Mitzvos imprinted in the soul

במדרש אור זרוע כו' ולישרי לב שמחה דכ' וזכרתם כו' למען תזכרו.

In the Midrash: "Light is sown" etc., "and for the upright of heart, joy" — as it is written, "and you shall remember" etc., "in order that you remember."

The Sefas Emes opens from the posuk "Light is sown for the tzaddik, and for the upright of heart, joy" (Tehillim 97:11), linking it to the parsha of tzitzis, where the Torah says "that you may remember all the mitzvos of Hashem."

וכ' במ"א כי מקודם צריכין לזכור המצות ואח"כ כשזוכין שלא לתור אחר לב ועין ונק' ישרי לב זוכין למצוא שורש המצות הרשומים בעצם נפש האדם.

And it is written elsewhere that first one must remember the mitzvos, and afterward, when one merits not to stray after the heart and the eye and is called "upright of heart," one merits to find the root of the mitzvos that are imprinted in the very essence of a person's soul.

There are two stages: at first the mitzvos must be consciously remembered from the outside; but once a person purifies himself from being pulled after his heart and eyes, he becomes "upright of heart" and discovers that the mitzvos are already engraved in the core of his neshamah.

זהו למען תזכרו בעצם וזה השמחה בשלימות.

This is the meaning of "in order that you remember" — in one's very essence — and this is joy in its completeness.

True remembering is not an external act of recall but an awareness rooted in one's essence (etzem), and from that inner connection comes complete simchah.

לכן כתיב והיה לכם לציצית לשון שמחה כי באמת ברמ"ח איברי האדם נרשמים המצות רק שצריכין להתתקן מקודם להיות ישר ולכן איתא יגעתי ומצאתי.

Therefore it is written, "and it shall be for you as tzitzis" — an expression of joy — for in truth the mitzvos are imprinted in the 248 limbs of a person; one need only first be set aright, to become "upright," and therefore it is taught: "I toiled and I found."

The mitzvos correspond to the 248 limbs of the body and are already inscribed within them. The avodah is to repair oneself so as to uncover them — which is why Chazal say "yagati u'matzasi" (I toiled and I found): the finding is of something that was already there.

היגיעה לקיים מצות המלך אעפ"י שאין מרגישין טעם ורצון כענין בטל רצונך.

The toil is to fulfill the command of the King even though one feels no taste or desire for it, in the spirit of "nullify your own will."

The "labor" is doing the mitzvah purely as the will of the King even when it brings no felt pleasure — the avodah of bittul ratzon, nullifying one's own will before Hashem's.

אח"כ זוכין לשמוח בעצם המצוה.

Afterward one merits to rejoice in the very essence of the mitzvah.

Once a person serves through bittul, without needing taste or reward, he is granted to feel the inner joy that lives within the mitzvah itself.

זה לישרי לב שמחה.

This is "for the upright of heart, joy."

This joy belongs specifically to the "upright of heart" who have purified themselves and reached the inner root of the mitzvos.

תזכרו בעצם כנ"ל:

"That you may remember" — in one's very essence, as explained above.

The whole piece returns to its theme: the deepest remembering of the mitzvos is the awareness that they are imprinted in the essence of the soul.

Summary: Tzitzis are meant to lead from external remembering of the mitzvos to the discovery that all the mitzvos are already engraved in the 248 limbs and the essence of the neshamah. By first laboring with bittul ratzon — keeping the King's command even without felt pleasure — the "upright of heart" uncover this inner root and attain complete joy.