Jyotirmayi dasi: All the devotees with Prabhupada are just arriving at the new temple that we got just a few months ago on la Rue Le Sueur. So Bhagavan thought that rather than Prabhupada speaking in the temple room, he should speak from the balcony so that he could speak to the people in the street. And also he liked the idea that it was a kingly way of speaking as in the past, the French kings would speak from the balcony to the crowds. But he had to ask for permission. So he asked the administration of Paris if it was possible and the officials told him, “Yes, it’s possible, but you cannot use a microphone.” So when he said that to Prabhupada, Prabhupada started to laugh and he said, “This is the way to say yes when in fact you want to say no,” as it’s impossible to talk to a big crowd of people without a microphone, they will not hear.
Reference: Following Srila Prabhupada-A Chronological Series by Jyotirmayi Dasi
