His motivation was selfishness. Out of his selfishness comes the origin of evil and sin. He who loves Dhamma progresses, he who hates it declines. Thus liking and disliking are the great elements in men's minds. But men keep them hidden in their minds, where they cannot be fathomed or measured.
Common people are difficult to serve, but easy to please.
That again which is virtue may, according to time and place, be sin. Thus appropriation of what belongs to others, untruth, and injury and killing, may, under special circumstances, become virtue. Acts that are apparently evil, when undertaken from considerations connected with the gods, the scriptures, life itself, and the means by which life is sustained, produce consequences that are good. No creature shall be harmed for one's own sake, one's own enjoyment. What is called sin becomes a merit if it is done for a higher purpose, even as what is considered uplifting becomes a force for binding if done in disregard of the higher Truth.