it really doesn't matter. the dhamma is not about rebirth or realms or any of that stuff. the buddha taught again and again that that speculation on that stuff is pointless and that we should simply practice practice practice, tame the mind and use it to see through reality itself. one can reach nibbana without any knowledge of rebirth/realms! in the suttas that knowledge is actually called "mundane", meaning it falls in with knowledge of books or outer space, what's in the deep trenches of the oceans, and so on. only nibbana is "supramundane" and one can seek it while leaving everything else aside.
trying to work out rebirth/realms is chasing your own tail, only nibbana is going in the right direction.
for example a yogi who has seen his past lives, the history of the universe, gods, etc. would be considered enlightened in almost all other traditions, but in buddhism that alone is not enlightenment. only nibbana is and it's not even related to that stuff. all of the mystical knowledge, be it real or fake, is useless in the long run. even the "gods" with their supposed MASS amounts of knowledge and absurdly long life spans are said to be deluded and beneath nibbana.
nibbana and the hell, hungry ghost realms (and heavenly, etc. etc.) are totally separate and unrelated. the buddha taught the path to nibbana as the main and most supreme goal. that is all we need. if the realms spur some people on then great. if others don't want to believe but still want to seek nibbana, equally great. actually one could argue that one who is tied up with the realms and always seeking information on them or meditating and trying to experience them is running astray and should be focusing on nibbana instead and should forget that stuff.
nibbana is. everything else is irrelevant, unrelated, a flash in the pan, a bubble of foam, a lightning strike, an illusion, a dream about to vanish.
TO THE OP: i'm not even talking to you directly at this point, just so you know. just addressing this issue as a whole and the discussion it has become. i don't want you to think i'm trying to lecture you or implying that you are running astray by learning about the realms or whatever or any of the things discussed above, they are just examples and nothing to do with you or anyone in particular, just a hypothetical imaginary practitioner(s)
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