Yes. When you know the doctrine, save energy, but direct it into the ego, there are more powerful consequences as a result.
Shantideva wrote in The Way of the Bodhisattva that there is no greater downfall than to mix bodhichitta with desire.
For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought. -Bayazid al-Bastami