A Commandment Without An Aim Is Like A Body Without A Soul

Indeed, there is a common opinion that the primary goal of religion and the Torah is only the cleansing of actions, that all that is desired concerns observing the physical Mitzvot (commandments), without any additions or anything that should result from it. Had that been so, those who say that studying the revealed and practical actions alone is sufficient would be right.

Yet, this is not the case. Our sages have already said, “Why should the Creator mind if one slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck? After all, the Mitzvotwere only given to cleanse people.” Thus, there is a purpose beyond the observance of the actions, and the actions are merely preparations for this purpose. Hence, clearly, if the actions are not arranged for the desired goal, it is as if nothing exists. And it is also written in The Zohar: “A Mitzva (commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.” Hence, the aim, too, should accompany the act.”Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence.”

If one wants to correct one’s egoistic desire to receive and change it into a desire to bestow, there is only one remedy at one’s disposal—the Light—under the condition that one is engaged into studying the Torah with the intention to correct one’s desire.
Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder) “What is the Torah and the Work on the Path to the Creator”

…the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, which we were commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had it not been for the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name), to bring contentment to the Creator with them, and not to benefit ourselves, there would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.

Now you can understand the rigorousness of engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. If one’s intention in the Torah and Mitzvot is not to benefit the Creator, but oneself, not only will the nature of the will to receive in him not be inverted, but rather, the will to receive in him will be much more than what he was given by the nature of his creation.Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”