Kuntres Mattan Torah, On the Completion of The Zohar

For that reason, blessed God gave us the Torah and the commandments that we were commanded to observe only for the sake of giving satisfaction to the Holy One, blessed be He. Were it not for engaging in the Torah and the commandments for their own sake, that is, not for self-benefit, no stratagem in the world could help us transform our nature. From this you would understand the importance of engaging in the Torah and the commandments for their own sake. If a person’s intention while engaging in them is not for the benefit of the Holy One, blessed be He, but for self-benefit, this would fail to transform the nature of the desire to receive; on the contrary, the desire to receive within him will grow much more than what he was naturally born with. I have discussed it in the introduction to the Sulam commentary in the first volume. Read sections 30-31 there. This is not the place to discuss it at length.