About This Teaching
Whether the human realm is better than the deva realms depends on the era. When a Buddha or his true teaching is still alive, the human realm is the better place to practise; when the teaching has declined or vanished, the deva realms are better.
Has anyone heard of a Buddha attaining enlightenment in hell, the answer asks? Every Buddha awakens in the human realm, as do the arahant disciples, which makes it the most excellent of realms. A small minority of anagamis, non-returners, who die at that level are reborn in the Pure Abodes and can reach arahantship there.
The human realm excels because happiness and suffering are most easily seen here. In the Brahma realms suffering is hard to see, and so are its causes and the path to its end. Even here, enjoyment of the senses makes it difficult. So one should not be negligent: the Buddha and his arahant disciples were human beings, and humans have the potential to realise the Dhamma by following his teaching.