• līlayā — playfully
  The signature word of Canto 10. What looks to outsiders like exertion is to Bhagavān līlā — spontaneous, effortless, motivated by ānanda alone. The same līlayā describes lifting Govardhana, binding Kāliya, and now dragging Kuvalayāpīḍa.
• suparṇaḥ — Garuḍa
  'The well-winged one' — Viṣṇu's vāhana. Bhāgavata-tattva: Garuḍa is a nitya-siddha pārṣada, his form itself a śāstra (the Vedas are said to be his wings). To compare Kṛṣṇa to Garuḍa is to remind the listener that the playfulness shown here is the same playfulness that runs Vaikuṇṭha.
• ati-balam — the extremely powerful (elephant)
  Bhāgavatam never softens the demon's strength — Kuvalayāpīḍa is ati-bala, beyond ordinary force. Bhagavān's superiority is not by exaggerating Him but by accurately stating the opponent. A contiguous-token join of synonyms 'ati' and 'balam'.
• pañca-viṁśatim — twenty-five
  Twenty-five bow-lengths — about 100 feet. The exact number stays because the Bhāgavatam is itihāsa, not myth; Śuka reports as eyewitness through paramparā. A contiguous-token join of synonyms 'pañca' and 'viṁśatim'.

Garuḍa carrying a serpent is the perennial Vaiṣṇava image of bhakti's effortless dominance over saṁsāra-sarpa. Kṛṣṇa drags the elephant by the tail twenty-five bow-lengths the way Garuḍa drags a snake — līlayā, in play, the universe's heaviest envy weighing nothing in Bhagavān's hand.