About This Answer
Which is better for practice, the deva realm or the human realm? Ajahn Dtun says it depends on the era. When a Buddha is alive or the true teaching is still passed down, the human realm is better; when the teaching has declined or disappeared, the deva realms are better places.
He asks whether anyone has heard of a Buddha attaining enlightenment in another realm: every Buddha, and the arahant disciples, awaken here, so the human realm is called the most excellent. A minority of anāgāmī, non-returners, who die at that level, are born in the Pure Abodes and can become arahants there.
The human realm excels because happiness and suffering are most easily seen; in the brahma realms suffering is hard to see, and so are its causes and the path. Even here, enjoyment of the senses makes it difficult, so one should not be negligent. The Buddha and his disciples were human beings, and so is everyone listening, with the potential to realise the Dhamma.