randomly created barborous enochian names)

Ending, I think that the number is important in setting the mood and this is the reason it is a practice that crosses culture and religion. Prayer beads for mantra chanting have been found in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and ancient Peruvian cultures.

My own personal belief is that the number of prayers or recitations set different moods so that with each a different "vision" or "face" of god is seen and this accounts for so many of the similarities yet small differences in various gods.

I'm turning into a Kantian (help!).

If you haven't already you should check the wikipedia entry for Mantra.

Mantra Wiki Entry

it explains the psychology and variations far better than I can.

i have experienced reciting a mantra until you are speaking barbaric tongue or jibberish is best

[From what I understand it has to do with the gemantria of kabbalah. Which corresponds to the number of material basically it's a volt that has to be charged with energy that many times to physically manifest

Hindu mantras must be chanted typically in clusters of 108 or multiples of some kind, of that number, because there are 54 principle sounds that compose the universe, each sound having a masculine and feminine quality, totaling 108. Only 100 of those count towards the total number of repetitions, the other 8 are for the gods.

It should be noted you don't have to chant a mantra some massive number of times, like 250,000, all at once. It is a gradual process and the number of times you are supposed to chant a mantra is the minimum number of times you can chant it for it to make a permanent alteration to your energy. However, you can achieve temporary effects by chanting it less.

peace

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.

I've heard of 108 and 1008.

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)

As Crowley puts it in The Book of 4 (it's in the beginning), the reciting of mantras and counting is to quiet the mind entirely to go into a state of gnosis. One of several techniques, whatever sinks your submarine.

-Coyote