Picture: The great Master Mahasaya and his Divine Romance.
As an aspirant for truth and realization you either qualify or disqualify yourself, based on the purity of your yearning for God. Grace can give you an experience in upliftment, peace, bliss, joy or some tremendous realization, but this is only the beginning of your journey.
To make continuous progress you must ever apply the methods a qualified preceptor gives to you. Without this application the source of Grace will be dammed up and the flow of spiritual living waters will dry up. Without the flow of these living waters aspiration will evaporate; for without Grace no real progress can be made.
For every slip and fall on the path you can trace it back to a falloff of intensity in your spiritual practice. If you find that your practice is dry, that temptation or doubt has crept in the back door and made itself home in your mind, then let the alarms sound to awaken you to the fact that the liar and thief has made inroads.
Only Light can dispel darkness, only knowledge can dislodge ignorance, and only your sincere desire for God can make you know Him. Make sure you have a love affair with the Infinite, and worship your Heavenly Father-Divine Mother with all of your heart, strength, mind and soul and you will find the sacred Presence a loyal and constant lover that will make you qualified to be an enlightened Being.