About This Answer
Would it be better for a sotāpanna, a stream-enterer, to take up to seven human lives in order to help as many beings as possible along the way to Nibbāna? Ajahn Dtun calls this a good thought, but points to the highest benefit: realising Nibbāna quickly. Once one has reached the highest good for oneself, one can fully serve others.
He adds that there is always an unbroken succession of beings who have attained the Dhamma at its various levels, so there will always be those in the world able to help others. The Buddha taught the fastest possible way to full awakening, not a slow development of practice. Such a view remains just a way of thinking, he concludes; all worldly beings ultimately go according to their kamma.